American Swimmers Faster Than Australians in 18 of 28 Events at Olympic Trials | SwimSwam

By Riley Overend on SwimSwam

As trash talk between American and Australian swimmers escalates ahead of the Paris Olympics later this month, let’s take a look at how the rivals currently stack up based on last month’s Trials.

U.S. swimmers went faster in 18 of 28 individual events at their qualifying meet, including a huge 11-3 advantage on the men’s side. The women’s side is split 7-7.

U.S. vs. Australia, 2024 Olympic Trials Results

Men’s	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
50 free	Cam McEvoy – 21.35	Caeleb Dressel – 21.41	Chris Guiliano – 21.69	Ben Armbruster – 21.84
100 free	Chris Guiliano – 47.38	Jack Alexy – 47.47	Kyle Chalmers – 47.75
200 free	Luke Hobson – 1:44.89	Chris Guiliano – 1:45.38	Maximillian Giuliani – 1:45.83
400 free	Elijah Winnington – 3:43.26	Sam Short – 3:43.90	Aaron Shackell – 3:45.46	Kieran Smith – 3:45.76
800 free	Bobby Finke – 7:44.22	Elijah Winnington – 7:44.90	Luke Whitlock – 7:45.19	Sam Short – 7:46.52
1500 free	Bobby Finke – 14:40.28	David Johnston – 14:52.74
100 back	Ryan Murphy – 52.22	Hunter Armstrong – 52.72
200 back	Ryan Murphy – 1:54.33	Keaton Jones – 1:54.61	Bradley Woodward – 1:56.22	Se-Bom Lee – 1:57.02
100 breast	Samuel Williamson – 58.80	Nic Fink – 59.08	Charlie Swanson – 59.16	Joshua Yong – 59.48
200 breast	Matt Fallon – 2:06.54	Zac Stubblety-Cook – 2:07.40	Joshua Yong – 2:08.08	Josh Matheny – 2:08.86
100 fly	Caeleb Dressel – 50.19	Thomas Heilman – 50.80	Matt Temple – 51.15
200 fly	Thomas Heilman – 1:54.50	Luca Urlando – 1:55.08
200 IM	Carson Foster – 1:55.65	Shaine Casas – 1:55.83
400 IM	Carson Foster – 4:07.64	Chase Kalisz – 4:09.39	Brendon Smith – 4:10.18	Will Petric – 4:11.78
Women’s	1st	2nd	3rd	4th
50 free	Shayna Jack – 23.99	Simone Manuel – 24.13	Gretchen Walsh – 24.15	Meg Harris – 24.26
100 free	Mollie O’Callaghan – 52.33	Kate Douglass – 52.56	Shayna Jack – 52.72	Torri Huske – 52.93
200 free	Ariarne Titmus – 1:52.23	Mollie O’Callaghan – 1:52.48	Katie Ledecky – 1:55.22	Claire Weinstein – 1:56.18
400 free	Ariarne Titmus – 3:55.44	Katie Ledecky – 3:58.35	Paige Madden – 4:02.08	Lani Pallister – 4:02.27
800 free	Ariarne Titmus – 8:14.06	Katie Ledecky – 8:14.12	Lani Pallister – 8:18.46	Paige Madden – 8:20.71
1500 free	Katie Ledecky – 15:37.35	Lani Pallister – 15:53.79	Katie Grimes – 15:57.77	Moesha Johnson – 15:57.85
100 back	Regan Smith – 57.13	Kaylee McKeown – 57.41	Mollie O’Callaghan – 57.88	Katharine Berkoff – 57.91
200 back	Kaylee McKeown – 2:03.30	Regan Smith – 2:05.16	Phoebe Bacon – 2:06.27	Jaclyn Barclay – 2:07.88
100 breast	Lily King – 1:05.43	Emma Weber – 1:06.10
200 breast	Kate Douglass – 2:19.46	Lily King – 2:21.93	Ella Ramsay – 2:22.87
100 fly	Gretchen Walsh – 55.31	Torri Huske – 55.52	Emma McKeon – 56.85
200 fly	Regan Smith – 2:05.70	Elizabeth Dekkers – 2:06.01	Alex Shackell – 2:06.69	Abbey Connor – 2:06.82
200 IM	Kaylee McKeown – 2:06.63	Kate Douglass – 2:06.79	Alex Walsh – 2:07.86	Ella Ramsay – 2:09.32
400 IM	Katie Grimes – 4:35.00	Emma Weyant – 4:35.56	Ella Ramsay – 4:36.56	Jenna Forrester – 4:38.16

The Aussies collected 13 gold medals, seven silvers, and five bronze at the 2023 World Championships, marking just the second elite international meet since the Melbourne 1956 Olympics where Australia has finished above the U.S. in the medal table. They’re looking to carry that momentum into Paris later this month and snap a 68-year Olympic drought against Team USA, but the Americans made a strong statement of their own with two world records at Lucas Oil Stadium last month.

Americans currently own world-leading times in six individual events: Ryan Murphy in the 200 back (1:54.33), Matt Fallon in the 200 breast (2:06.54), Carson Foster in the 400 IM (4:07.64), Katie Ledecky in the 1500 free (15:37.35), Regan Smith in the 100 back (world record 57.13), and Gretchen Walsh in the 100 fly (world record 55.18). Australians are right behind them with world-leading times in five events: Cam McEvoy in the 50 free (21.13), Ariarne Titmus in the 200 free (world record 1:52.23) and 400 free (3:55.44), and Kaylee McKeown in the 200 back (2:03.30) and 200 IM (2:06.63).

The U.S. swimming rivalry with Australia was reinvigorated last August when Cate Campbell talked about how much sweeter it is to beat America.

“There were a couple of nights, particularly the first night of competition, where we did not have to hear the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ ring out through the stadium and I cannot tell you how happy that made me,” said Campbell, who failed to qualify for her fifth Olympics last month. “If I never hear that song again it will be too soon. Bring on Paris, that’s all I have to say. U.S., stop being sore losers.

“When we’re right next to each other in the warm-up area, the U.S. has this infernal cowbell that they ring, and as someone leaves to go to the competition pool, they ring out ‘U-S-A, U-S-A’ and I have never wanted to punch someone more and steal that cowbell,” Campbell added.

The most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps, saw Campbell’s comments for the first time last month.

“If somebody said that to me, I would lose it,” Phelps said. “I would literally make them eat every word they just said about me.”

Last week, three-time Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Rice wrote an editorial agreeing with Phelps.

“The trash-talking only fuels the Americans’ drive to take us down so let’s stop giving them extra motivation,” Rice said. “I believe our swim team is capable of taking the top spot, so let’s let the swimming do the talking.”

“We’re all bringing the cowbell,” U.S. Olympian Abbey Weitzeil said at Trials. “Whenever comments are made about your country or your jobs, it’s all competitive, and I think we all are competitive, our competitive side comes out. So we’re all bringing the cowbell, extra loud.”

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