Alex Walsh on 200 IM: ‘You just kinda gotta go for it on the first lap” | SwimSwam

By Coleman Hodges on SwimSwam

2021 U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS

• When:
  • Wave I Dates: June 4-7, 2021
  • Wave II Dates: June 13-20, 2021
• Prelims: 10am CDT | Finals: 7pm CDT
• Where: CHI Health Center / Omaha, Nebraska
• 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifying Cuts
• Wave I & II Event Order
• LCM (50m)
• Day 3 Finals Live Stream
• Psych Sheets
• Wave II Live Results
• Day 3 Finals Heat Sheet

Reported by James Sutherland.

WOMEN’S 200 IM FINAL

• World Record: Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:06.12 (2015)
• American Record: Ariana Kukors – 2:06.15 (2009)
• US Open Record: Kathleen Baker (USA) – 2:08.32 (2018)
• World Junior Record: Yu Yiting (CHN) – 2:09.64 (2021)
• 2016 Olympic Champion: Katinka Hosszu (HUN) – 2:06.58
• 2016 US Olympic Trials Champion: Maya DiRado – 2:09.54
• Wave I Cut: 2:17.39
• Wave II Cut: 2:15.26
• FINA ‘A’ Cut: 2:12.56

1. Alex Walsh (NAC), 2:09.30
2. Kate Douglass (UVA), 2:09.32
3. Madisyn Cox (TXLA), 2:09.34

This meet has had no shortage of unbelievably close three-way finishes, and we might’ve just seen the best one yet.

Alex Walsh came in riding the momentum of hitting a personal best in the semi-finals, and used her strength, the middle 100, to move into the lead after Torri Huske had blasted the fly leg in 26.52.

Madisyn Cox made her move on the breaststroke, taking over second at the 150, and looked to be on the way to finally earning her first Olympic berth. Walsh’s UVA teammate Kate Douglass began to make her push on the freestyle, and then it was the three of them—Walsh, Cox and Douglass—neck and neck in the closing meters.

Despite her stroke tying up at the end, Walsh held on for the win, touching in 2:09.30 to qualify for her first Olympic team, over four tenths slower than the semis.

Douglass, who came back in 31.04, clocked 2:09.32, and Cox lifted her head at the finish, registering a time of 2:09.34. Douglass’ swim improves on her best of 2:09.99 set in the semi-finals. The 19-year-old is now the ninth-fastest American in history, and also the fifth-fastest woman in the world this season.

 

That gives the Virginia teammates Walsh and Douglass the two Olympic berths, and it marks the first time since 2000 that four different women make it in the medley events.

It’s a painfully close third-place finish for Cox, who set a best time of 2:08.51 earlier this season and placed fourth in both IM events in 2016.

Huske, who was almost eight-tenths under world record pace with her 50 fly split, ended up fourth in 2:10.38, improving on her previous best of 2:11.18 and moving up from sixth to fourth all-time in the 17-18 age group.

Meghan Small picked up fifth in 2:11.65, producing a strong 1:07.9 back-half, while Melanie Margalis, arguably the favorite coming in, was back in sixth in 2:11.77.

Margalis’ bid for a second straight Olympic berth appears all but over after missing in the 400 IM and dropping the 200 freestyle. In Rio, Margalis took fourth in the 200 IM.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: Alex Walsh on 200 IM: ‘You just kinda gotta go for it on the first lap”