Reece Whitley won the Junior National title in the 200 breast last week in San Antonio, and he stuck around awhile longer to race the big boys at Senior Nationals. Whitley did not make the championship final in the event, but he rebounded to win the B-final at night in a personal best time of 2:11.30, the exact same time that Michael Phelps put up to finish fifth in the event.
With the meet complete, Whitley discussed how he felt about dropping a full second off his best time and almost five seconds on the season and why he would have loved to be in the A-final. He also previewed the upcoming Junior World Championships in Singapore, sharing his feelings about representing the U.S. for the first time and getting to swim a new event, the 50 breast.
Interesting that he says the 50 is too short for him. In the other strokes, at least freestyle for sure, height is considered an advantage. Maybe it’s the opposite in breaststroke, eh.
But wait, never mind what I just said. Adam Peaty!!
The future ?
+1 :
Cool info thanks :
Luke Brown
I think it should read: “Michael Phelps ties Reece Whitley”…which is the bigger accomplishment!
That is correct. Whitley performed his time first. THEN, Phelps tied the time in the next heat!
He dropped 5 seconds this season. Imagine if he drops another 5 seconds (2:06:30) wr.
But a Phelps isn’t a breast stroker. Reece needs to drop 3 seconds before trials next summer to make it to Rio. He probably will not qualify until the Olympics after Rio but fantastic for a 15 year old.
Hi there,
A general question, please …
How many National Titles has Michael Phelps won?
(Including Olympic Trials titles, of course)?
I remember reading, years ago, that Tracey Caulkins won more than 70;
Has Michael surpassed that?
Thank you for your time,
Mark