The 2019 US Open began on Wednesday night in Atlanta, Georgia with the men’s and women’s 800 freestyle on the program as this has the feels of an “opening day” in football or baseball because it kicks off the Olympic year with a stacked long course meet. Katie Ledecky and Guilherme da Costa took the women’s and men’s races as the meet kicks off in full force with the heats on Thursday morning.
US Open Details:
Women’s 800 Free
Katie Ledecky continued her impressive fall with an 8:14.59 in the 800 free on Wednesday night at the US Open in Atlanta as she was never challenged throughout the race, winning ahead of Australian Kiah Melverton (8:26.08) and USA’s Leah Smith (8:27.49).
Ledecky was an 8:14.9 earlier this year at the Greensboro Pro Swim Series as she was not far off her gold medal winning time from the World Championships earlier this year at 8:13.8 where she was sick and not at 100% for the final. She is back on track with another consistent sub-8:15 which is outside the top 25 swims in the event (she holds 24 of the top 25 times all-time). Her swim tonight in Atlanta was faster than the silver medal winning time from Simona Quadarella (8:14.9) at Worlds, meaning Ledecky will be very very tough to beat at Tokyo next summer, assuming she doesn’t fall ill again on the way to an unprecedented third straight Olympic gold in the 800.
Melverton of Australia was second ahead of Smith as both were finalists in this event at Worlds with Smith placing fifth and Melverton placing seventh. Australia has a particularly impressive group in this event as it will be no walk in the park for Melverton to try and make the Tokyo team, having to deal with Worlds bronze medalist Ariarne Titmus and rising star and World juniors gold medalist Lani Pallister.
This was a particularly stacked field in the US Open tonight as Open Water Olympian Ashley Twichell (8:29.45) placed fourth ahead of fellow open water swimmer Erica Sullivan (8:30.76) and reigning National champion Ally McHugh (8:33.24).
Results:
- 8:14.59, Katie Ledecky, USA
- 8:26.08, Kiah Melverton, AUS
- 8:27.49, Leah Smith, USA
- 8:29.45, Ashley Twichell, USA
- 8:30.76, Erica Sullivan, USA
- 8:33.24, Ally McHugh, USA
- 8:34.91, Moesha Johnson, USA
- 8:35.20, Kaersten Meitz, USA
Men’s 800 Free
In a race that was expected to play out between the American distance trio of Zane Grothe, Jordan Wilimovsky and Bobby Finke, it was actually Brazilian Guilherme da Costa who won the 800 free at the Toyota US Open in Atlanta with a 7:47.37. That was much quicker than he swam at the World Championships when he was 21st at 7:58.67, missing the final by 10 seconds. Had he swam that 7:47 in Gwangju this summer, then he would have been in the championship final, but alas he will have to wait to get it done at the Olympics next summer when the men’s 800 makes its debut in Tokyo.
Wilimovsky won the battle of the Americans as he could not run down da Costa with a 7:49.76, which was also faster than the 7:53 he had at Worlds when he placed 16th after already enduring a long week in open water the week prior. He looked to be in good shape as the top American distance swimmer on Wednesday. Grothe had taken it out well and was leading through the first half but could not hang on as he wound up third at 7:51.53, not far off his 7:50 at Worlds when he was 11th.
Florida sophomore Finke was fourth at 7:54.29 as he looked slightly sluggish and couldn’t get out with the likes of Costa, Grothe and Wilimovsky. Finke was just here two weeks ago when he only swam the 1650 at the Georgia Tech invite as he will be swimming a full program this weekend in Atlanta to take advantage of the long course venue.
Nick Norman and Akram Mahmoud had a great race in the second heat, putting themselves at fifth and sixth overall.
Team Santa Monica’s Ziyang Zhang also moved up to seventh overall with a 7:58.57 in heat three.
Results:
- 7:47.37, Guilherme da Costa, BRA
- 7:49.76, Jordan Wilimovsky, USA
- 7:51.53, Zane Grothe, USA
- 7:54.29, Bobby Finke, USA
- 7:56.72, Nick Norman, USA
- 7:57.13, Akram Mahmoud, EGY
- 7:58.57, Ziyang Zhang, CHN
- 7:59.28, Ricardo Vargas, MEX
