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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Olympic champions Nathan Adrian (Bremerton, Wash./California Aquatics) and Simone Manuel (Sugar Land, Texas/Alto Swim Club/First Colony Swim Team) sprinted to the 50-meter freestyle titles on Thursday to highlight the USA Swimming Winter National Championships at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

Manuel surged past the women’s field to touch in 24.39 seconds ahead of runner-up Madison Kennedy (Avon, Conn./SwimMAC Carolina), who was second in 24.87.

“I thought it was pretty solid. There is definitely room for improvement, but my focus was on some of the aspects that I’ve really been working on in practice, the new things that I’ve been tinkering with,” Manuel said. “I think it’s a good benchmark to see where I can improve later in the season.”

Adrian followed with the men’s 50m free title in 21.94, a half-second clear of second-place finisher Payton Sorenson (Mesa, Ariz./Brigham Young University), who finished in 22.45.  

“I was happy with that. I was really pleased with the way it felt more than anything,” Adrian said. “The 50 is such an interesting stroke, and definitely through the fall we’re not working on that top, top, top end speed stuff. But it all came together pretty decently here, and that’s my sweet spot. I’m definitely going to take that and move forward as we go into the winter training cycle.”

After winning the 800m free to open the meet on Wednesday, fellow Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Nation’s Capital Swim Club/Alto Swim Club) won for the second straight night, taking the women’s 400m free in 4:00.35 seconds.

Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Team Santa Monica) followed Ledecky with a second straight victory, as he touched first in the men’s 400m free in a time of 3:50.78.

Madisyn Cox (Lubbock, Texas/Longhorn Aquatics) took the women’s 200m individual medley in 2:10.76, with South Africa’s Christopher Reid winning the men’s 200m IM in 2:02.18.

NBC Sports and USA Swimming will feature daily coverage from Greensboro, including live finals broadcasts on the Olympic Channel on Friday. A live stream of daily prelims and Saturday finals will air on usaswimming.org. Following a taped Sunday broadcast on NBC Sports Network, a one-hour package from Winter Nationals will air on NBC on Dec. 16 at 3 p.m. ET.