2025 TYR Professional Swim Sequence — Westmont
Westmont, IL — FMC Natatorium
March 5-8, 2025
LCM (50 Meters)
Meet Central
Begin Occasions: prelims – 9:00 am CT/ finals – 6:00 pm CT
Weds. Timed Finals: 5:00 pm CT
Pre-Scratch Psych Sheet (up to date 3/3)
We’re getting into a really quick month of racing on the planet of swimming, and all of it begins tomorrow with the TYR Professional Swim Sequence in Westmont.
The Professional Swim Sequence meets have acted as ‘tune-up’ meets for lots of the world’s prime swimmers, and that is the primary one in 2025. This cease is especially attention-grabbing as a result of there’s a vital contingent of Canadian, Australian, and Brazilian swimmers on the meet, however there will likely be only a few high-level school athletes as they’re making ready for the NCAA Championships later this month.
This week is likely one of the first main lengthy course meets of the 12 months, and will likely be our first primer for the World Championships in July. Whereas this isn’t the end-all-be-all of the season, it should assist set the tone by permitting everybody from Olympic Champions to Excessive College hopefuls to see the place they’re at of their coaching and it’ll permit swim followers to get our first peek on the thrilling season forward.
Returns of the Elite
Most of the prime swimmers within the World haven’t swam an extended course meet for the reason that Olympic Video games in August, so this will likely be their first “big-pool” racing alternative in additional than six months. There are a variety of those athletes who will likely be racing this weekend, although not all of them are swimming full line-ups. The listing of Olympians/World Champs Qualifiers is extremely lengthy, so we will likely be highlighting just a few of them right here.
Summer time McIntosh is considered one of, if not the, greatest identify on the meet. We now have gotten the chance to see her race lengthy course already this season, however not in her major occasions. Whereas she has expressed curiosity in looking for a fifth World Championships occasion, she has caught with three of her typical occasions for this meet, the 200 fly, 200 IM and 400 IM.
Australian World Champion Sam Brief is making his first return to racing since a ‘disappointing’ Olympics, the place he completed 4th within the 400 and didn’t make the 1500 closing. On the 2023 World Champs, Brief gained the 400 free, took silver within the 800 free, and earned the bronze within the 1500 free. He took just a few months off after the Video games to rehab his shoulder and cope with ongoing accidents, so this will likely be our first look, and his first look, at the place he’s at with 4 months to go till Worlds.
There are additionally a bevy of US Olympians who’re racing this weekend. Hunter Armstrong will likely be swimming his first actual meet for the reason that Olympics (he swam the 100 free at at membership meet in January). Simone Manuel may even be swimming for the primary time post-Video games, and he or she is entered in a full line-up of occasions together with the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 50 fly, and 100 fly. Shaine Casas, Kate Douglass, Regan Smith, and Lilly King are all swimming their first meets for the reason that World Championships the place all of them had robust performances. It’s value noting, nonetheless, that neither Douglass nor Casas are entered within the 200 IM, an extremely robust occasion for each of them.
Sprinter Showdown
The ladies’s dash freestyle occasions are extremely stacked, even with large names lacking the meet for numerous causes.
Australian sprinter, and reigning 50 free Olympic silver medalist, Meg Harris is in 50 free, 50 fly, and 100 freestyle. Whereas the reigning 50 free gold medalist, Sarah Sjostrom is out for the season, Harris doesn’t have a transparent path to the highest spot within the occasion this week.
She will likely be joined by Kate Douglass, who is definitely seeded first within the occasion however didn’t swim it on the Video games, and Kasia Wasick, who completed sixth however has a quicker seed time. The highest three swimmers are all separated by six-hundredths of a second. Simone Manuel, who competed within the occasion on the Olympics however didn’t make it previous the prelims, is seeded fourth, lower than two tenths behind.
The 100 freestyle is an identical story with lots of the prime athletes sitting very shut to at least one one other. Harris has the highest seed within the occasion, with Manuel coming in about half a second again. Penny Oleksiak and Mary-Sophie Harvey are additionally entered within the occasion, lower than a tenth away from one another and about half-a-second behind Manuel.
Again-to-Again Finishes
Each the boys’s and ladies’s backstroke occasions function some very shut races that might be determined by a really small margin.
The ladies’s occasions are spotlighted by World Document holder Regan Smith, who’s undoubtedly the favourite to win all three distances this week. It’s shaping as much as be a canine struggle within the races after her, nonetheless. Katharine Berkoff has been on the prime of girls’s backstroke in america for some time, and he or she is entered within the 100 again because the 2nd seed within the 50 and 100 backstrokes. She can be entered within the 200, however with a SCY time, coming in at twenty second.
Different superstars on the ladies’s facet embrace Canadian backstroker Kylie Masse who’s coming off a bronze medal on the Olympics within the 200 and a 4th place end within the 100. Fellow Canadian backstroker Ingrid Wilm, who focuses extra on the 100, may even be within the occasions. Rhyan White, a 2021 backstroke Olympian, is one other swimmer to observe.
On the boys’s facet, we’ve got Olympian Hunter Armstrong making his return within the 50 and 100 backstroke occasions as the highest seed. Shaine Casas will not be far behind him, nonetheless, and Casas is coming off among the finest meets of his profession on the 2024 SC World Championships in December.
Michael Andrew, who has traditionally been very robust at 50s and 100s of stroke distances, seems within the 50 again, and his private greatest occasions at all times make him a menace, particularly together with his new coaching.
New Coach, Who Dis?
Talking of Michael Andrew, this is likely one of the first meets we are going to see him race in since his stunning teaching change after final summer season’s disappointment. After going professional at age 12, Andrew had spent his total profession coaching together with his dad in a reasonably controversial surroundings that centered solely on sprinting. They had been topic to quite a lot of criticism for his or her coaching strategies, however they appeared to work for him, till the previous few years when he has struggled to make World Championships and Olympic rosters.
In September, he introduced he had been coaching by himself, and in October, he made the full-time transfer to Tempe to coach with ASU coach Herbie Behm. Since then, he has swam just a few meets, the SC World Champs lower than two months later, and lately the Copa Internacional the place he raced just a few occasions, however seemed to be unrested. He now has 4 months underneath his belt of Behm’s coaching, so will probably be attention-grabbing to see what he’s able to.
Andrew is entered within the 50 again, 50 breast, 50 fly, 100 breast, 200 IM, and 50 freestyle.
Hungarian teenager Vivien Jackl is one other athlete who has lately made a big teaching change and who will likely be swimming this week. Only recently, Jackl made the change to teach Shane Tusup and so they signed with the Hungarian multi-sport membership Honved.
Whereas two weeks doubtless isn’t sufficient time to see vital adjustments in her teaching, she has by no means competed in a TYR professional cease earlier than, so we’re already seeing the influence of a brand new coach on her meet schedule.
Jackl is entered in a full lineup of seven occasions together with the 200 free, 200 fly, 200 IM, 400 free, 400 IM, 800 free, and 1500 free.
Membership Consolation
Two excessive profile swimmers made a unique sort of teaching change, leaving their school groups at semester to return to their membership groups to coach for Worlds.
Aaron Shackell was the primary to announce his coaching change, when he left Texas after the Texas Corridor of Fame Invite to return dwelling to Carmel and practice together with his membership crew and membership coach there. This was the 2nd 12 months in a row that Shackell made the choice to go away at semester and return dwelling.
Shackell is entered within the 200 free, 400 free, and 100 fly for his first actual meet since leaving Texas.
Luke Whitlock is the opposite athlete to maneuver dwelling. He swam one semester at Florida, and after the UGA Fall Invitational, he introduced his choice to return to the Fishers Space Swim Crew so he may put all his focus right into a Worlds qualification.
Whitlock is entered in 5 occasions, the 200 free, 400 free, 800 free, 1500 free, and the 400 IM.
Altering of the Guard
Whereas we’ve got spent the entire time discussing the swimmers who’re already Olympians or World Champions, we’ve got not checked out all of the younger expertise on the meet.
Most of the teenage swimmers have had large years breaking NAG information and discovering themselves in World Rankings and as legit threats of their occasions this weekend.
15-year-old Rylee Erisman from Laker Swim lately broke the NAG file within the 100 free and a Nationwide Public Excessive College file within the 50 free. She remains to be younger and solely getting quicker, however she is totally a swimmer to observe within the coming years, and possibly this 12 months.
Luka Mijatovic is one other 15-year-old phenom who’s racing this weekend, after lacking Winter Juniors. Mijatovic is entered within the 200 free, 400 free, 800 free, 1500 free. He presently holds the NAG file within the 400 freestyle, however we might be seeing extra information go down this week.
Different younger swimmers we’re watching this week embrace Teagan O’Dell, Madi Mintenko, and Andy Kravchenko. Many of those youthful athletes will likely be making their first World Championships bid at this summer season’s trials.
