Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
USA Swimming announced the nominees for its Golden Goggles Awards.
The nominees included the usual heroes and heroines of USA Swimming: Katie Ledecky, Missy Franklin, Michael Phelps, and Ryan Lochte who are nominated for the Golden Goggle Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards.
But the Big Four were also joined by open water swimmers Haley Anderson and Jordan Wilimovsky.
Ledecky and Phelps won the 2014 Athlete of the Year awards. Ledecky, Phelps, Lochte and Franklin have combined to win every Male and Female Athlete of the Year award since 2011. The last man other than Phelps or Lochte to win was Brendan Hansen in 2006.
Online Golden Goggles voting is available here through November 13th. A percentage of the online fan vote will count toward the final balloting. The Golden Goggle Awards are November 22nd in Los Angeles.
The full slate of nominees are below:
Breakout Performer of the Year
*Katie Meili: Pan American Games and Nationals champion in 100m breaststroke; ranked No. 3 in the world in 2015
*Jordan Wilimovsky: First career U.S. titles (open water 10 km, 1500m freestyle) and World title (open water 10 km) to make first Olympic team
*Kelsi Worrell: NCAA, Pan American Games and Nationals champion in 100 butterfly; ranked No. 3 in the world in 2015
Coach of the Year
*Bob Bowman: Star pupil Michael Phelps
*Bruce Gemmell: Star pupil Katie Ledecky
*Dave Kelsheimer: Star pupil Jordan Wilimovsky
*David Marsh: Star pupil Ryan Lochte
*Catherine Vogt: Star pupil Haley Anderson
Female Race of the Year (all World Championships finals)
*Haley Anderson’s open water 5 km: Gold by 1.4 seconds
*Katie Ledecky’s 200m free: Gold by 0.16 of a second in come-from-behind fashion
*Katie Ledecky’s 800m free: Gold in world-record time, lowering her mark by 3.61 seconds and winning by 10.26 seconds
*Katie Ledecky’s 1500m free: Gold in world-record time, lowering her mark by 2.33 seconds and winning by 14.66 seconds
Male Race of the Year
*Connor Jaeger’s Worlds 1500m freestyle: Silver in an American record time
*Ryan Lochte’s Worlds 200m individual medley: Gold for fourth straight World title
*Michael Phelps’ Nationals 100m butterfly: Fastest time in the world since 2009
*Michael Phelps’ Nationals 200m butterfly: Fastest time in the world since 2009
*Jordan Wilimovsky’s Worlds open water 10 km: Gold by 12.1 seconds
Female Athlete of the Year
*Haley Anderson: World champion, open water 5 km
*Missy Franklin: World silver medalist, 200m back. World bronze medalist, 200m free. Three Worlds relay medals
*Katie Ledecky: World champion, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m freestyles. One Worlds relay gold medal
Male Athlete of the Year
*Ryan Lochte — World champion, 200m individual medley, Three Worlds relay medals
*Michael Phelps — World’s fastest swimmer in 2015 in 100m, 200m butterfly
*Jordan Wilimovsky — World champion, open water 10 km
To vote, visit here.
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