The 2018 TYR Pro Derby was underway this weekend at the University of Louisville, with plenty of big names (Kelsi Dahlia, Michael Andrew, and Bruno Fratus to name a few) showing up to race in the three round, shootout style 50 freestyle. The pro competition, which was on Saturday, was preceded by a drowning prevention clinic on Thursday and a banquet on Friday, with a 12 & under meet in the same format set to go off on Sunday.
In addition to the big names competing in the water (which you can see here), Olympian Ryan Lochte was on hand to act as the event’s emcee and Sam Kendricks served as the announcer. You can see a outline of how the event works and a recap of each of the men’s and women’s events below.
TYR Pro Derby Format
Round One: Eight swimmers race with the top six qualifying for the next round
Round Two: Six swimmers race, with the top four qualifying for the next round
Round Three: Four swimmers race, with cash prizes for first ($4,000) through fourth ($1,000)
Women
Round One
Madison Kennedy led all swimmers through the first round of the women’s event, touching 24.88. She was joined under the 25-second mark by Margo Geer, who qualified second in 24.97. Just behind them was Olympian Lia Neal (25.04). Rounding out the top six that moved forward were Farida Osman (25.23), Kelsi Dahlia (25.34), and Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace (25.41).
Round Two
Showing some fatigue from the first round, every swimmer was slower in the second round. Geer was closest to her time from the first round, moving forward after adding just .04 to finish in 25.01. In second was Kennedy (25.24), and joining her moving forward to the final was Neal (25.32) and Osman (25.39).
Round Three
Margo Geer held on to her top qualifying spot in the final, hitting the wall first in 24.91 to take first and the $4,000 prize. In second and collection $3,000 was Madison Kennedy in 25.02, while Lia Neal (25.15) and Farida Osman (25.84) each took home $2,000 and $1,000 respectively.
Men
Round One
Bruno Fratus was fast out the gate, carrying the speed he showed at Brazil Nationals just last week with the only sub-22 swim of the first round. Fratus led all qualifiers with a 21.74, exactly three tenths ahead of second qualifier Michael Andrew (22.04). In third was Andriy Govorov (22.08), while Kristian Gkolomeev (22.20), Shinri Shioura (22.46), and Michael Chadwick (22.62) rounded out the top six that advanced to the second round.
Round Two
Andrew moved from second to first through the second round, dropping .01 to hit the wall in 22.03 and take the top spot heading into the final round. Fratus added four tenths to his time from the first round, hitting the wall in 22.15 and showing how important consistency is in this format. They were joined by Shioura (22.24) and Gkolomeev (22.32) to move ahead to the final round.
Round Three
The final round of the men’s event did not disappoint, with three of the four men putting up sub-22 second swims. But it was Michael Andrew who ended as the overall winner of the event and as the recipient of the $4,000 prize, getting faster once again in the third round to hit the wall in 21.84. That was just .03 ahead of Fratus, whose time in the first round would have been good enough for first. Gkolomeev put up a 21.99 to take third and the $2,000 prize, while Shioura was fourth in 22.62 to take home $1,000.