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Women’s 200 Breast (Madisyn Cox)
A year after being forced to sit out of Nationals due to a positive doping test, Madisyn Cox made the most of her return to the meet by easily besting the field in the 200 breaststroke. Cox moved through her four laps in 2:23.84 to take the gold medal, finishing well ahead of Abby Arens (2:25.80). Cox got out to a slow start, making the first turn in eighth, but Cox quickly surged to the front of the field and pulled away over the final three laps.
Cox is the fourth fastest American this year.
Cox’s 2018 was a nightmare, as a March doping test resulted in her testing positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance. Although Cox was able to prove that the substance was found in a multivitamin she was taking, she remained suspended from the sport. The only upshot of the entire ordeal was the fact that Cox’s suspension was lowered from two years to six months. Now that she’s back at Nationals, Cox could push for additional titles as the week rolls on.
Another jump in the rankings was Jenna Strauch who went from fourth in prelims to taking the bronze in finals with a time of 2:26.05. Miranda Tucker dropped 1.31 seconds to take fourth with a time of 2:26.50. Grabbing fifth was Gillian Davey with a time of 2:26.80, as she just out-touched Anna Keating with a time of 2:26.90.
In seventh was Ellie Andrews with a time of 2:29.02, and coming in eighth was Kate Douglass with a time of 2:29.70.
