Arizona State hosted its annual ’25 yard freestyle battle royale’ (aka 25 Freestyle Championship of the World) on Friday in Tempe, Arizona, where their collegiate and post-grad sprinters squared off to see who has the fastest zero-to-60 on campus.
Some swimmers wore technical racing suits while other wore practice suits, though on the women’s side this was not decisive. It appears as though racing suits were used in the first round as an equalizer of sorts for the lower-seeded sprinters.
On the women’s side, the pro group’s top two sprinters, who didn’t suit for any of the rounds of racing, came through on top.
In the finals, Olivia Smoliga beat out 2016 50 free Olympic silver medalist Simone Manuel. Both swimmers split 9.7s, but Smoliga got her hand on the wall first.
The two had a similar pattern all day – 10.0 in the first round, 9.8 in the second round, and 9.7 in the final.
Note: red underlines indicate a tech suit was worn.
Women’s 25 free results
On the men’s side, where the sprint group has a lot more depth, it came down to the squad’s top pro Ryan Held against the squad’s top collegian Jack Dolan.
It was a photo-finish, but unsuited, Held touched in 8.45 and Dolan touched in 8.50.
Held went 8.4 in the first round as well, followed by 8.9, 8.5, and the 8.45 in the final.
This is at least Held’s third straight championship (the tournament was last run in February). He swam 8.19 in the win last year, but his all-time World Record of 7.96 remains.
Note: red underlines indicate a tech suit was worn.
Men’s 25 free results
