The 2023 Phillips 66 National Championships continued Friday with action in the 400m freestyle, 100m breaststroke and 100m backstroke lighting up the pool at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.

For the second time this meet, Regan Smith broke one of her own records, this time in the women's 100m backstroke, besting her own U.S. Open record with a time of 57.71 on her way to her third national title of the week.

“After my 200 (backstroke), I was happy with that, of course,” Smith said. “I wanted to go for (a world record) tonight and couldn’t quite do it, but I’m really pleased with 57.7. That’s my best time of the season. Based on how it felt those last 20 meters, I’m especially pleased with it.”

Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Gator Swim Club) opened the night with another win at these national championships, this time in the women’s 400m freestyle, swimming a 4:00.45 – the fourth-fastest time in the world this year.

“It was okay for me,” Ledecky said. “I’ve been better a couple times this year, so I know I can learn a lot from this race moving forward over the next couple weeks.”

In the men’s 400m freestyle, David Johnston (Dallas, Texas/Longhorn Aquatics) swam a personal best time of 3:45.75 en route to his first national title.

Lilly King (Evansville, Ind./Indiana Swim Club) picked up her third national title of the competition with her win in the 100m breaststroke. Her surge in the last 25m proved key to defending Olympic gold medalist Lydia Jacoby (Seward, Alaska/Seward Tsunami Swim Club) and Kaitlyn Dobler (Aloha, Ore./Trojan Swim Club). King’s time of 1:04.75 is the fastest in the world this year.

“I really switched it up from normal,” King said of her strategy. “Normally, I’m out like a shot and trying to make it home. I wanted to go off the easy speed I had in the 200 (breaststroke) and give something a try. I went a lot longer this morning and surprised myself with a 1:05 and I said ‘Oh, that works. Let’s do it again tonight.’ It was good and I’m really happy with that. Honestly, especially over the last two years, I feel like I’ve been spinning out the first 50 and dying so badly on the way home. I know what I do in training does not reflect dying on the last 25 so I thought it was a good chance to switch something up, went for it, trusted my gut, and it turned out pretty good.”

Nic Fink (Morristown, N.J./Metro Atlantic Aquatic Club) beat his personal best time by .01 seconds in the 100m breaststroke as he won his second national title of the meet. His time of 58.36 is the second-fastest time recorded in the world this year.

“I tried to stay on top of the water as much as I could the first 50, hoping the energy and the atmosphere would take me out, so I saw at the turn I was ahead, felt pretty good and I knew I could bring it home pretty fast,” Fink said. “I don’t know the splits, but we were practicing that tempo on the last 50 and it showed for a huge (personal record) today.”

In a stacked men’s 100m backstroke final, Hunter Armstrong (Dover, Ohio/NYAC) won his first national title with a time of 52.33, posting the second-fastest time in the world this year and out-touching Ryan Murphy (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./California Aquatics) by .06 seconds.

“That was probably one of the most painful 100 (backstrokes) of my career so far,” Armstrong said. “It was a very, very tight field. Destin (Lasco) impressed me a lot. I knew he was a great backstroker, but he popped off a great 100m (freestyle) and dropped more than a second in the 100 back so whenever (Ryan Murphy) and I are done, we have a great future of backstrokers after us.”

2023 World Aquatics Championships Qualifiers as of June 29:  
Women: 
Katherine Berkoff – 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke
Jillian Cox – 800m freestyle
Kate Douglass – 100m freestyle, 200m breaststroke 
Erin Gemmell – 4x200m freestyle relay 
Katie Grimes – 400m individual medley
Torri Huske – 4x100m freestyle relay, 100m butterfly
Lydia Jacoby – 100m breaststroke
Lilly King – 200m breaststroke, 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke
Katie Ledecky – 800m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle
Lindsay Looney – 200m butterfly
Bella Sims – 4x200m freestyle relay, 400m freestyle
Regan Smith – 200m butterfly, 200m backstroke, 100m backstroke
Olivia Smoliga – 4x100m freestyle relay 
Alex Walsh – 400m individual medley
Gretchen Walsh – 4x100m freestyle relay, 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly
Claire Weinstein – 200m freestyle
Abbey Weitzeil – 100m freestyle 
Rhyan White – 200m backstroke

Men: 
Jack Alexy – 100m freestyle 
Hunter Armstrong – 100m backstroke
Matt Fallon – 200m breaststroke 
Nic Fink – 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke
Bobby Finke – 1500m freestyle 
Carson Foster – 200m butterfly, 400m individual medley
Chris Guiliano – 100m freestyle
Luke Hobson – 200m freestyle 
David Johnston – 400m freestyle
Drew Kibler – 4x200m freestyle relay 
Matt King – 4x100m freestyle relay
Destin Lasco – 4x100m freestyle relay, 200m backstroke
Jake Mitchell – 4x200m freestyle relay 
Ryan Murphy – 200m backstroke, 100m backstroke
Dare Rose – 100m butterfly
Kieran Smith – 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle

Competition continues through Saturday with prelims beginning at 10 a.m. ET and finals at 7 p.m. ET daily. Coverage starts at 6:30 p.m. on www.usaswimming.org/watch and 7 p.m. on Peacock. 

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