SWIMMING: U.S. wins seven golds on final day of Pan-Pacs

Olympic and World Champion medley star Chase Kalisz (USA).

The U.S. national swimming squad made a final-day statement at the 2018 Pan-Pacific Championships in Tokyo (JPN), winning seven of the 10 events at the Tatsumi International Swimming Center.

The meet was quite a showcase for the U.S. and for Australia, which performed poorly at the 2017 World Championships, but was much better in Tokyo. The meet produced 13 world leaders, eight in individual events and five in relays:

  • Men’s 100 m Backstroke: 51.94 Ryan Murphy (USA)
  • Men’s 200 m Medley: 1:55.40 Chase Kalisz (USA)
  • Men’s 400 m Medley: 4:07.95 Kalisz
  • Men’s 4×100 m Free: 3:12.02 Brazil
  • Men’s 4×200 m Free: 7:04.36 United States
  • Men’s 4×100 m Medley: 3:30.20 United States
  • Women’s 100 m Freestyle: 52.03 Cate Campbell (AUS)
  • Women’s 200 m Freestyle: 1:54.44 Taylor Ruck (CAN)
  • Women’s 100 m Butterfly: 56.08 Rikako Ikee (JPN)
  • Women’s 200 m Medley: 2:08.16 Yui Ohashi (JPN)
  • Women’s 400 m Medley: 4:33.77 Ohashi
  • Women’s 4×200 m Free: 7:44.12 Australia
  • Women’s 4×100 m Medley: 3:52.74 Australia

By comparison, the European Championships finished with two world records and 12 world-leading marks (one equaled) in the individual events only. So it was a better meet statistically, but the Pan Pacs were just fine.

Including the two Open Water events, the U.S. won 45 medals (20-14-11), ahead of Australia (29: 8-13-8) and Japan (23: 6-7-10). Some of the highlights from the final weekend races:

>> Men’s 50 m Freestyle: A strong swim and the first international long-course title for 19-year-old Michael Andrew of the U.S. , who won in 21.46. It was a lifetime best and no. 7 in the world for 2018. He led a 1-2 U.S. finish as Caeleb Dressel finished second at 21.93.

>> Men’s 800 m Freestyle: American Zane Grothe topped off a three-medal week, moving to no. 2 in the world in 2018 with a lifetime best of 7:43.74. He scared the American Record of Michael McBroom from the 2013 Worlds (7:43.60), but the best is yet to come for Grothe, 26, who led a 1-2 U.S. finish with Jordan Wilimovsky (7:45.19).

>> Men’s 100 m Backstroke: Ryan Murphy flew out of the blocks and was ahead of his own world record for a while, but settled for the gold medal and a world leader in 51.94, the third-fastest mark of all time.

>> Men’s 200 m Back: Murphy completed his double by winning in a new lifetime best of 1:53.57, faster than he swam in Rio in 2016 and no. 2 in the world for 2016. He’s now no. 7 all-time.

>> Men’s 200 m/400 m Medley: Confirmation – again – that American Chase Kalisz is the best all-around swimmer in the world, with two wins and two world-leading marks. Worth noting was the return to form by Australia’s Mitch Larkin, the 200 m Rio 200 m Backstroke silver medalist, who is back in form and second by 0.81 in the 200 m Medley here.

>> Men’s 4×100 m Free: The U.S. won, but was disqualified as Blake Pieroni and Zach Apple were supposed to swim the second and third legs, but Apple swam second. After a strong opening leg from Caeleb Dressel (48.25), Apple (47.92) and Pieroni (47.92) were right with Japan and set up Nathan Adrian (47.27) to bring it home in a world-leading 3:11.67, but all for naught. Brazil won the gold in 3:12.02 with an excellent anchor from Pedro Spajari in 46.94!

>> Men’s 4×200 m Free: Australia grabbed the lead through three legs and then 200 m Free winner Townley Haas cleaned up with a 1:43.78 leg to overtake Jack Cartwright (1:45.52) and give the U.S. a world-leading win in 7:04.36.

>> Men’s 4×100 m Medley: Adrian brought the U.S. home again, but this time it counted as his 47.71 leg overtook Japan’s Katsumi Nakamura to win the race in a world-leading 3:30.20.

>> Women’s 100 m Free: Australia’s Cate Campbell not only took over the world lead from her sister Bronte, winning in 52.03, but authored the second-fastest time in history, behind only Swede Sarah Sjostrom’s 51.71 world record from 2017!

>> Women’s 400 m Free: Watch out! Katie Ledecky has some real, live competition now from 17-year-old Aussie Ariarne Titmus, who became the third women in history to break 4:00 with a silver medal in 3:59.66. Ledecky won in 3:58.50, not her fastest this year, but enough to win her second individual event. Leah Smith was third at 4:04.23.

Ledecky won the 1,500 m Free on Sunday easily, as Titmus did not swim.

>> Women’s 100 m Backstroke: The former world-record holder, Canada’s Kylie Masse beat current world-record holder Kathleen Baker (3rd), but there was no world record this time, not even a meet record. In fact, the heats were faster, with Masse posting a 58.29 mark to lead all qualifiers. Australia’s Emily Seebohm was second at 58.72, as Masse won in 58.61 and Baker clocked in at 58.83.

>> Women’s 200 m Back: Baker got even here, with essentially a wire-to-wire win in 2:06.14, no. 2 in the world for 2018, with Canada’s Taylor Ruck second and yet another World Junior Record from Regan Smith of the U.S. for third (2:06.46). Masse was fourth in 2:07.00, as Baker moved to no. 10 all-time in the event.

>> Women’s 200 m Breaststroke: Micah Sumrall came through with a 2:21.88 win, her best mark since 2013 (2:21.74) and part of a 1-2 finish with Lilly King (2:21.22). They rank 3-5 on the world list for 2018 with those marks and were the fifth win in six events on the final night of swimming.

>> Women’s 4×200 m Free: Australia got two excellent legs from Titmus (1:55.27) and Emma McKeon (1:55.66) and then held off the U.S. to win in a world-leading 7:44.12. Allison Schmidt’s dreadful 1:58.62 lead-off essentially doomed the U.S. – she swam 1:56.71 in the open 200 m Free the day before – and even a good 1:55.47 from Katie McLaughlin on the third leg and a sensational 1:53.84 from Ledecky on anchor couldn’t get there first. Swimming World Magazine reported that Ledecky’s split is the third-fastest in history behind Federica Pellegrini (ITA: 1:53.45 ‘09) and Ledecky’s 1:53.74 from Rio.

Ledecky won three individual golds and five medals in all, but the biggest winner was Cate Campbell, the Australian sprinter who leapt back to international prominence with wins in the 50 and 100 m Frees and anchor legs in the women’s 4×100 m Free and 4×100 m Medley and the Mixed Medley relay to total five gold medals. Ryan Murphy had three gold medals among the men, the most of any swimmer.

The U.S. also swept the two Open Water races, with 1,500 m winner Jordan Wilimovsky doubling back to win the 10 km race and Haley Anderson taking the women’s race. Summaries:

Pan-Pacific Championships
Tokyo (JPN) ~ 9-14 August 2018
(Full results here)

Men:
50 m Freestyle: 1. Michael Andrew (USA), 21.46; 2. Caeleb Dressel (USA), 21.93; 3. Yuri Kisil (CAN), 22.02; 4. Katsumi Nakamura (JPN), 22.24; 5. Shinri Shioura (JPN), 22.27.

100 m Free: 1. Kyle Chalmers (AUS), 48.00; 2. tie, Jack Cartwright (AUS) and Dressel (USA), 48.22; 4. Marcelo Chierighini (BRA), 47.36; 5. Zach Apple (USA), 48.47.

200 m Free: 1. Townley Haas (USA), 1:45.56; 2. Andrew Seliskar (USA), 1:45.74; 3. Katsuhiro Matsumoto (JPN), 1:45.92; 4. Fernando Scheffer (BRA), 1:46.12; 5. Alexander Graham (AUS), 1:46.50.

400 m Free: 1. Jack McLoughlin (AUS), 3:44.20; 2. Mack Horton (AUS), 3:44.31; 3. Zane Grothe (USA), 3:45.37; 4. Grant Shoults (USA)3:48.27; 5. Naito Ehara (JPN), 3:48.80.

800 m Free (combined results): 1. Grothe (USA), 7:43.74; 2. Jordan Wilimovsky (USA), 7:45.19; 3. McLoughlin (AUS), 7:47.31; 4. Guilherme Costa (BRA), 7:51.67; 5. Robert Finke (USA), 7:52.57. Also: 9. James Brinegar (USA), 7:58.59; … 15. Grant Shoults (USA), 8:09.35

1,500 m Free (combined results): 1. Wilimovsky (USA), 14:46.93; 2. Grothe (USA), 14:48.40; 3. Finke (USA), 14:48.70; 4. McLoughlin (AUS), 14:55.92; 5. Guilherme Costa (BRA), 15:03.40. Also: 7. Brinegar (USA), 15:07.04; … 10. David Heron (USA), 15:22.98; … 12. Taylor Abbott (USA), 15:33.64.

100 m Backstroke: 1. Ryan Murphy (USA), 51.94; 2. Ryosuke Irie (JPN), 52.78; 3. Mitch Larkin (AUS), 52.88; 4. Matt Grevers (USA), 52.99; 5. Javier Acevedo (CAN), 53.90.

200 m Back: 1. Murphy (USA), 1:53.57; 2. Irie (JPN), 1:55.12; 3. Austin Katz (USA), 1:56.00; 4. Larkin (AUS), 1:56.02; 5. Keita Sunama (JPN), 1:57.03.

100 m Breaststroke: 1. Yasuhiro Koseki (JPN), 59.08; 2. Jake Packard (AUS), 59.20; 3. Joao Gomez Jr. (BRA), 59.60; 4. Andrew Wilson (USA), 59.70; 5. Lizhuo Wang (CHN), 59.76. Also: 7. Andrew (USA), 1:00.04.

200 m Breast: 1. Ippei Watanabe (JPN), 2:07.75; 2. Zac Stubblety-Cook (AUS), 2:07.89; 3. Matthew Wilson (AUS), 2:08.22; 4. Koseki (JPN), 2:08.25; 5. Josh Prenot (USA), 2:08.44.

100 m Butterfly: 1. Dressel (USA), 50.75; 2. Jack Conger (USA), 51.32; 3. Vicinius Lanza (BRA), 51.44; 4. Grant Irvine (AUS), 51.65; 5. David Morgan (AUS), 51.80.

200 m Fly: 1. Daiya Seto (JPN), 1:54.34; 2. Leonardo de Deus (BRA), 1:54.89; 3. Zach Hartung (USA), 1:55.05; 4. David Morgan (AUS), 1:55.82; 5. Mack Darragh (CAN), 1:56.27. Also: 7. Conger (USA), 1:56.83.

200 m Medley: 1. Chase Kalisz (USA), 1:55.40; 2. Larkin (AUS), 1:56.21; 3. Kosuke Hagino (JPN), 1:56.66; 4. Daiya Seto (JPN), 1:57.36; 5. Abrahm DeVine (USA), 1:57.81.

400 m Medley: 1. Kalisz (USA), 4:07.95; 2. Hagino (JPN), 4:11.13; 3. Seto (JPN), 4:12.60; 4. Jay Litherland (USA), 4:12.87; 5. Lewis Clareburt (NZL), 4:14.27.

4×100 m Freestyle: 1. Brazil (Gabriel Santos, Marcelo Chierighini, Antonio Ferreira, Pedro Spajari), 3:12.02; 2. Australia, 3;12.53; 3. Japan, 3:12:54; 4. Canada, 3:14.50; 5. Philippines, 3:37.01; DQ: [1], United States (Dressel, Apple, Pieroni, Nathan Adrian), 3:11.67.

4×200 m Freestyle: 1. United States (Andrew Seliskar, Blake Pieroni, Zach Apple, Townley Haas), 7:04.36; 2. Australia, 7:04.70; 3. Japan, 7:08.07; 4. Brazil, 7:11.65; 5. Canada, 7:18.25.

4×100 m Medley: 1. United States (Ryan Murphy, Andrew Wilson, Caeleb Dressel, Nathan Adrian), 3:30.20; 2. Japan, 3:30.25; 3. Australia, 3:30.52; 4. Brazil, 3;32.16; 5. Canada, 3:34.20.

Women:
50 m Freestyle: 1. Cate Campbell (AUS), 23.81; 2. Simone Manuel (USA), 24.22; 3. Emma McKeon (AUS), 24.34; 4. Taylor Ruck (CAN), 24.47; 5. Abbey Weitzel (USA), 24.58.

100 m Free: 1. Campbell (AUS), 52.03; 2. Manuel (USA), 52.66; 3. Ruck (CAN), 52.72; 4. Mallory Comerford (USA), 52.94; 5. Rikako Ikee (JPN), 53.14.

200 m Free: 1. Ruck (CAN), 1:54.44; 2. Ikee (JPN), 1:54.85; 3. Katie Ledecky (USA), 1:55.15; 4. Allison Schmidt (USA), 1:56.71; 5. Kayla Sanchez (CAN), 1:57.23.

400 m Free: 1. Ledecky (USA), 3:58.50; 2. Ariarne Titmus (AUS), 3:59.59.66; 3. Leah Smith (USA), 4:04.23; 4. Madeleine Gough (AUS), 4:08.42; 5. Emily Overholt (CAN), 4:08.81.

800 m Free (combined results): 1. Ledecky (USA), 8:09.13; 2. Titmus (AUS), 8:17.07; 3. L. Smith (USA), 8:17.21; 4. Kiah Melverton (AUS), 8:26.64; 5. Erica Sullivan (USA), 8:26.27. Also: 6. Haley Anderson (USA), 8:27.13; … 11. Chase Travis (USA), 8:37.86.

1,500 m Free: 1. Ledecky, 15:38.97; 2. Kiah Melverton (AUS), 16:00.08; 3. L. Smith (USA), 16:00.82; 4. Kareena Lee (AUS), 16:03.26; 5. H. Anderson (USA), 16:04.26. Also: 7. Ashley Twichell (USA), 16:07.49; … 9. Sullivan (USA), 16:16.07; 10. Ally McHugh (USA), 16:17.29.

100 m Backstroke: 1. Kylie Masse (CAN), 58.61; 2. Emily Seebohm (AUS), 58.72; 3. Kathleen Baker (USA), 58.83; 4. Regan Smith (USA), 58.95 (World Junior Record); 5. Kaylee McKeown (AUS), 59.25.

200 m Back: 1. Baker (USA), 2:06.14; 2. Ruck (CAN), 2:06.41; 3. R. Smith (USA), 2:06.46 (World Junior Record); 4. Masse (CAN), 2:07.00; 5. McKeown (AUS), 2:07.01.

100 m Breaststroke: 1. Lilly King (USA), 1:05.44; 2. Jessica Hansen (AUS), 1:06.20; 3. Reona Aoki (JPN), 1:06.34; 4. Satomi Suzuki (JPN), 1:06.51; 5. Micah Sumrall (USA), 1:06.56.

200 m Breast: 1. Sumrall (USA), 2:21.88; 2. King (USA), 2:22.12; 3. Suzuki (JPN), 2:22.22; 4. Aoki (JPN), 2:24.46; 5. Pickrem (CAN), 2:24.73.

100 m Butterfly: 1. Ikee (JPN), 56.08; 2. Kelsi Dahlia (USA), 56.44; 3. Emma McKeon (AUS), 56.54; 4. Rebecca Smith (CAN), 58.19; 5. Comerford (USA), 58.25.

200 m Fly: 1. Hali Flickinger (USA), 2:07.35; 2. Sachi Mochida (JPN), 2:07.66; 3. Katie Drabot (USA), 2:08.40; 4. Suzuka Hasegawa (JPN), 2:08.70; 5. Laura Taylor (AUS), 2:09.23.

200 m Medley: 1. Yui Ohashi (JPN), 2:08.16; 2. Sydney Pickrem (CAN), 2:07.97; 3. Miho Teramua (JPN), 2:09.86; 3. Ella Eastin (USA), 2:09.90; 5. Melanie Margalis (USA), 2:10.67.

400 m Medley: 1. Ohashi (JPN), 4:33.77; 2. Margalis (USA), 4:35.60; 3. Sakiko Shimizu (JPN), 4:36.27; 4. Brooke Forde (USA), 4:39.22; 5. Emily Overholt (CAN), 4:39.48.

4×100 m Freestyle: 1. Australia (Emily Seebohm, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon, Cate Campbell), 3:31.58; 2. United States (Mallory Comerford, Margo Geer, Kelsi Dahlia, Simone Manuel), 3:33.45; 3. Canada, 3:34.07; 4. Japan, 3:36.83; 5. Philippines, 3:54.80.

4×200 m Freestyle: 1. Australia (Ariarne Titmus, Emma McKeon, Mikkayla Sheridan, Maddie Groves), 7:44.12; 2. United States (Allison Schmidt, Leah Smith, Katie McLaughlin, Katie Ledecky), 7:44.37; 3. Canada, 7:47.28; 4. Japan, 7:48.96.

4×100 m Medley: 1. Australia (Emily Seebohm, Jessica Hansen, Emily McKeon, Cate Campbell), 3:52.74; 2. United States (Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Kelsi Dahlia, Simone Manuel), 3:53.21; 3. Japan, 3:55.03; 4. Canada, 3:55.14; 5. Philippines, 4:22.18.

Mixed:
4×100 m Medley: 1. Australia (Larkin, Packard, McKeon, C. Campbell), 3:38.91; 2. Japan (Irie, Koseki, Ikee, Aoki), 3:40.98; 3. United States (Kathleen Baker, Michael Andrew, Caeleb Dressel, Simone Manuel), 3:41.74; 4. Canada, 3:46.75; 5. Philippines, 4:04.20.

OPEN WATER
(Full results here)

Men:
10 km: 1. Jordan Wilimovsky (USA), 1:58:50.5; 2. Eric Hedlin (CAN), 1:58:56.7; 3. Nick Sloman (AUS), 1:59:20.8; 4. Salgado Enderica (ECU), 1:59:22.7; 5. Allan do Carmo (BRA), 1:59:23.8. Also: 6. David Heron (USA), 1:59:25.2; … 9. Taylor Abbott (USA), 1:59.42.6; … 12. James Brinegar (USA), 2:02:11.2; … 14. Zane Grothe (USA), 2:03.52.4.

Women:
10 km: 1. Haley Anderson (USA), 2:08:24.8; 2. Kareena Lee (AUS), 2:08:26.0; 3. Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA), 2:08:27.0; 4. Ashley Twichell (USA), 2:08:29.6; 5. Hannah Moore (USA), 2:08:33.5. Also: 8. Erica Sullivan (USA), 2:08:43.5; 9. Chase Travis (USA), 2:08:44.6.