The 2020 Toyota U.S. Open kicked off on Thursday evening with the men’s and women’s 800-meter freestyle being swum across nine different sites. When all was said and done, it was Arabella Sims (Henderson, Nev./Sandpipers of Nevada) and Marwan El-Kamash (Egypt) who stole the show on night one. 

Sims, the 15-year-old out of Nevada, posted the third fastest 800m freestyle performance ever recorded by a 15-year-old female, going 8:27.01 for the win. The swim propelled her to first place in the event, topping a talented field that included National Team members Ashley Twichell, Erica Sullivan and more. 

The first-place finish gives Sims the first national-level LCM victory of her young career. While she competed in the 800m freestyle at the 2019 Toyota U.S. Open in Atlanta, her performance this year was nearly nine seconds faster than her previous performance. 

The men’s event featured exciting racing across each of the nine sites, but ultimately it was El-Kamash's 7:52.19 performance in Indianapolis that earned the title. His performance shaved three and a half seconds from his previous personal best, which he set back in 2018. 

Multiple members of the U.S. National Team competed on day one of the Toyota U.S. Open, including Ally McHugh, who went 8:29.36 to finish second overall and top seed out of the Indianapolis heats. McHugh’s performance was her third fastest 800m freestyle swim since 2018, only behind performances from the 2018 and 2019 Phillips 66 National Championships. Shortly behind McHugh was Sullivan, who finished third in 8:31.38, giving Sandpipers of Nevada two of the top-3 finishes across the nine locations. 

On the men’s side, Bobby Finke and Kieran Smith rounded out the top-3 finishers across all sites, going 7:53.05 and 8:00.05 respectively. Finke’s performance marked just the fourth time in his decorated distance career that he has broken the 7:54 mark.  

The second day of the 2020 Toyota U.S. Open features two separate finals sessions. The morning session begins on the east coast at 9 a.m. ET, while other sites begin periodically until 1 p.m. ET. NBCSN will host a live broadcast of the action beginning at 10 a.m. ET. 

After the morning session is complete, the evening session will begin at 4 p.m. ET, with tiered starts from coast to coast until 9 p.m. ET. The evening session will be broadcast on Olympic Channel at 6 p.m. ET.  

With two separate finals sessions, tomorrow’s Toyota U.S. Open action will feature some signature swims, including Regan Smith in the 100m backstroke, Ryan Lochte in the 200m I.M. and Chase Kalisz in the 400m I.M. With a full day’s worth of swimming, make sure to tune in to NBCSN, Olympic Channel and usaswimming.org to catch all the action.