Weir Wins Second Gold on Final Night of Missouri Grand Prix

COLUMBIA, Mo. (USA Swimming)—Olympian and U.S. National Team member Amanda Weir (Lawrenceville, Ga./Swim Atlanta) won her second event of the meet Sunday at the Missouri Grand Prix, taking the women’s 100m freestyle with a time of 54.41. 
Finishing behind her were Hannah Wilson of Cal Aquatics in 55.27 and Victoria Poon of Canada in 55.38. The win marked a clean sweep of the sprint events for Weir, who also won the women’s 50m free on Saturday. 

“I’m feeling really great about it,” Weir said. “January 1 hit, and I was like, ‘Let’s have good meets from here on out.’ I’m just really trying to build on it and work on the little stuff for the rest of the season. 

“I’ve been working on my starts a lot – really working on the dolphin kicks. It’s never really been one of my strong points, so I’m just trying to pick out all my little weaknesses and fix them.” 

Fourteen-year-old U.S. National Junior Teamer Katie Ledecky won the women’s 800m free with a time of 8:30.14, narrowly missing the national age group record of 8:29.35, set in 1978 by Sippy Woodhead. 

Ledecky bested the rest of the field by about 9 seconds. Leah Smith finished second in 8:39.52, while Olympian Chloe Sutton was third in 8:41.65. It was Ladecky’s second medal of the meet after winning silver in the 400m free Saturday. 

“I knew what the record was,” Ladecky said. “I wasn’t going for it. If it happened, it happened, but I’m really happy with that swim. My best time was from Junior Nationals in August, and this race felt a lot better, a lot smoother. It was a really great race compared to (Junior Nationals).” 

Another young swimmer having a great night Sunday was 16-year-old Ryan Murphy, who won the men’s 200m backstroke with a time of 1:59.11, edging out Tobias Oriwol of Swim Ontario by 34-hundredths of a second. Omar Pinzon of Columbia was third in 1:59.91. 

Murphy competed in the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico last October and was using this meet as a tune-up for the Olympic Team Trials in June. 

“I wouldn’t say it’s my biggest win, or my best race ever, because it’s an in-season meet,” Murphy said. “The big meet for me will be Olympic Trials, so everything this season is geared towards me going my fastest at Olympic Trials. This meet is definitely a good confidence boost because I was racing a lot of the same guys I’ll be racing at that meet. 

“I was in a good frame of mind tonight. This morning I was hurting pretty bad in the water, and I wasn’t feeling very good, so I think it was good for me to refocus. I think that helped me a lot. I came in and did a good warm-up, and it obviously paid off in the race.” 

Olympian Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Tucson Ford Aquatics) took home his second medal of the meet Sunday – a bronze in the 100m free (50.12) – behind world record-holder Cesar Cielo of Brazil (49.51) and Richard Hortness of Swim Ontario (49.97). 

Grevers also won gold in the 100m back on Saturday, and proposed to his fiancée Annie Chandler on the medal stand after that race. 

“This meet was kind of shot in the foot with the engagement,” Grevers said. “I’m still swimming pretty well, but I think my focus definitely switched to the engagement part. I was very nervous. 

“My job is to swim fast, and I know this meet is going to help me do that. The 100 backs both were awesome this meet. Fifty-three-five is really good for me. If I can consistently hold those during the Grand Prixs, while I’m working out as hard as I am, that’s a very good sign for the future. My freestyle on the other hand, is a little slower than before, so if I really want to make that relay, I’ve got to pump up my freestyle somehow and figure out some tricks to get back on my A-game.” 

In the men’s 200m IM, National Teamer Jack Brown (Atlanta, Ga./University of Missouri Aquatics) won his second medal of the meet, finishing third in 2:14.19, behind Brazil’s Thiago Pereira (1:59.91) and Swim Ontario’s Andrew Ford (2:02.91). 

“I’m still pretty beat up,”’ Brown said. “I had some good swims on the first day, and my 200 breast last night was probably my best swim of the meet, where I got third. Tonight getting second – Thiago is a world-class swimmer who, any given year could medal at the Olympics. Getting beat by him doesn’t hurt my confidence too much. 

Other winners Sunday included Julia Wilkinson of Canada in the women’s 200m IM (2:13.10), Sinead Russell of Swim Ontario in the women’s 200m back (2:09.47) and Kier Maitland of Edmonton in the men’s 1500m freestyle (15:27.01). 

Sunday’s session concluded the three-day meet. For more information, including complete results, go to www.usaswimming.org.missourigrandprix.