Simone Manuel posts another statement swim to end Tyr Pro Series meet
Simone Manuel swam her fastest 100m freestyle since November 2020 to cap the best meet yet of her return to competition.
Manuel, the co-2016 Olympic 100m free champ, clocked 53.35 seconds at a Tyr Pro Series meet in Westmont, Illinois, edging Torri Huske by four hundredths.
Manuel improved to the sixth-fastest American in the event since the start of 2023. Up to the top six at June's Olympic Trials are expected to make the team for the Paris Games for 4x100m free relay duty.
SWIMMING: Full Results
Simone Manuel details long road back from swimming break
Simone Manuel, the fastest female American swimmer in history, stopped after the Tokyo Olympics.
Manuel's win on the meet's last day came over a field that included three of the five fastest Americans since the start of 2023: Huske, Abbey Weitzeil (third in 53.95) and Olivia Smoliga (sixth in 54.99)
Manuel also won the 200m free on Thursday over a field that included Claire Weinstein, the 2023 U.S. champion in the event.
Manuel, an 11-time world champion, didn't swim for five months after the Tokyo Games while recovering from overtraining syndrome, then moved from Stanford to Arizona State.
She went 17 months between top-level swim meets, returning in January 2023.
Also Saturday, Jack Alexy won what could be an Olympic Trials preview in the men's 100m free.
Alexy, the 2023 World silver medalist, prevailed in 48.37, holding off Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel by two tenths. Ryan Held, the third-fastest American since the start of 2023, was third in 48.66.
Like with the women's 100m free, the top two at trials make the Olympic team in the individual event and likely the top six for the relay.
Regan Smith won the 200m backstroke in 2:03.99, the seventh-fastest time in history.
Over the last two days, Smith swam the fastest time ever this early in a year in the 100m and 200m backs and the 200m butterfly, events she earned silver or bronze in at last July's world championships.
The next Pro Series stop — the last one before trials — is April 10-13 in San Antonio.
