As expected, the North Shore Aquatic Complex was a hub for international-level talent and racing over the past few days at the 2021 ISCA International Senior Cup. While the Lochte & Dressel storylines were definitely the focus of the event, the depth of talent was also on full display as names like Joseph Schooling and Farida Osman popped up across the web as they prepare for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics as well. Once again the meet as held in the Short Course (SCY) prelims and Long Course (LCM) finals format allowing for swimmers to both put up times for the collegiate/recruiting format as well as further prepare for the Olympic Games or Olympic Trials looming in the coming months. Below we’ll break down a few highlights from each day of competition out in St. Petersburg.

Day 1

The timed finals session on Tuesday featured both the 800M free for Men and 1500M free for Women as well as both the 200 Medley and 200 Freestyle relay. Mitch D’Arrigo won the Men’s 800 with an 8:06.39 and Kristin Cornish won the Women’s 1500m free with a 16:51.35. This summer the Olympics will feature the first-ever Women’s 1500M freestyle with Katie Ledecky definitely being the headline for the event.

Day 2

Dressel and Lochte’s 200 IM performances in the finals of day two stole the show with Lochte taking the event in 1:59.72 and Dressel right behind him for second in 2:00.50. Dressel is the fastest performer of all-time in the short course version with Lochte being the World Record holder in the 200 IM long course so this showdown was interesting, to say the least.

Lochte took the win in the 100 Backstroke for the win with a time of 55.92 which might not seem like much but with hardly any time in between events this double proved Lochte still has what it takes to take on a larger event load at the trials than most fans might think.

Farida Osman was dominant in the Women’s 50 fly taking the win with a 26.08 and winning the event by almost a full second. While she’s been a good seven-tenths faster in the past we do expect this was more of a speed check with the Olympic insight. On the Men’s side, we saw a battling of former club teammates and likely rivals in Tokyo between Caeleb Dressel and Joseph Schooling. Dressel took this event win with a 23.98 while Schooling shared second with Florida Gator Isaac Davis in a 24.08.

Day 3

Farida Osman and Caeleb Dressel took gold in the 50 free for the Women and Men’s events respectively on night three of the competition. Both Dressel (22.33) and Osman (25.21) won the events pretty handily but were a good chunk of time off of their best times.

Sherridon Dressel, sister of Caeleb Dressel, took the win in the 200 backstroke for the women by just one-tenth over Reka Gyorgy. Dressel and Gyorgy touched in 2:13.51 and 2:13.65 respectively.

Day 4

In the prelims session of the day, we saw an interesting battle between Dressel and Lochte in the short course 400 IM. Lochte has been under the 3:40 mark before but was just up against it in St. Petersburg with a 3:40.42 proving that he’s still got some mid-distance capability in the tank. Dressel put up an impressive 3:44.15 for his first recorded swim in the 400 IM… not bad at all for your first official swim. Both Lochte and Dressel would then scratch the 400 IM to focus on other events in the finals.

In the finals session of day 4, Farida Osman put up a swift 57.84 almost eclipsing her best time from the 2016 Olympic Games which bodes incredibly well for the rest of her summer. On the men’s side, Caeleb Dressel won the event over Joseph Schooling and Jack Conger pretty easily touching in a 51.69. Dressel would then go on to swim the 200 freestyle and take second behind Alex Sobers who put up an impressive 1:48.35.

Day 5

It was Dressel and Osman again on the final day of competition in St. Petersburg with both of them collecting gold in the 100 freestyle at 48.84 and 55.63 respectively. Arsenio Bustos took second for the men with Marina Spadoni taking second for the women.

Dressel came back to complete the 100 Free, 200 Fly double and put up a solid 1:58.74 which s just a bit back from his best time in the event and further adds to some of the confusion of what events we’ll see him go after at the Olympic Trials and which events might take a back seat. One thing is for certain, based on the way he swam this past weekend he’s in good shape as we inch closer to the Olympics.

All in all, we saw fast swimming from a few of the fastest swimmers in the world as they tune-up for what is going to be an exciting summer in Omaha and Tokyo. Stay tuned for more LIVE events and swimming coverage from FloSwimming and thanks to all of you who tuned in to watch over the last few days.