(Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)
While junior national-level swimmers got a jump start on meters racing in Orlando last month, for collegiate and professional swimmers the long-course seasons begins in earnest this week in Mesa, Arizona, at the fourth stop of USA Swimming’s Arena Pro Swim Series. And with Michael Phelps making his return to competition after a six-month suspension and Katie Ledecky stepping back into the national spotlight after ending her high school career, Mesa will likely serve as a showcase for U.S. talent the week after most of the world’s swimming powers have wrapped up their national selection meets for this summer’s world championships.
Continuing its elevated status within the Pro Swim Series, Mesa will play host to Phelps’s semi-comeback, as well as Olympic gold medalists Ledecky, Ryan Lochte, Matt Grevers, Natalie Coughlin, Conor Dwyer and Hungarian Katinka Hosszu. The meet begins Wednesday, April 15, with timed finals in the women’s 1,500 freestyle and men’s 800 freestyle, and continues with morning prelims and night finals on Thursday through Saturday, April 16-18. Mesa was the location of Phelps’s return to competition after coming out of a 20-month retirement last year.
(Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post)
Still, despite Phelps’s recent headlines that include a DUI in late September, the unveiling of his new swimwear line and his recent engagement, Ledecky remains the biggest star among U.S. swimmers in Arizona.
The four-time world champion is scheduled to swim six events at the Skyline Aquatic Center — the women’s 100-meter, 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyles and the 400 individual medley. And after spending time at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and an uninterrupted stretch of training dating back to her final high school meet on Feb. 8, sources within Nation’s Capital have said the world record in the 800 freestyle will likely be broken by the recently-turned 18-year-old. It was unclear whether Ledecky will contest her full schedule, with the 1,500 an event she could potentially cut.
Ledecky stunned the swimming world when she came down from altitude training last June and lowered her own world marks in the 800 and 1,500 freestyle at a summer tune-up meet in Texas. That kick-started a record-breaking summer in which she swam the only two sub-3:59 performances in history in the 400 and re-set the mark in the 1,500 in August, for a total of five world records in a two-month span.
The Stone Ridge senior won three events last year in Arizona, with victories in the 200, 400 and 800. If she chooses to compete in the mile event Wednesday night, Ledecky could also make a run at breaking her own world mark of 15:28.36, as it will be her first event of the weekend. Also entered in a truncated field are the Fish’s Madelyn Donohoe, a 13-year-old distance phenom racing up the age group charts, and 15-year-old Michelle Owens.
Phelps, too, has chosen to enter a taxing event lineup, a schedule typically contested by the Baltimore swimmer pre-2012. Phelps, who has repeatedly expressed his focus on the sprint events, has entered the same events he swam at U.S. nationals last summer — the 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 200 individual — but has added the 100 backstroke and, shockingly, the 400 freestyle — an event he hasn’t contested since 2009. A scratch is likely, unless Phelps and Coach Bob Bowman are testing the waters for a potential relay bid on the 4×200 freestyle relay.
Lochte is also scheduled to swim a busy schedule, entering all five of Phelps’s events plus the 200 freestyle. Former training Lochte and Phelps training partner Conor Dwyer is entered in the 100, 200 and 400 freestyles and the 200 and 400 individual medleys. “Iron Lady” Hosszu has entered 14 individual races but must cut her schedule to seven per the meet requirements.
(Bryan Flaherty/For The Washington Post)
Nation’s Capital’s Matt Hirschberger is slated for a similar schedule as Ledecky, entering the men’s 100, 200, 400 and 1,500 freestyles. After Hirschberger’s performance in Orlando at NCSA Junior Nationals, the 16-year-old Clearwater, Fla., transplant has entered as a possible contender for a podium at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials in the 1,500 freestyle. He’s seeded 15th currently with an outdated time of 15:38.07, more than 19 seconds off his winning time from NCSAs, where he won by 22 seconds.
Assuming the currently list will not be re-seeded with his personal best of 15:19.23, which would have placed him seventh overall, Hirschberger may be relegated to the top-flight of Saturday’s morning heats, with the top-eight swimmers competing in a timed-final championship heat that night. Hirschberger will still offer better competition than any junior meet, but pales in comparison to the challenge offered by top-seeded swimmers TWST’s Michael McBroom, NCAP training partner Andrew Gemmell and Tunisian Olympic gold medalist Ous Mellouli.
Rounding out a strong collegiate field are Louisville’s Kelsi Worrell, Arizona’s Kevin Cordes and Stanford’s Simone Manuel, who will have company in the 100 freestyle with Hosszu, Megan Romano, Coughlin, Margo Greer, teammate Lia Neal, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Abbey Weitzeil, Amanda Weir, Allison Schmitt, Ledecky and Jessica Hardy.
