USA Swimming has made a substantial effort to liven up its Tyr Pro Swim Series in 2019, especially by bringing it to new places. The Wellmark YMCA in downtown Des Moines, Iowa is the site for this week’s festivities and is importantly connected to the city’s Skywalk system, since this weekend’s highs are forecast from 29-40 degrees!
In the water, the competition should be much hotter, with many of the U.S. stars in action and some world-class guests. Some of the expected entries and their events:
Men:
● Michael Andrew ~ 50 m Free, 50-100 m Back, 50-100 m Breast, 50-100 m Fly
● Caeleb Dressel ~ 50-100-200 m Free, 50-100 m Breast, 50-100 m Fly
● Blake Pieroni ~ 50-100-200 m Free
● Kevin Cordes ~ 50-100-200 m Breast
● Tom Shields ~ 200 m Free, 100-200 m Fly
● Jordan Wilimovsky ~ 400-800-1,500 m Free
● Zane Grothe ~ 100-200-400-800-1,500 m Free
● Ryosuke Irie (JPN) ~ 100 m Free, 50-100-200 m Back
Women:
● Kelsi Dahlia ~ 50-100 m Free, 50-100-200 m Fly
● Allison Schmidt ~ 100-200-800 m Free, 50-100 m Fly
● Leah Smith ~ 100-200-400-800 m Free, 200 m Medley
● Olivia Smoliga ~ 50-100 m Free, 50-100-200 m Back
● Melanie Margalis ~ 100-200-400 m Free, 100 m Breast, 50 m Fly, 200 m Medley
● Kathleen Baker ~ 50-100-200 m Back, 100 m Breast, 200 m Medley
● Micah Sumrall ~ 50-100-200 m Breast
● Hali Flickinger ~ 200-400-800 m Free, 200 m Back, 200 m Fly, 200-400 m Medley
● Penny Oleksiak (CAN) ~ 100 m Free, 50-100 m Fly
● Bingjie Li (CHN) ~ 4001,500 m Free
● Jianjiahe Wang (CHN) ~ 400-1,500 m Free
Irie won three London 2012 medals, including bronze and silver in the 100-200 Backstrokes; Oleksiak was the co-gold medalist in Rio in the women’s 100 m Free; China’s Li (age 17) and Wang (16) both won multiple Freestyle golds at last year’s Asian Games.
As usual, the heaviest workloads have been undertaken by Andrew among the men (seven events) and Flickinger (7) for the women. Dressel also has seven entries and Margalis shows six events. Prize money is available at $1,500-1,000-500 for the top three swimmers.
NBC has coverage of the meet on Thursday on the NBC Olympic Channel beginning at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, and on Friday on NBCSN, also starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern (Saturday coverage is available only online). Look for results here.
