Knoxville Races to Watch (Women’s): 200 IM World Champions Face Off Against Teenage Golden Threat
The first American gold medal at last year’s World Championships came in the women’s 200 IM, when Kate Douglass ran down defending world champion and University of Virginia teammate Alex Walsh with a brilliant freestyle leg. Douglass, returning to the 200 IM after a year away, swam a time of 2:07.17, with Walsh eight tenths behind at 2:07.97 for an American 1-2 finish, with China’s Yu Yiting a further eight tenths back.
However, repeating that 1-2 finish at the Olympic level is going be much more difficult, largely because of the esteemed medley swimmers missing from that Fukuoka final. Australia’s Kaylee McKeown, the silver medalist in the event one year earlier and eighth-fastest performer in history, had been disqualified in the semifinals for an illegal backstroke-to-breaststroke turn, and even if she did swim in the final, she would have had a quick turnaround from the 100 back semis into the medley race.
Meanwhile, Canada’s Summer McIntosh opted out of the 200 IM to focus on four other individual events, but months earlier, McIntosh had blasted a mark of 2:06.89 in the event, making her the fourth-fastest swimmer ever and the first in almost seven years (since the 2016 Olympics) to crack 2:07. The event lineup at Worlds did not work out for McIntosh to race the shorter medley event, but that won’t be the case in Paris.
At her second Games, expect McIntosh to race the 400 free on day one, 400 IM on day three and 200 fly on days five and six. She might have to drop the 200 free, scheduled for the second and third days of the meet, but the schedule sets up perfectly for McIntosh to take a shot at the 200 IM on the seventh and eighth days of the competition. McIntosh has shown no trouble maintaining her form throughout long meets or even improving as the championship goes along, which is scary for her competition.
This weekend, McIntosh will race the 200 IM against Douglass and Walsh at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville, Tenn., which will mark the first time ever all three of those swimmers are in the race together. It’s not often that a Pro Series meet features four of the seven fastest swimmers in history and the three fastest active performers, but that’s what will unfold on the final day in Knoxville, provided none of the three scratch out of the event.
Kate Douglass — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
All three swimmers will be at different points in their training, with Douglass targeting next month’s World Championships in Doha, Walsh coming up on the college championship season and McIntosh awaiting Canada’s Olympic Trials in May. But this potential Paris preview could still be enlightening, if only to see who will gain the advantage on each stroke.
When Douglass races the 200 IM, she is typically the best swimmer at each stroke except for backstroke. She was the World Championships silver medalist in the 200 breaststroke last year, and she is an international-quality 100 butterflyer and 100 freestyler. McIntosh tends to sprint the butterfly leg and hold on in the backstroke, but breaststroke is her weak stroke before her world-record-caliber freestyle finishes it off. Walsh has the best middle portion of the medley and does not have a true weak stroke.
Let’s hope all three of these women race the 200 IM and advance to the A-final because this one sets up as a true early-season treat for fans.
In other top women’s races to watch at the Knoxville meet:
100 Breaststroke
We’ll see the two most recent Olympic champions in the 100 breast along with two other legitimate international contenders in this race. Americans Lilly King and Lydia Jacoby entered last year’s World Championships with the world’s top-two times, but they struggled to repeat their season-best form. Jacoby ended up earning bronze, with King fourth, just five hundredths ahead of Ireland’s Mona McSharry.
McSharry, who competes for the University of Tennessee, will race against King and Jacoby in her home pool, while Anna Elendt, a teammate of Jacoby’s at the University of Texas, will be in the field as well. Elendt missed the final at the 2023 Worlds, but she won silver in the event for Germany one year earlier. All four swimmers have posted 1:05s in the last two years.
100 Butterfly
Torri Huske — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
How about five swimmer who have broken 57 within the last year? The 100 fly was one of the most competitive races at U.S. Nationals last year as Torri Huske edged out Gretchen Walsh and Kate Douglass, with Claire Curzan not far behind. At this point, it looks clear that the United States will send two serious medal contenders to Paris, with Huske likely to return to gold-medal contention if she can approach or beat her best time of 55.64.
Meanwhile, Maggie Mac Neil will be among the top Canadians racing in this weekend, and she is gearing up to try to defend the Olympic title she earned in Tokyo. While most of the Americans prefer to blast the early portion of the race, Mac Neil is among the best finishers in the world.
This race will take place in the same pool as a historic 100-yard fly showdown at the NCAA Championships last year, a race where Douglass touched out Mac Neil, with Huske third and Curzan fourth. Walsh skipped the event at NCAAs to focus on the 100 back, but her butterfly has been a revelation over the last year.
100 and 200 Freestyle
In the relay events, make sure to watch the championship final and the consolation heat. Six swimmers are likely to qualify for the Olympic team in the 100 and 200 free to handle relay duty in Paris, and almost every year, surprises emerge. Remember Bella Sims qualifying as a prelims swimmer at the 2021 Games, only to take on a larger role for the U.S. women one year later? At last year’s qualifying meet, Maxine Parker (100 free) and Alex Shackell (200 free) were the unexpected newcomers to the senior-level global stage as relay swimmers.
Who’s next? We have no idea, but keep track of who can swim 54-low in the 100 free or 1:57 in the 200 free. Anyone in that range this weekend will be setting themselves up well for the next few months.