2025 U.S. Nationals: Day 1 Finals Live Recap ...Middle East

By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam

2025 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Day 1 Finals Heat Sheet

We kick off the 2025 U.S. National Championships tonight with the 200 fly, 100 free and a pair of distance events, with the potential for up to 20 swimmers to punch their ticket to Singapore this summer.

We begin with the women’s 200 fly, and whilst 2024 Olympic silver medalist Regan Smith nailed down lane 4 in the heats her fellow Olympian in this event, Alex Shackell, was only fifth this morning. Taking second behind Smith was Stanford’s Caroline Bricker, who appears to be converting a phenomenal NCAA championships into huge gains in long course.

She took 1.75 seconds off her best from last year to go 2:07.37, but with Shackell (SB – 2:06.13) and Audrey Derivaux (SB – 2:06.46) in the field she’ll have a tough job to hold onto the second spot. Shackell was out fastest of anyone this morning in 59.46 so look for her to push the pace. With Tess Howley and 2023 Worlds finalist Lindsey Looney also looking to gatecrash, this should be a great race.

Luca Urlando is the top seed in the men’s 200 fly and will be looking to claim his second national title after winning in 2022. He delivered a stunning swim of 1:52.37 in this event at the start of April to rank fourth all-time, and was out on that pace until the final 50. Look for him to make a statement tonight after finishing second last year.

The swimmer who beat him in 2024 is down in seventh. Thomas Heilman will need some outside smoke to make the top two after going 1:55.81 this morning, although he is one of only three men in the field to have broken 1:54. The other is Carson Foster, who will be in lane six with 2022 World semi-finalist Trenton Julian outside him in lane 7.

Gabe Jett broke 1:57 for the first time since 2022 to go 1:54.87 in an eye-opening swim for him. His best is half a second faster than he was this morning, and along with Mason Laur (1:54.97) will flank Urlando tonight with both hoping to qualify for Worlds for the first time.

Gretchen Walsh leads the womens 100 free after breaking 53 seconds for the second time in prelims with a 52.99. She seems to have really converted her freestyle speed over to long course this year, and and will be aiming for her first top-two finish in this event after placing third in each of the last two years.

She will flanked by the top two from last year, Torri Huske and Kate Douglass, although the 100 free/200 breast double at Worlds means that Douglass would be unlikely to take her spot if she did finish in the top two. Huske is the second-fastest American Woman in history after he silver-medal-winning 52.29 in Paris, and looked strong with a 53.32 in prelims.

Erin Gemmel hacked half a second off her best this morning to tie Simone Manuel for fourth in 53.61, and Virginia swimmers will make up half the field with Anna Moesch and Maxine Parker, who beat Claire Curzan in an unusual swim-off for the spot, in lanes 7 and 8.

The men’s 100 free should be a fascinating showdown, with five men sub-48 this morning. That includes three Sun Devils, with two of them breaking that barrier for the first time; Jonny Kulow (47.84) in third and Patrick Sammon (47.87) in fourth. Grant House is the other, dropping three-tenths from his best to go 48.16, and it could take a 47-point swim to qualify for the relay team for the second year in a row.

Whilst ASU has the most swimmers in the final, Cal provides the top two. Jack Alexy became the sixth man to break 47 seconds as he broke the US Open Record for the second year in a row in prelims, whilst Destin Lasco ran down Kulow in heat 7 to set a new best of 47.82.

Chris Guiliano, the third fastest American man in history, will be in lane 2 and along with Alexy is the only returner from the relay team in Paris. Shaine Casas squeaked through in eighth but was only a hundredth off his PB from 2022, as everyone bar him and Guiliano set new best times. This should be a cutthroat final, with a somewhere between one and three first time World qualifiers to come out of it.

The finale will see two of the greatest distance swimmers of all time in their best events.  Katie Ledecky is a certainty in the 800 after breaking her 2016 World Record in Fort Lauderdale last month, and is seeded 18 seconds clear of Jillian Cox in second. While she likely will not be quite down in the 8:04s again, she should dominate the field here. Cox made the Worlds team in 2023 and is the favourite for second after winning the 500/1650 double at NCAAs, but Claire Weinstein has been on fire recently and could push her close.

Meanwhile Bobby Finke is the only man entered under 14:40 and 14:50 for the men, and should cement his place on the team tonight. The World Record holder and double Olympic Gold medalist has been 14:54 already this year – four seconds faster than he was coming into Olympic trials in 2024.

David Johnston and Luke Ellis will be on either side of him, with Johnston aiming to make the team again after finishing second last year and Ellis aiming to translate his Junior Pan Pacs silver medal into a senior worlds spot. Charlie Clark is in lane six, but made the team along with Finke in 2022 and 2023, with the three of them likely to battle it out for second.

Women’s 200 Butterfly — Prelims

Men’s 200 Butterfly — Prelims

Women’s 100 Freestyle — Prelims

Men’s 100 Freestyle — Prelims

Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2025 U.S. Nationals: Day 1 Finals Live Recap

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( 2025 U.S. Nationals: Day 1 Finals Live Recap )

Also on site :

• Bruno Fernandes’ ex-referee wife went from paying for dates when he was broke to convincing him to snub £200m Saudi move
• Full list of 80 Asda stores selling Nintendo Switch 2 TODAY after pre-order chaos saw games flogged on eBay for £1000
• Former KKR bowler in deep trouble, indicted for match-fixing