TYR Pro Swim Series Westmont: Beatriz Dizotti, Aiden Hammer Open With Mile Wins
The first U.S. national-level long course competition of the year kicked off Wednesday evening in Westmont, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, with the first stop of the TYR Pro Swim Series. The 1500 freestyle races were held during the opening slate of the meet, with a full slate of prelims-finals racing beginning Thursday.
The women’s 1500 went to Brazil’s Beatriz Dizotti, who beat the field by four seconds and came in at 16:28.73. Dizotti faced an early challenge from Abby Dunford, but Dizotti pulled ahead on the race’s eighth length and never surrendered the lead. Dizotti has reached the final in the event at the Paris Olympics as well as at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships.
Michigan’s Marian Ploeger moved ahead of Dunford at the 1100-meter mark, and she ended up finishing second in 16:32.99. Dunford took third in 16:41.73, and no one else got under 17:00.
In the men’s event, Aiden Hammer from King Aquatic Club got the win in 15:15.37. Pleasanton’s Luka Mijatovic had the lead for much of the race, but Hammer caught up and took the lead in the middle third of the race. Mijatovic came in a second back at 15:16.31. Third went to Luke Whitlock in 15:23.53. Whitlock was a U.S. Olympian in the 800 free and finished third at the Olympic Trials in the mile.
The meet continues Thursday with the 100 free, 100 breaststroke, 50 backstroke, 200 butterfly and 400 free on the agenda. Prelims begin at 9 a.m. CT, with finals at 6 p.m.
