ZCZC
BSP-06
SWIM-USA-OLY-2020-2021
US swim stars Manuel, Ledecky post wins in San Antonio
LOS ANGELES, March 5, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Simone Manuel won the 100m freestyle
at the Pro Swim Series in San Antonio Thursday, but the US Olympic champion
admits she’s still feeling the upheaval of the Covid-19 pandemic as she
pushes toward the rescheduled Tokyo Games.
“I don’t think there will ever be a sense of normalcy with something like
this,” said Manuel, who shared Olympic gold in the 100m free with Canadian
Penny Oleksiak in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“We’ve essentially been training for five years for the Olympic Games. That
takes a lot of mental strength.”
Manuel, who won four medals in Rio and went on to win four golds and three
silver medals at the 2019 World Championships, was on course to make a big
splash in the Tokyo pool in 2020.
Although she’s found the pandemic-enforced delay challenging, she knows
she’s not the only athlete to feel the same.
“I don’t feel cheated,” Manuel said. “I’m not the only one to experience
this extra year. It’s just an obstacle that all of us have had to face.”
In her first full-fledged long-course meeting in a year, Manuel said she
“would have liked to see something better” than her winning time of 54.62sec
in the 100m free.
But she was glad to feel the “different type of jitters” a meet produces.
Abbey Weitzeil was second in 54.68 and distance star Katie Ledecky finished
third in 54.74.
Ledecky later returned to win the 400m free in 4:05.00.
It was Ledecky’s second victory in two days, after her dominant win in the
1,500m free on Wednesday.
Blake Pieroni won the men’s 100m free in 49.19sec. Nathan Adrian, the 2012
Olympic 100m free gold medallist, clocked 49.53 to win a consolation final in
which multi-event star Caeleb Dressel — the two-time defending world
champion — finished third in 49.75.
Tokyo-bound Singaporean swimmer Quah Zheng Wen won the men’s 200m butterfly
in 1:57.52.
American Tom Shields was second in 1:59.05 and Chase Kalisz third in
1:59.08 while Dressel settled for eighth in 2:02.15.
World championships silver medallist Hali Flickinger won the women’s 200m
butterfly, finishing strong in 2:07.55 to beat double backstroke world
record-holder Regan Smith (2:08.85).
Michael Andrew won the 100m breaststroke in 1:00.10. Like Manuel, Andrew
said the time left plenty to be desired, but he, too, was pleased to be back
racing as the US Olympic trials loom in June.
“It’s huge,” he said. “This is actually my first long course race, it’s
exactly one year to the day. The time’s a second slower than it was in Iowa
last year, so lots to still work on.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/1003 hrs