KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Five-time gold medalist Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Nation’s Capital Swim Club/Alto Swim Club) picked up her third win of the meet, and fellow Olympic champions Simone Manuel (Sugar Land, Texas/Alto Swim Club/First Colony Swim Team) and Ryan Murphy (Jacksonville, Fla./California Aquatics) also earned victories Friday at the TYR Pro Swim Series at Knoxville.
Ledecky won the women’s 400-meter freestyle in 4 minutes, 2.71 seconds for a 7-second victory at the University of Tennessee’s Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center. She won the women’s 200m free and 400m individual medley on Thursday.
Manuel took the women’s 50m free in 24.75 by just three-hundredths over runner-up Margo Geer (Milford Center, Ohio/Mission Viejo Nadadores), who was second in 24.78, while Murphy took the men’s 100m back by over a second in 53.17.
“That was a nice start to the year,” Murphy said. “I think in terms of execution it was probably a little bit sloppy, but that’s pretty typical for right now. We’re working hard, trying to have good effort in the races and the time was good tonight. As we clean it up, I’m pretty excited about where it can go.”
The four-day, long-course meters competition concludes Saturday with daily prelims at 9 a.m. EST and evening finals at 6 p.m. EST. All-session and single-session tickets to catch the world’s best swimmers in action are on sale now at usaswimming.org.
Olympic silver medalist Josh Prenot (Santa Maria, Calif./California Aquatics) picked up his second win of the meet in men’s 200m breaststroke, touching in 2:09.96 after winning the 400m IM on Thursday. Annie Lazor (Beverly Hills, Mich./Mission Viejo Nadadores) also won for the second night in a row, taking the women’s 200m breast in 2:23.51 after earning the 100m breast title on Thursday.
Olympian Hali Flickinger (Spring Grove, Pa./Athens Bulldog Swim Club) won her signature event, the women’s 200m butterfly, in 2:07.21.
Other USA Swimming National Team members earning victories Friday included Gianluca Urlando (Sacramento, Calif./DART Swimming) in the men’s 200m fly in 1:57.04, Michael Andrew (Lawrence, Kan./Race Pace Club) in the men’s 50m free in 22.11 and Regan Smith (Lakeville, Minn./Riptide Swim Team) in the women’s 100m back in 59.37.
The evening closed with the 200m mixed medley relay won by the DiRado Squad – Phoebe Bacon, Nic Fink, Urlando and Manuel – in a time of 1:43.48.
Canada’s Penny Oleksiak won the women’s 50m fly in 26.00, Guatemala’s Luis Martinez took the men’s 50m fly in 23.60 and Denmark’s Anton Ipsen won the men’s 400m free in 3:52.26 for his second victory of the weekend.
The NBC Sports app will stream coverage of Saturday’s finals at 6 p.m. EST, while a live webcast of prelims will stream online at usaswimming.org.
Across the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series, swimmers may earn increased awards for top-three finishes. At each meet, $1,500 will be provided for a first-place finish, $1,000 for second and $500 for third. In addition, one athlete per gender with the highest-scoring prelim swim in an individual Olympic event based on FINA power points will win $1,500.
The TYR Pro Swim Series is being brought to Knoxville in partnership with the Visit Knoxville Sports Commission and Tennessee Aquatics.
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