2026 PRO SWIM SERIES – AUSTIN
Summer McIntosh had the biggest swim in the penultimate night in Austin, as she cruised to the win in the 400 IM in 4:28.13 – faster than anyone in history other than Katinka Hosszu has ever swum, and the #9 swim all-time. There were some other notable swims however, including one coming behind McIntosh in that very event.
Maren Byrne had already set a new best in the 200 IM in Austin, and demolished her former best time in the 400 IM, dropping from 4:59.77 to 4:53.20 as she placed 4th. That was her first best time in the event in nearly two years, and came with evenly spread improvements – every leg was at least a second faster on than her previous swim.
Luke Barr, who was just off his best in the 50 breast a couple of days ago, notched 25.47 in the semi-finals of the men’s 50 back, shaving 0.05 seconds off his previous best. That is his first long course backstroke PB since 2023, and makes him the fourth seed for tomorrow’s final.
His fellow Indiana alumnus Finn Brooks had a huge swim in the heats of the 50 breast a couple of days ago, and did the same in the heats of the 50 fly yesterday. His previous best of 23.50 had stood since April 2023, but was shattered by the 23.14 he swam for top spot in the morning. He was 23.60 in the semi-finals to move through in 5th place, and soared up the U.S. all-time rankings to 7th.
Skyler Smith won the 50 breast in 30.43, just 0.02 seconds off her personal best from 2023, and doubled up with a big new best time in the 50 fly. She hacked over a second off her previous best time of 28.48, placing 5th in the semi-finals in 27.27.
Perhaps lost in the 800 free, where the men’s event was a timed final but the women’s is a prelims/finals format, was Katie Ledecky‘s 8:16.23 to move through nearly 30 seconds ahead of anyone else on the women’s side. That is just two seconds off her prelims time in Singapore last summer, which came with far more competition, and could indicate we’ll see a swim in today’s final of the same caliber as her 1500 on Day 1.
Ryan Erisman‘s win in the 200 free last night, ahead of Carson Foster, Gabriel Jett, and Luke Hobson, saw him slice nearly a full second off his previous best. Erisman swam 1:46.62, in a race which took place less than 40 minutes after he almost matched his best time in the 800 free, swimming 7:51.87. The rapid back-end speed we’d seen in both his 1500 free and 400 free was on full display as well – his 200 was split 52.87/53.79, including a 26.62 final 50, and his 800 had a big negative split in 3:57.75/3:54.02.