Eric Lane, left, and U.S. Olympic team hopeful Madison Kennedy. Eric is Madison’s strength coach and the two are engaged to be married in 2017. (Photo by Mark Hames, Charlotte Observer)
In about two weeks, Avon native Madison Kennedy will be competing at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Nebraska for the third time. In 2008, she was thrilled simply to be there. Four years ago in 2012, she swam her best times (to that point in her career) in the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle and just fell short. She was 0.38 seconds away from a berth in the 50 free.
This time, Kennedy will be among the favorites in the 50 freestyle and a contender in the 100 freestyle to make the U.S. Olympic team. Her career-best time of 24.45 seconds in the 50 freestyle at the Arena Pro Series meet in Mesa, Arizona, in March is the seventh best time in the world this year and the top American performance in the 50 free this season.
Kennedy, a 2005 Avon High graduate, showed that her Mesa performance wasn’t a fluke by swimming 24.53 in the 50 free, at the next Arena Pro Series meet a month later in Charlotte.
Is Kennedy on the cusp of an Olympic team berth?
In a long feature story earlier this week, the Charlotte Observer took a look at the way Kennedy is preparing for the Olympics. She has been a member of SwimMAC Carolina’s Team Elite in Charlotte since 2011 under the tutelage of David Marsh, this year’s U.S. Olympic swimming coach. But the two haven’t always seen eye-to-eye regarding her training methods.
The story also examined Kennedy’s jobs out of the pool and their impact on her preparation in the pool. Click on the following link to read the Observer’s story, a video and more than 40 photos of Kennedy in North Carolina.
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