Tuesday, July 21, 2020
2019 World Championships Flashback: Menβs Free Relay Snags First Gold of Competition
We miss racing, so let's reminisce!
Over the next couple weeks, we're taking you back to last summer to celebrate the success of the π’π§ππ«πππ’ππ₯π U.S. Team at the at 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
Today we look at the men's and women's 4x100-meter freestyle relays and the women's 400m freestyle:
After a successful open water competition, Team USA looked to continue its momentum in the pool. The team kicked off the eight-day 2019 FINA World Championships pool competition, winning four of its 27 total medals, including its first gold in the men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
The team of Caeleb Dressel, Blake Pieroni, Zach Apple & Nathan Adrian held off the Russians in a championship record time of 3:09.06 to defend their world championship title. This was Adrian’s first race back after a cancer diagnosis set back his training in December of 2018.
“The last leg is just about getting your hand on the wall first,” said Adrian. “You kind of have to adjust your strategy based off of what’s going on because it can be a little bit of a wave pool in there. I’ve had a lot of experience doing it, so, fortunately, I went in there knowing what I needed to do. That experience is everything. You learn from the failures, and I’ve failed before, so I know when we’re in the middle of that race, you can’t go out too fast, you can’t go out too slow, just got to have enough in the tank to get your hand on the wall. The last 15 hurt very bad, as you can probably see, and unfortunately, I had to take two months off of training, but that will certainly be there for next year.”
Watch Team USA race to gold in the video below.
The distance duo of Katie Ledecky (3:59.97) & Leah Smith (4:01.29) stood on the 400m free podium together, taking the silver & bronze behind Australia’s Ariarne Titmus.
“Obviously wasn’t the swim I wanted, didn’t go as I wanted to, but I have a lot of racing ahead of me, so I have to move on,” said Ledecky after her first world championship individual loss. “I made a move, and I came into the last turn and felt like I could barely push off. My legs, my arms just tightened up that last 50, and [Ariarne Titmus] just took advantage of that and had a great swim.”
Ledecky went on to win two more medals for Team USA after persevering through illness during the competition.
The women’s 4x100m free relay closed out day one in American record fashion with a time of 3:31.02 good for the silver medal. The team of Mallory Comerford, Abbey Weitzeil, Kelsi Dahlia, and Simone Manuel finished just behind Australia, who took home the gold in 3:30.21.
Over the next couple weeks, we're taking you back to last summer to celebrate the success of the π’π§ππ«πππ’ππ₯π U.S. Team at the at 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
Today we look at the men's and women's 4x100-meter freestyle relays and the women's 400m freestyle:
After a successful open water competition, Team USA looked to continue its momentum in the pool. The team kicked off the eight-day 2019 FINA World Championships pool competition, winning four of its 27 total medals, including its first gold in the men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
The team of Caeleb Dressel, Blake Pieroni, Zach Apple & Nathan Adrian held off the Russians in a championship record time of 3:09.06 to defend their world championship title. This was Adrian’s first race back after a cancer diagnosis set back his training in December of 2018.
“The last leg is just about getting your hand on the wall first,” said Adrian. “You kind of have to adjust your strategy based off of what’s going on because it can be a little bit of a wave pool in there. I’ve had a lot of experience doing it, so, fortunately, I went in there knowing what I needed to do. That experience is everything. You learn from the failures, and I’ve failed before, so I know when we’re in the middle of that race, you can’t go out too fast, you can’t go out too slow, just got to have enough in the tank to get your hand on the wall. The last 15 hurt very bad, as you can probably see, and unfortunately, I had to take two months off of training, but that will certainly be there for next year.”
Watch Team USA race to gold in the video below.
The distance duo of Katie Ledecky (3:59.97) & Leah Smith (4:01.29) stood on the 400m free podium together, taking the silver & bronze behind Australia’s Ariarne Titmus.
“Obviously wasn’t the swim I wanted, didn’t go as I wanted to, but I have a lot of racing ahead of me, so I have to move on,” said Ledecky after her first world championship individual loss. “I made a move, and I came into the last turn and felt like I could barely push off. My legs, my arms just tightened up that last 50, and [Ariarne Titmus] just took advantage of that and had a great swim.”
Ledecky went on to win two more medals for Team USA after persevering through illness during the competition.
The women’s 4x100m free relay closed out day one in American record fashion with a time of 3:31.02 good for the silver medal. The team of Mallory Comerford, Abbey Weitzeil, Kelsi Dahlia, and Simone Manuel finished just behind Australia, who took home the gold in 3:30.21.