Daniel Diehl Officially Downs 17-18 NAG in 100 Back at U.S. Open
After his stellar summer while still 16 years old, it was only a matter of time before Daniel Diehl added the national-age group record in the boys 100 backstroke at the 17-18 age group to his resume.
That day was Friday in prelims of the U.S. Open, when Diehl led the field with a time of 53.11.
At age 16 this summer, Diehl went faster than any 17- or 18-year-old in history in the 100 back. That seemed to be a promise of more to come, and he’s duly cashing that in.
Diehl re-set the 15-16 record several times – first to 53.59, then 53.40 in prelims at the Junior Pan Pacific hampionships in August, then 53.27 in finals there. That latter time was quicker than the 17-18 NAG owned by Ryan Murphy (53.38 from 2013) and remains the 15-16 NAG.
The older record wouldn’t be Diehl’s, though, until he formally aged up. That day came Friday, and he has a chance to take the record under 53 seconds in the evening’s finals.
Diehl went out in 25.87 and came back in 27.24 Friday morning. His time was fastest by almost a second and a half, with USC swimmer and Greek Olympian Evangelos Makrygiannis second in 54.53. Tommy Tanton, another junior swimmer, was third in 55.17.
Diehl also owns the 13-14 100 back record in short-course yards.