PHOENIX, Arizona, December 17. WHAT an amazing weekend of performances not just here in the United States, but around the globe. World records, European records, national age group records … it was hard keeping track of them all. And it was hard picking the one that was the performance of the week, because a lot of swims deserve it on their own merits.
Anyone who watched our live stream of the Speedo Tom Dolan Invitational would heartily agree that the final of the 13-14 girls’ 200 butterfly was an exciting race, as Nation’s Capital’s Cassidy Bayer won the race with an incredible 1:56.01. Not only did the 14-year-old drop three seconds off her lifetime best, but she also clipped five tenths off a 34-year-old national age group record that had been set in 1979 by the legendary Mary T. Meagher. Many great female butterflyers have come through this sport after Mary T: Misty Hyman. Mary DeScenza. Kaitlin Sandeno. Summer Sanders. Kathleen Hersey. The list goes on and on. But none of them was able to take down this hallowed record, and it says a lot about Bayer’s future. Of note is the fact that Bayer’s time would have been good enough for a top-16 performance at last March’s NCAA championships, and I want to remind you that she’s only 14 years old.
We’ve shown you just a few seconds of this historic swim on this episode, but if you have not seen the full race, you can find it by going to the Tom Dolan event landing page at swimmingworld.tv and clicking on that race to see it free on-demand.
(You can also see the video by clicking here.)
Congratulations, Cassidy. You’ve definitely earned the Speedo Performance of the Week.
