Five American Swimmers Compete in Inaugural FINA Champions Swim Series
The first leg of the inaugural FINA Champions Swim Series took place this past weekend in Guangzhou, China.
Five American swimmers competed in the meet, including Michael Andrew, Kesi Dahlia, Anthony Ervin, Molly Hannis and Dana Vollmer.
Andrew swam seven individual events, taking second in the 50m butterfly (23.27); third in the 50m free (21.97), 50m back (24.95) and 50m breast (27.07); and fourth in the 100m breast (1:02.78), 100m fly (52.49) and 200m IM (2:04.26). He also swam breaststroke on the second-place 400m mixed medley relay (3:48.90), along with Sarah Sjostrom (back), Nicholas Santos (fly) and Cate Campbell (free).
Dahlia took second in each of the three butterfly distances, turning in times of 25.95 in the 50, 58.25 in the 100 and 2:09.77 in the 200. She also swam the butterfly leg in the winning mixed 400m medley relay (3:48.55), with Ranomi Kromowidjojo (back), Joao Gomes (breast) and Benjamin Proud (free).
Hannis swam each of the three breaststroke events, taking second in the 50 (30.94) and the 100 (1:08.33), and fourth in the 200 (2:31.02). Hannis swam the freestyle leg in the mixed 400m medley relay, with her team of Katinka Hosszu (back), Felipe Lima (breast), Arno Kamminga (fly) finishing fourth in 3:58.53.
Ervin and Vollmer swam a lighter schedule, with Ervin finishing fourth in the 50m free in 22.90 and Vollmer finishing fourth in the 100m fly in 1:00.78. Vollmer also swam anchor on the third-place mixed 400m free relay (3:31.40), along with Vlad Morozov, Peter Timmers and Wang Jianjiahe.
The meet in Guangzhou is the first of three stops on the 2019 FINA Champions Series, a circuit gathering the top athletes of the sport. With an original competition format including only finals of four swimmers, the Series will very soon be a milestone in the FINA calendar.
The next stops will be May 11-12 in Budapest, and the final meet May 31-June 1 in Indianapolis.