U.S. Nationals: Luke Hobson Blasts Back Half for 200 Freestyle Top Seed
The American men reclaimed the world title in the 800 freestyle relay last year after a three-meet absence from the top of the podium and an Olympics where the U.S. team missed the podium for the first time in any Olympic relay. Now, the 200 free has become a strong event for the Americans, and five men got under 1:45 in Wednesday’s prelims at Nationals.
Leading the way was Luke Hobson, who trailed Kieran Smith at the halfway point of the final heat before blasting the third 50 to pull himself into the lead. Hobson missed the Worlds team last year by one spot, but he won national title in the event at the end of the summer. He broke 1:46 for the first time at the Duel in the Pool against Australia in late August, and during his sophomore season at the University of Texas, Hobson won national titles in the 200 and 500-yard free events while joining the exclusive sub-1:30 club in the 200-yard race.
Now, Hobson is in prime position to secure his first spot at a major international meet after his 1:45.12 in prelims that sits a half-second ahead of the field. Notably, this prelims time is already more than two seconds faster than Hobson’s seventh-place time from last year’s selection meet (1:47.43) and faster than Smith swam to win the final last year (1:45.25).
The second seed was Carson Foster, fresh off a win in the 200 butterfly Tuesday night. Foster touched in 1:45.62, narrowly behind his best time of 1:45.57, while Carmel’s Drew Kibler was third in 1:45.67. Kibler was the fourth-place finisher in the 200 free at last year’s Worlds.
A second Carmel alum will join Kibler in the final after Jake Mitchell dropped more than a second to qualify fourth in 1:45.82. Mitchell, an Olympic finalist in the 400 free at the Tokyo Games now competing for the University of Florida, closed down on Foster at the end of their heat, and he will be in very solid position to qualify for Worlds in the final, with six swimmers likely to be selected for the 800 free relay in Fukuoka.
Smith will be looking for an individual spot in the 200 free for the third consecutive year as he qualified fifth in 1:46.10. Sixth went to Longhorn’s Coby Carrozza in 1:46.72, so expect a big University of Texas flair in the final with former Longhorns Foster and Kibler joining Hobson and Carrozza in the field.
The last two spots in the final went to Aggie’s Baylor Nelson (1:46.89) and Jersey Wahoos’ Henry McFadden (1:46.94), with both men swimming large personal-best times. That locked Zane Grothe out of the final by three hundredths as the veteran finished in 1:46.97, his fastest time since 2017.
