2024 U.S. Olympic Trials: Day 3 Prelims Preview

2024 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS

Day 3 Prelims Heat Sheet

I hope all of you are awake and able to function after a weekend of such speed and excitement. Over the past two days, we have seen Katie Ledecky make her fourth Olympic team, Aaron Shackell dazzle a hometown crowd with his first Olympic qualifying swim, and Gretchen Walsh drop a hammer on the competition in the 100 fly semis, swimming a new World Record time of 55.18, and that was just night one.

Last night was just as entertaining as night one. We saw a strong women’s 200 free semifinals, Lilly King wow in front of a home crowd in the 100 breast, and a swim-off for the finals of the men’s 200 free this evening, which was one of the most entertaining swims of the week so far.

Don’t let this morning’s lack of events lull you into the sense that you can relax the day away. The women’s 400 IM and the men’s 800 free proceed directly to finals, so all the prelims swimmers must be on top of their game lest they end up in 9th. However, we will start our morning preview with one of the most competitive strokes on the women’s side: backstroke.

We’ve already seen top-seeded Regan Smith in action, as she joined the sub-56 club on night one. Last night, she lowered her time in the event becoming the 5th fastest performer in the event ever.  Regan, the former world record holder in this event, had a season-best time of 57.51 from last month, which also stands as a new personal best. On the cusp of joining Smith under 58 is NC State’s Katharine Berkoff. The 2023 bronze medalist from the Fukuoka World Championships, Berkoff has been seen as the easy shoo-in for the 2nd backstroke spot at the Olympics and a medal contender, but by no fault of her own, domestic and international competition have stepped up their game and it’ll be up to Berkoff to see how she responds.

Claire Curzan, the third seed, is the defending World Champion in the event, having swum 58.29 in Doha, and appears to be all in on the backstroke as she did not enter any freestyle events. Abroad, Mollie O’Callaghan‘s strong performance at their Trials and the reemergence of Kylie Masse will make this event in Paris one of the ones to circle.

The morning starts out with the Women’s 400 IM, where top seed Katie Grimes is entered more than five seconds ahead of Leah Hayes. Grimes finished 7th in the prelims of the 400 free, but scratched the final, and last night, in the 200 free she

Hayes, a UVA commit, is hunting for her first Olympic team after bursting onto the scene in 2022, qualifying for the world team in the 200 IM. However, her youth will have to try to hold off the experience of Emma Weyant and Leah Smith. Weyant represented the US at the Tokyo Games, capturing the silver medal and claiming bronze in 2022 at the Budapest World Championships.

We end the morning with the heats of the men’s 800 free. While we’ve seen the 400 and 200 go by, it’s time for our more distance-orientated swimmers to step up. Top seed Bobby Finke‘s gamble on choosing the 400 free over the 400 IM, seemed to have paid off. Despite finishing 4th and outside of consideration for the Olympic Team, he recorded a new PB of close to 2 seconds and was under the OQT, an accolade that was a struggle for the US men last go-around.

Looking to challenge Finke’s dominance is a group of both hungry youth and experienced veterans. Ross Dant and Will Gallant are training partners at NC State and will look to vie with David Johnston and Charlie Clark for topping billing behind Finke. Representing the youth are a pair of Lukes. Luke Whitlock is the 4th seed, and Luke Ellis is the 10th seed. Both were born in 2006 and will look to not only put themselves in contention for tomorrow’s final but also will be looking to put themselves into consideration for the Jr. Pan Pacs Team.