CollegeSwimming.com Preseason All-Americans / Purdue Summer Highlights
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Marat Amaltdinov of Purdue men's swimming and diving, the reigning Big Ten champion in the 200 breaststroke, has been named a preseason All-American by CollegeSwimming.com.
Amaltdinov begins his junior season as the program record holder in the 200-yard breaststroke, winning the event at Big Tens in February with a time of 1:52.67. It was also a new pool record at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. That time would have led to him being seeded third at the 2016 NCAA Championships, but he opted to forgo his berth at the national championship meet in order to train for the Russian Olympic Trials. At the Russian Trials in April, he finished 9th in the semifinals of the 200-meter breaststroke.
Amaltdinov is the Purdue men's first swimmer to return to the program after winning a Big Ten title the year before since Giordan Pogioli (200 breast) and Louis Paul (200 IM) were conference champs in 2004 and returned for the 2004-05 campaign. Amaltdinov was the fifth Boilermaker breaststroker to win a Big Ten title since 1996, joining Purdue Hall of Famer Vilmos Kovacs (four titles from 1996-98), Tamas Bessenyei (2001), Pogioli and Lyam Dias (2015).
Amaltdinov led the team with 11 individual event victories as a sophomore and was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Week three times, the latter being a program first. After the season he earned Academic All-District 5 and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar honors for his 3.82 grade-point average as a finance major. He has excelled in the classroom despite English being his second language.
Marat Amaltdinov winning a Big Ten title in the home pool is the No. 5 play of the year for @PurdueSports. #BoilerUp https://t.co/mWd5dZwsXT
-- Purdue Swim-Dive (@PurdueMSwimDive) July 1, 2016
This summer, Amaltdinov won the 100-meter breaststroke at the Indiana Senior State/SwimFest meet in Indianapolis. He was among the five Purdue swimmers to compete at USA Swimming's U.S. Open a few weeks later in Minneapolis, finishing third in the A final of the 200-meter breast and eighth in the A final of the 100-meter breast.
Amaltdinov ranks second in program history with a career-best time of 53.18 in the 100-year breast. Last season he helped the Boilermakers' 200- and 400-yard medley relay teams both post top-five times in program history.
CollegeSwimming.com highlighted a combined 123 swimmers from 30 institutions on its list of preseason All-Americans. Among that group were a number of 2016 Olympic medalists. Around the Big Ten, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin also had at least one male swimmer recognized. Divers were not included.
Olympic silver medalist Steele Johnson and Amaltdinov headline the returning student-athletes for the Purdue men. Johnson was a two-time NCAA champion as a freshman in 2015, but did not compete collegiately last year while exercising an Olympic practice waiver. Fellow divers Joe Cifelli and Max Showalter were Purdue's top individual scorers at Big Tens and went on to qualify for the NCAA Championships as freshmen. They've also returned for the 2016-17 campaign. The Boilermakers have also welcomed back Austin Flager, Adam Noens, Josh Brooks, Joe Young and Alex Toetz. All five swimmers scored in three individual events at the 2016 Big Ten Championships.
Purdue opens its new season the weekend of Oct. 21 to 22 with a pair of home meets.