Anna Peplowski Riding Momentum From Worlds and NCAAs, Targeting 200 Free at Trials
The chance at earning a World Championships spot appeared to vanish when Anna Peplowski finished seventh in the 200 freestyle at last summer’s U.S. Nationals. Six swimmers typically receive the nod to join the American team for relay duty, and Peplowski had finished a half-second out of qualifying position, a time of 1:57.59 that would easily have qualified for Worlds one year earlier.
But days later, Peplowski was given a second chance: moments after her final race of the meet, Katie Ledecky revealed she would not race the individual 200 free at the World Championships, bumping every other swimmer in that race up a spot. Hence, Peplowski went to Fukuoka, Japan, to swim in prelims on the U.S. women’s 800 free relay team. She ended up clocking a career-best time of 1:56.88 as she anchored the morning squad to the top-seeded time, and she ended up earning a silver medal for her efforts.
Looking back on those meets nine months later, Peplowski views them as formative as she seeks bigger goals in her career.
“I feel like I’ve learned so much from last summer, just coming off World Champ Trials and being under the big lights,” Peplowski said. “Being able to experience Worlds last summer was another different type of pressure. It’s all just a learning experience, and I feel like I’ve grown so much since then. Just taking one step at a time leading up to this summer.”
The standard will be even tougher in 2024, with USA Swimming have adjusted the rule quirk that allowed Peplowski to qualify for Fukuoka as a the seventh-place finisher. The Olympic Trials will take place in Indianapolis, not far from Peplowski’s college home of Bloomington or her hometown of Germantown Hills, Ill., but in a football stadium where the pressure will be intense, greater than any other swim meet. The standard Peplowski expects to be necessary for relay qualification in the 200 free? Fierce. “I definitely think it’s going to take a 1:55-high or 1:56-low,” she said.
Anna Peplowski — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
But by any measure, Peplowski is a superior swimmer to one year ago. Compare her NCAA results from her sophomore to junior seasons. In 2023, she was sixth in the 200-yard free at the national championship meet and ninth in the 200 back. This year, she took third in the 500 free and seventh in the 100 free, events which she didn’t even swim last season, and she played a key role on Indiana’s relays, but her most impressive effort came in the 200 free.
Peplowski did not swim under 1:43 during her sophomore season, and she had already dropped her best time by more than a second to 1:42.04 entering NCAAs. Leading off Indiana’s 800 free relay on night one of the meet, she clocked 1:41.16. And in the individual final, Peplowski almost ran down pre-race favorite Bella Sims in the closing strokes, out-splitting the Florida freshman by seven tenths over the final 50 yards before coming in just seven hundredths behind in 1:40.97.
“I think I just really learned to swim my own race,” Peplowski said of that performance. “Just keeping my head down, racing that last 100. Bella’s awesome to race. Just knowing to stay in my own lane. Wish I would have got her, but we’ll see. I think I’m definitely really proud of myself for how far I’ve come. I’ve got to remember that, coming back from last year and stuff and getting sixth, getting second this year was a big improvement.”
Now, Peplowski and all her collegiate rivals will turn toward the long course season, and she expects additional long course practices as part of the regimen over the next two months. Her long course racing season begins this week at the TYR Pro Swim Series in San Antonio, where Peplowski will go up against several of her top domestic foes in the 200 free in addition to racing the 50, 100 and 400 free plus the 100 back.
Peplowski believes she has already seen benefits from additional aerobic and 500 free-focused training this season, and that should continue to pay off as she targets the 200-meter race. She plans to rely on the high-level racing she has accumulated and her bond with her Indiana teammates in the coming months.
Over her successful past 12 months, Peplowski has learned “to take things as they come.” That mentality will help her stay focused but relaxed as Olympic Trials close in.
“It’s all about staying mentally sharp, not getting ahead of yourself, not getting behind yourself, just staying in the moment and taking things as they come and just enjoying it all because swimming isn’t forever,” Peplowski said. “I think being able to enjoy it now that I’m in my junior year and knowing I have one year left or whatever that might look like in the future. Just kind of taking it all in and enjoying it.”