Wednesday 16 June 2021

2021 U.S. Olympic Roster Update 4: Schmitt Returns, Harting & Walsh Newest OLY | SwimSwam

By Reid Carlson on SwimSwam

2021 U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS

Team USA’s Olympic swimming roster welcomes both veteran and first-time Olympians following the conclusion of the fourth day of competition in Omaha.

Katie Ledecky, who already qualified for the women’s 400 freestyle on Monday, added the 200 and 1500 freestyles to her Tokyo lineup Wednesday night. With Ledecky taking the top spot in each of these races, 2nd-place finishers are able to breathe a little easier as it becomes increasingly certain they will be added to the growing Olympic team.

2012 Olympic gold medalist Allison Schmitt and newbie Erica Sullivan both finished behind Ledecky in the 200 and 1500 freestyles, respectively. For Schmitt, her ticket to Tokyo is a certainty as she will be needed for the 4×200 freestyle relay. Finishing in 3rd and 4th in the 200 freestyle were Paige Madden, who already qualified for Tokyo by way of a 2nd place finish in the 400 free, and Katie McLaughlin, who qualifies for her first Olympics. Both are now qualified as members of the 4×200 free relay.

For Sullivan, her qualification is technically still pending, though Ledecky is expected to qualify individually in one more event, the 800 freestyle, and with other women likely to pick up their second events over the next couple of days, Sullivan is almost certain to be included on the roster.

The women’s 200 IM was easily the race of the night. Three women took it down to the wire, all finishing within 0.04 of one another. Touching the wall first was 2021 NCAA Champion Alex Walsh in 2:09.30. Walsh was closely followed by teammate Kate Douglass in 2:09.32. Douglass just out-touched Madisyn Cox who finished in 2:09.34. Walsh signed her name on the drum and Douglass is expected to do so in a few days’ time.

On the men’s side, Dark Knight Zach Harting punched his ticket with a victory in the 200 fly. Finishing 2nd to Harting was 2016 Olympic gold medalist Gunnar Bentz. Bentz, who competed in Rio in the 4×200 free relay and no individual events, finished 4th at Trials in the 200 fly in 2016. Now, with a 2nd place finish, Bentz will have the opportunity to swim an individual event in Olympic competition–pending the finalization of the team roster.

2021 U.S. OLYMPIC ROSTER AFTER DAY 4

Tonight’s new qualifiers are noted in bold.

Tentative qualifiers (who need a certain number of multi-event qualifiers to be officially added) are listed in italics.

Women:

Men:

  • Chase Kalisz: 400 IM
  • Kieran Smith: 400 free, 200 free, 4×200 free relay
  • Michael Andrew: 100 breast
  • Townley Haas: 200 free, 4×200 free relay
  • Drew Kibler: 4×200 free relay
  • Andrew Seliskar: 4×200 free relay
  • Ryan Murphy: 100 back
  • Zach Harting: 200 fly
  • Jay Litherland: 400 IM
  • Jake Mitchell: 400 free
  • Andrew Wilson: 100 breast
  • Hunter Armstrong: 100 back
  • Zach Apple: 4×200 free relay
  • Patrick Callan: 4×200 free relay
  • Gunnar Bentz: 200 fly

DOUBLES

Here’s an overly-simplified version of the U.S. Olympic selection process: the team can have a maximum of 26 men and 26 women. Swimmers are added to the roster in these priorities until the roster cap is hit:

  1. Top 4 in 100/200 frees, Winner of all other events
  2. 2nd-place finisher in all events (besides 100/200 free)
  3. 5th-place finisher in 100/200 free
  4. 6th-place finisher in 100/200 free

We track ‘doubles’ as a way of knowing when the next priority of swimmers can be officially added to the team. A ‘double’ is effectively a swimmer qualifying in more than one event. One swimmer qualifying in three events counts as two ‘doubles’ for our purposes.

The Magic Numbers:

  • 6 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side means all priority 2 athletes (2nd-place finishers) can be added for that gender
  • 8 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side means all priority 3 athletes (5th-place in 100/200 free) can be added for that gender
  • 10 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side means all priority 4 athletes (6th-place in 100/200 free) can be added for that gender

After Day 3:

There aren’t many doubles yet, but there’s still plenty of meet left with multi-event threats including Caeleb Dressel, Simone Manuel, and Michael Andrew waiting to swim some of their best events. Ledecky, for her part, has yet to swim the 800 freestyle, where she is the heavy favorite. World Record holder Regan Smith also has yet to swim her prime event, the 200 backstroke, though she is already qualified in the 100 back.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2021 U.S. Olympic Roster Update 4: Schmitt Returns, Harting & Walsh Newest OLY

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