2025 Pro Swim Series – Fort Lauderdale

Whilst there were several swims on the final day at Fort Lauderdale that you won’t have missed thanks to Gretchen Walsh, Katie Ledecky, Regan Smith and Ilya Kharun, the fast swimming didn’t stop there. There were more individual World Records yesterday than in the entire Paris Olympics, and here are some other swims that may have gone under radar.

DAY 4 – SWIMS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

Out of the early heats of the women’s 800 free, Michaela Mattes hacked 10 seconds off her best time to drop from an 8:44 to 8:34.76. That ended up ranking fifth after the final heat was swum, and she also now ranks #5 among US women so far this season. She may well have landed herself a place in the final heat at US Trials with this swim.

Jack Harvey, who swims internationally for Bermuda, dropped over a second off his entry time in the 100 backstroke to claim second in the final behind Hubert Kos. He broke his own Bermudan record in the morning with a 54.87, his first-ever swim under 55, and sliced another three-tenths off in to go 54.56 in the evening. His previous mark stood at 55.19, and he is now less than half a second off the World Aquatics ‘A’ cut.

Gavin Keogh took third in the same race, shaving 0.02 of his top-ranked 17-18 time this year to go 54.72. Keogh, an honorable mention in the 2025 recruiting class, will join NC State in the fall, adding to a backstroke group that includes Daniel Diehl, Oleksandr Zheltyakov and Quintin McCarty. McCarty swam the heats of the 100 back here, shaving half a second off his best of 55.73 to go 55.26, before scratching the final in favour of the 50 where he ended up placing third.

Leah Hayes took on a tough double tonight, swimming the 200 breast and 200 IM, placing third in both. In the first of those she set a new best time in both heats and finals, shaving eight-tenths off over the course of the day to end with a time of 2:27.60 and contribute to a Virginia 1-2-3. Hayes swam this event at both ACCs and NCAAs, finishing sixth at the conference championships before adding time at Federal Way to finish 17th. With her IM 2.5  seconds off her best of 2:08.91, she could have far more time to drop when fully tapered.

Julian Koch took a fantastic third place in the 100 fly on the final night in a time of 52.29, a hundredth slower than his prelims time. That had been a 1.42 second drop from his previous best time of 53.70 set in May 2024, and he set a 50 fly best on the first 50 as well. He was out in 23.93, only 0.36 slower than eventual winner Ilya Kharun. Koch has just finished his freshman year at Pitt, and holds a best of 46.76 in yards; if he follows the lead of swimmers like Dare Rose who have previously dropped big in yards after a summer of doing so in long course, he could crack NCAA qualification next year.

Ellen Walshe had already set one Irish record in Fort Lauderdale, and came close to two others on the final day. In the 100 fly she was 58.12, just 0.16 off her own record of 57.96 from 2016, and just 16 minutes later swam 2:11.59 in the 200 IM. She was just under seven-tenths off the record of 2:10.92, again one of hers, but was 1:08.05 on the second half, only behind winner Alex Walsh. It was also over a second faster than she came home when swimming the record, and again showcases the freestyle gains she has made this season.

Aleksas Savickas was the top seed in the 100 breast on Day 2, but didn’t quite pace the heats in the 200 right and slipped to 11th, missing out on the ‘B’ final. He made the most of the clean water there, going 2:10.34 to take the win by over five seconds in a time  less than seven-tenths off his best, and was only five-hundredths of Denis Petrashov‘s winning time from the ‘A’ final.

Tolu Young set his third Fijian record in three days here, in a quintessentially Arizona State slate of 50 free, 100 free, 50 fly. He shaved 0.42 off his own 50 free record today in 22.29 in the prelims, before going under the old record again in finals with a 22.53

2025 ACROPOLIS SWIM OPEN

The 2025 Acropolis Swim Open entered day two last night in Athens with a €50,000  ($54,125) prize pool on the line.

Athletes’ performance is judged using the World Aquatics Point Scoring system, and they can also earn prize bonuses for breaking records. The top athletes across events (by stroke, and then by longer distances) will be awarded €350. Coach’s awards will be awarded by points compiled across their athletes.

The competition also represents an opportunity for swimmers to qualify for this summer’s World Championships in Singapore.

Day 2 Highlights

23-year-old Dimitrios Markos produced a near-lifetime best en route to winning the men’s 200m freestyle.

The 2024 European Championships finalist touched in a result of 1:46.62 to beat the field by just under a second.

He opened in 52.86 and closed in 53.76 to get to the wall ahead of teammate Konstantinos Eglezakis who settled for silver in 1:47.57, while Turkish swimmer Ahmet Boylu rounded out the podium in 1:49.09.

Markos’s career-swiftest outing rests at the 1:46.46 notched in Belgrade last year, so he was only .16 outside of that mark en route to taking the title here.

Additionally, he dipped under the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 1:46.70 needed to qualify for this summer’s World Championships.

Olympic medallist Apostolos Christou was also in the water last night, taking on the men’s 50m backstroke.

28-year-old Christou stopped the clock at a speedy time of 24.75.

That registered the sole sub-25-second time of the field, as Turkey’s Mert Satir turned in 25.44 and Evangelos Makrygiannis nabbed 25.52 for bronze.

Christou has been as quick as 24.36 in his career, a result he put on the books when winning gold at the 2022 European Championships.

His time here ranks him 12th in the world this season and also qualified him for Singapore, clearing the ‘A’ cut of 25.11.

Already the women’s 50m fly winner here, 29-year-old Anna Ntountounaki doubled up with a victory in the 100m distance.

Ntountounaki struck gold in a rapid 57.44, splitting 27.00/30.44 in the process. The result checks in as the 3rd-best of her career, sitting only behind the 57.25 logged at the 2020 Olympic Games and the 57.37 from 2021 in Budapest.

Anna Ntountounaki‘s Top 5 LCM 100 Butterfly Performances

1. 57.25, 2021
2. 57.37, 2021
3. 57.44, 2025
4. 57.62, 2024
5. 57.75, 2023 & 2021

Fellow Greek athlete Georgia Damasioti clinched silver in 57.99 for just her 2nd-ever foray under the 58-second barrier.

Amina Kajtaz of Bosnia & Herzegovina earned bronze in 58.96. 19-year-old World Championshps bronze medalist and University of Virginia commit Lana Pudar claimed 4th place.

The World Aquatics ‘A’ standard sits at 58.33, therefore, Ntountounaki and Damasioti both made the grade for Singapore.

A Greek national record went down in the women’s 200m IM, courtesy of Nikoleta Pavlopoulou.

The 24-year-old stopped the clock at a time of 2:15.23, overtaking the previous national standard of 2:16.17 she put on the books in 2019.

Additional Notes

• Germany’s Nicole Maier followed up her 100m freestyle victory from night one with a gold in the 200m free. She notched 1:59.69 to beat the pack by 2 seconds.
• Turkish Olympian Emre Sakci posted a time of 27.19 to take the men’s 50m breast just .01 ahead of countryman Nusrat Allahverdi‘s result of 57.20. Kazakhstan’s Aibat Myrzamuratov hit 28.05 as the bronze medalist.

DENVER — D’Evelyn’s boys volleyball team dominated the Class 4A Region 2 tournament Saturday.

The Jaguars swept to 3-0 victories over DSST: Conservatory Green and KIPP Denver Collegiate to punch D’Evelyn’s ticket to the 8-team 4A state tournament next week.

“It’s awesome,” D’Evelyn senior Elijah Osborne said. “We’ve been working for this for four years. Most of the players on the team have been with the program for at least three years. The blood and sweat we’ve put in has all led up to this. It feels awesome.”

It’s the fifth year that boys volleyball has been a CHSAA-sanctioned sport. It is the first year that there will be a 5A and 4A tournament. It will be the first trip to the state tournament for the Jaguars, which began their varsity program in 2021 when it had a 1-12 record. 

“This is amazing. I remember two years ago we were just like a new program,” said D’Evelyn’s setter Tarin Cavanaugh, who has played varsity for three years. “We went to regionals at Bear Creek and had a really tight match. I loved those seniors. It is great to fulfill their wishes and go to state for them.”

D’Evelyn (22-3 record) is a on a 7-game winning streak heading to the double-elimination state tournament that begins Thursday, May 8, at the Trojan Arena at the Fountain-Fort Carson campus. The 3-day state tournament will conclude Saturday, May 10.

The No. 2-seed Jaguars will open against No. 7 Stargate School (17-5). 

“We’ve got some hard competition,” Osborne said looking head to the state tournament. “I think Stargate is much better than they are ranked, but I have faith in my team. We have great chemistry.”

D’Evelyn and Stargate actually faced each other in the Jaguars’ season opener on March 4. D’Evelyn took a 3-1 victory.

All three of D’Evelyn’s loss this season came against 5A competition — Littleton, Castle View and Douglas County. Littleton is actually the No. 1 seed in the 5A state tournament.

“When we face adversity at state I believe we can figure it out and overcome it,” Cavanaugh said.

Cavanaugh has overcome wearing the colors and logo of his rival school over the past four years. The senior co-captain is actually a senior at rival Green Mountain High School. 

“It is a little hard,” Cavanaugh said of wearing the D’Evelyn jersey. “But honestly, I just love volleyball. It’s a fun game. I just love these kids too. I grew up with Elijah and Isaac (Osborne brothers), they live just across the street. I love the community and everything.”

There was a good contingent of Green Mountain students who sat behind the Jaguars’ bench to help cheer D’Evelyn onto the straight set 25-6, 25-13 and 25-20 victory over KIPP Denver Collegiate in the final match of the regional tournament.

“I just try to get everyone out there, especially my friends” Cavanaugh said.

D’Evelyn will bring a fairly senior-laded squad to state. The Osborne brothers have combined for more than 300 kills on the season. Senior Jaziel Lagarda is third on the team in kills.

“We’ve got to keep the tempo up,” Cavanaugh said of a key to have a good showing at the state tournament. “We just have to play our game. I know we can win.”