Vintage Simone Manuel Starts 2025 Strong With Two Wins in Westmont
For more than two years, Simone Manuel was nowhere close to her previous perch as best female sprinter in the United States and among the best in the world. Her struggles with Overtraining Syndrome had almost knocked her off the Tokyo Olympic team, with a spirited effort in the 50 freestyle required to make the roster on the final day of Olympic Trials, and following her second Games, she took a full year away from the sport to allow her body to recover.
Manuel’s initial foray back into the pool consisted of three days per week swimming by herself at a local fitness center as she prepared to move to Tempe, Ariz., and resume her career at Arizona State University. But even as she gradually worked back to top form, Manuel was nowhere close to her best times in early 2023, severely testing her patience. That summer, she made the decision to skip U.S. Nationals and forgo a chance at qualifying for the World Championships team, choosing instead to focus her training on an Olympic goal a year further down the line.
In the immediate leadup to the Paris Games, however, everything clicked. Manuel started hitting her best-ever in-season times at Pro Swim Series events. She put herself back in position to contend for Olympic spots in the 50, 100 and 200-meter races. At the Olympic Trials, she faded to seventh in the 200 free, eight hundredths away from getting on the team, but she came back to place fourth in the 100 free to snag a relay spot and then earn her third consecutive Trials win in the 50 free.
“It means the world, and I’m glad that I continued to keep fighting, regardless of what’s thrown at me,” Manuel said after that win. “I think even more so than just getting the first place is continue to show up and try to be my best every time I step up on the blocks.”
Simone Manuel (left) with Gretchen Walsh after winning the 50 freestyle at the U.S. Olympic Trials — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Manuel earned two silver medals in Paris: her gutty anchor leg allowed the American women hold off China for the No. 2 spot in the 400 free relay, and she chipped in with a prelims swim on the 800 free relay. She turned 28 during the final days of the Games, at that point, few would have blamed her if she decided to wrap up her Hall-of-Fame career and move on to other pursuits. Her perseverance to reach Paris and excel there could have served as a fitting capper.
Instead, we find Manuel back in full training and back in national-level competitions barely seven months following the Games. And instead of playing catch-up as she did through much of the last quadrennium, Manuel is comfortably leading the pack through the 100 and 200 free while remaining competitive in the one-lap race as well.
It’s worth noting that of the swimmers who joined Manuel to win the freestyle relay medals last year, only Kate Douglass was present at this weekend’s Pro Series stop in Westmont, Ill., with other teammates on a hiatus from training or focusing on other competitions (particularly the upcoming NCAA Championships).
Still, Manuel’s wins were impressive: a 53.23 in the 100 free was more than a second ahead of Meg Harris, who anchored Australia to Olympic gold in the 400 free relay, and her time of 1:57.54 in the 200 helped her beat Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey, the fourth-place finisher in that event in Paris. She ended up fourth in the 50 free in 24.79, but she was racing against three swimmers who have won international hardware in the event, Douglass, Harris and Kasia Wasick.
Manuel’s time in the 100 was two hundredths faster than she swam to finish fourth at last year’s Olympic Trials, and it was the second-best in-season mark of her entire career, just behind a 53.10 from last May, just prior to Trials. It was a similar story for the 200, with Manuel having never been under 1:57 at a pre-championship event.
The year is 2025, but the status quo of U.S. women’s sprinting seems awfully similar to the landscape from 2017 through 2019, with Manuel as the frontrunner at domestic meets. That period coincided with her best results on the international stage, with back-to-back world titles in the 100 free plus another global gold over 50 meters.
Sure, she will face more challenges when she races against Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh in the 100 and collegiate 200 free specialists plus Katie Ledecky in the four-lap race, but early indications suggest this version of Manuel has staying power. After a rocky four years that pushed her to her limits, Manuel’s next phase looks awfully similar to her previous status as a consistent result-producer in the freestyle events.
