On May 14, Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos chatted with Michael Andrew, Regan Smith, Phoebe Bacon, and Paige Madden following their wins on Day 3 at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis.
Michael Andrew
Michael Andrew won the men’s 100 meter butterfly race with a time of 50.80 seconds, which is a new Championship Record, obliterating Caeleb Dressel’s previous Championship Record of 50.92 seconds. This race was presented by Xfinity. “That felt good,” he admitted. “Coming into finals it was the plan to go out quite a bit faster and then maintain the endurance. It felt really nice to nail down the race plan and the race strategy. It felt strong all around. It was a very good swim.”
“There are some small details in there that I can adjust to be faster for the next opportunity if we decide to swim it at the Trials,” Andrew admitted.
On his time, Andrew noted that it was precisely what he planned on doing tonight. “I would have liked to go 50.5, but the race execution was great. I knew that this morning I finished really well, so this evening I just wanted to put in as much speed as I could going out, and I think I was to the wall in 23.3 and then I closed nicely,” he said.
“It was a good race, there are details to adjust and overall it was just really strong into the closing. I feel like this whole weekend is just building confidence going into the U.S. Olympic Trials,” he added.
“Tomorrow is going to be the 200 meter IM (individual medley). It’s one of the new bread and butter races,” he foreshadowed. “It’s going to be good. We decided to drop the 50 meter freestyle. Right now, our main focus is the 200 meter IM and I think it can be pretty quick.”
Papadatos also chatted with Regan Smith, Paige Madden, and Phoebe Bacon who were both winners in their events.
Regan Smith
Regan Smith won the women’s 100 meter butterfly event with a time of 57.68 seconds.”It was really similar to this morning (during prelims), so I was hoping to pull something a little faster here, but I’ll take it. It was a tough double tonight and it was a great race, we were all right on top of each other so to come out with the win is great,” she said.
“The double was tough, it was great to win the 100 meter fly. I had a really close race,” she said. “I have two close races tonight actually so to finish up with a win tonight was great. It was a fun race.”
On the greatest lesson that Smith has learned in the TYR Pro Swim Series races this (2021) season, she responded, “Definitely don’t put too much pressure on any one race. What happened tonight is not what is going to happen 30 days from now, and what happened in March won’t influence what will happen in June either. I can’t get too caught up in any one race because if I do that, I will start swimming. I have to take it race by race and relax.”
Smith shared that she is excited for the U.S. Olympic Trials. “For a while, I honestly was nervous, and now that we are getting closer to them, training is going really well, and things have been going fun so far. I am feeling a lot more excited than nervous, which I think is a good thing right now,” she said.
Paige Madden
Paige Madden won the women’s 200 meter freestyle race with a time of 1:57.47. “It felt pretty good,” she said. “To be up against Allison Schmitt, it’s not every day that you beat an American record holder. That was pretty big for me and a good confidence booster.”
She shared that she is excited about the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha. “I am so excited,” she admitted. “I love racing and this was a good opportunity. It was good to get out of my comfort zone because I have been through the NCAA all season and I am excited that I got my chance transitioning into long-course so I think that’s good.”
Phoebe Bacon
Phoebe Bacon triumphed in the women’s 200 meter backstroke with a time of 2:06.84, who bested Regan Smith who clocked 2:06.90. “It was really exciting,” she said. “Regan is a tough competitor, her and I go back and forth. This was a win for me and who knows what will happen in the next race.”
“Regan went out fast and I knew I had to be right there with her,” Bacon added. “Lately in practices I am really working my back half.”
