The stars were out for the US on Saturday in Mesa as some of the biggest names in swimming took first place in their races at the Arena Pro Swim Series. Katie Ledecky will be as big a star as anyone this summer in Rio and she made it three wins in three tries in the women’s 800m freestyle. Danish swimmer Lotte Friis was second while Cierra Runge had her first top four finish in third.
Maya DiRado won the women’s 200m individual medley for the second straight time while Ella Eastin was second in her first race of the season while Melanie Margalis finally didn’t finish second. Unfortunately she didn’t move in the direction she hoped to. Michael Phelps made it three-for-three on the men’s side with Chase Kalisz finishing in the top four for the first time in second. David Nolan’s first appearance of the year resulted in a third place finish.
Maya DiRado won her second event of the day in the women’s 200m backstroke while Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe was second and Kaitlin Harty finished third in her first apperance. The men’s side saw Ryan Lochte grab his first win of the year with Omar Pinzon of Colombia in second and Connor Green with his first top-five finish of the year in third.
The women’s 100m freestyle saw Simone Manuel win her third race in three tries this year. Abbey Weitzeil has also been really strong and her second place finish makes it three top-three finishes in three tries. Finally Dana Vollmer was third in her first appearance in this event. Nathan Adrian won for the fourth straight time in the men’s 100m freestyle with Cristian Quintero of Venezuela in second and Jimmy Feigen finishing in third for the second time this season.
Finally in the men’s 1500m freestyle Jordan Wilimovsky won in his first appearance of the season and made it four winners in four events. Michael McBroom added a second place finish to his first from Minneapolis while Ous Mellouli of Tunisia now has three third place finishes in three tries.
The fifth of seven events will be next month in Charlotte starting on May 12th.
