Olympic champion Nathan Adrian won by an arm length — an eternity in the 50-meter freestyle — to sweep the sprint events at the Austin Grand Prix meet Saturday at the University of Texas.
Bremerton’s Adrian won in 21.89 seconds. California teammate Anthony Ervin was second in 22.48 while world champion silver medalist Jimmy Feigen was third in 22.49. The top four seeds were separated by just .13 seconds.
Adrian had a shaky start, but bounced right back with a strong first 25 and barreled his way to the wall.
“My start was not where I wanted it to be,” Adrian said in a post-race online interview. “I broke out a lot under water. You gotta do what you can given the circumstances.”
Adrian won the 100 free on Friday in 48.26 in his first competition of the new year. Based on his times from Austin, he is now ranked No. 1 in both sprint events.
“You’ve got to focus on what you can control,” Adrian said of his race. “I’m going to go back and look at it and see what I can do better.”
