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Claire Weinstein, a 13-year-old swimmer who belongs to the Westchester Aquatic Club, managed last weekend to enter the history of American swimming, the most competitive in the world. In the 800 free, his 8: 45.34 gave him the ticket for the summer trials (The time was 8: 48.09), the competition in which the first two of each final get to enter the Olympic team for Tokyo 2021. Between Caeleb Dressel, Katie Ledecky or Simone Manuel this young woman who achieved in Richmond, Virginia will sneak in , such a feat.
At an age in which the evolution from year to year is enormous due to training and physical development itself, Weinstein improved his previous mark by more than 20 seconds. In February 2020 she achieved 9: 06.85, while her time now earned her to be fifth in her series. To put it in perspective, he would have won the bronze medal at the past Open de Catalunya absolute in Terrassa, a test that Mireia Belmonte won with a time of 8: 33.55.
Weinsten’s precociousness does not place her, as contradictory as it may seem, as one of the fastest swimmers of the last decade of the free 800s at age 13. The record is held by Claire Tuggle, from the Clovis Swim Club, who managed to swim in 8: 37.27. Obviously, the classification does not specify the month in which each swimmer obtained their mark, an important fact considering the improvements at these ages.
With no options to advance so much in these five months that remain for the trials in order to dream of Olympic participation, it remains to be seen the evolution of Weinstein taking into account the historical tradition of this country with the 800 free test. Talents in the 60s such as Debbie Meyer, Janet Evans in the 80s and recently Katie Ledecky, who in London 2012 hung the gold with just 15 years, are repeated periodically. At that age, the current New Yorker and star was still swimming well above Weinstein’s marks.