Day 7 Prelims Live Recap

2024 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS

Day 7 of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials starts with another quick prelims session that sees, like yesterday, just three individual events. The morning starts with the men’s 100 butterfly. Following that event, the women will take on the 200 IM and the 800 free.

The men’s 100 fly will be a barnburner of an event as Dare Rose will have one last shot of making the Olympic roster after failing to make the team in the 200 fly. Shaine Casas‘s 200 IM performance last night put him in a good spot to make the team, but he may have another shot in this morning’s 100 fly, where he is the 2nd seed. Looking to add another event to their already confirmed tickets are Caeleb Dressel and Thomas Heilman. Dressel, the AR holder, and Heilman, one of the breakout swimmers of last summer, should prove to be a tough competition for the aforementioned pair.

The women’s 200 IM remains Alex Walsh‘s last chance of making the Olympic team. The 2021 Tokyo silver medalist in this event finished 3rd in the 200 breast last night behind Kate Douglass and Lilly King. Walsh and Douglass, who also medaled in this event in Tokyo, are the two favorites, but Torri Huske, who has rapidly improved her breaststroke, and 2022 Worlds medalist Leah Hayes are candidates to upset the pair.

The last event of the day sees Katie Ledecky as the top seed. Ledecky is pretty good at freestyle, and more so at distance free so expect to see a strong swim from her in the morning. Fellow 2021 Tokyo Olympian in the event, Katie Grimes, has opted not to swim this event in favor of her 200 back final, so the competition for the second spot will come down between Jillian Cox and Claire Weinstein.

MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY — Prelims

• World Record: Caeleb Dressel (USA) – 49.45 (2021) 
• American Record: Caeleb Dressel – 49.45 (2021) 
• U.S. Open Record: Caeleb Dressel (USA) – 49.76 (2021; semifinals) 
• World Junior Record: Kristof Milak (HUN) – 50.62 (2017)
• 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Champion: Caeleb Dressel – 49.87
• 2024 Olympic Qualifying Time: 51.67

Semifinal Qualifiers:

1. Caeleb Dressel (GSC) – 51.14
2. Zach Harting (CARD) – 51.49
3. Aiden Hayes (WOLF) – 51.58
4. Luke Miller (WOLF) – 51.74
5. Dare Rose (Cal) – 51.88
6. Finn Brooks (ISC) – 51.90
7. Kaii Winkler (EA) – 52.13
8. Danny Kovac (TRI) – 52.14
9. Ryan Murphy (CAL) – 52.24
10. Trenton Julian (MVN) – 52.29
11. Thomas Heilman (CA-Y) -52.30
12. Gabriel Jett (CAL) – 52.35
13. Michael Andrew (MASA) – 52.36
14. Jack Dahlgren (TRI) – 52.51
15. Matt Josa (TEAM) – 52.52
16. Evan Fentress (OSU) – 52.56

Taking the first heat of the morning and building on Cal’s success last night in the 200 back was Colby Mefford, who dropped half a second off his seed to take the win and top time in 53.05. Mefford placed 5th in the 200 fly earlier in the week.

Heat 2 saw Danny Kovac crush his competition as he won the heat by nearly a full second and posted a time of 52.14. Kovac tied for 16th in the prelims of the 100 breast, won a swim-off, and then went on to place 14th in the semi, stopping the clock in 1:00.47

Kovac’s time from the 2nd heat still stood up through heat 5, NC State’s Noah Henderson tried his best to take over the top time, taking the race out fast, 24.23, but could not replicate Kovac’s closing speed, and clocked a time of 52.69, to sit second overall with 4 heats remaining.

Kovac’s 52.14 lasted just one more as heat 7, the first of the circle-seeded heats, saw Michael Andrew, Caeleb Dressel, and Ryan Murphy duel it out. Dressel, the American record holder, got to the wall first in 51.14, easily out-pacing Murphy and Andrew on the back half. Dressel was out in 24.07 and came home in 27.07 to take over the top time so far. Arsenio Bustos, who will be in tonight’s 200 IM final, no-showed this heat.

Shaine Casas, the #2 seed in the event, also did not show up for his 100 fly in heat 8, as he, like Bustos, has a final this evening. In his absence, a pair of NC State swimmers stepped up as Aiden Hayes and Luke Miller finished one-two in the heat at times of 51.58 and 51.74 and slotted into 2nd and 3rd behind Dressel.

The last heat saw Zach Harting, who, in addition to finishing 8th in the finals of the 200 fly, has spent much of the week riling up the crowd in warm-ups, post a new personal best of 51.49 and overtake Hayes as the #2 seed in the event. Dare Rose and Thomas Heilman, who represented the US in Fukuoka in this event, were also in the last heat, with Rose finishing 2nd in 51.88 (good for 5th overall) and Heilman touched in 52.30, which ranks him 11th.

WOMEN’S 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY— Prelims

• World Record: 2:06.12 – Katinka Hosszu, Hungary (2015)
• World Junior Record: 2:06.89 – Summer McIntosh, Canada (2023)
• American Record: 2:06.15 – Ariana Kukors (2009)
• U.S. Open Record: 2:07.09 – Kate Douglass, USA (2023)
• 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Champion: Alex Walsh – 2:09.30
• 2024 Olympic Qualifying Time: 2:11.47

Semifinal Qualifiers:

1. Alex Walsh (NAC) – 2:11.62
2. Kate Douglass (NYAC) – 2:11.80
3. Isabel Ivey (GSC) – 2:11.89
4. Beata Nelson (UN-1-WI) – 2:12.30
5. Leah Hayes (TIDE) – 2:12.52
6. Torri Huske (AAC) – 2:12.66
7. Zoe Dixon (FLOR) – 2:12.67
8. Lilla Bognar (TG) – 2:12.83
9. Zoie Hartman (ABSC) – 2:14.10
10. Kelly Pash (TXLA) – 2:14.13
11. Abby Harter (CA-Y) – 2:14.14
12. Lucy Bell (ALTO) – 2:14.21
13. Campbell Chase (COR) – 2:14.55
14. Camille Spink (TENN) – 2:14.68
15. Paige Maceachern (UCLA) – 2:14.90
16. Megan Van Berkom (UOFM) – 2:15.16

Heat 2’s Megan Van Berkom held the fastest time through the first two heats, swimming 2:15.16, dropping .41 from her seed, but Paige Maceachern in heat 3 overtook that time, posting a 2:14.90. Maceachern’s last 50 split of 31.48 was the big difference over Van Berkom as she closed in 32.22. It was Maceachern’s first time under the 2:15 barrier.

Second in the 100 butterfly and 2nd in the 100 free, Torri Huske led Isabel Ivey by nearly a second at the 100-meter turn. Huske, who has worked hard to improve her breaststroke, gave up a little ground to Ivey in the 3rd 50 as the Gator closed the gap to .42. Ivey, who finished runner-up to Alex Walsh at the 2024 NCAAS, passed Huske in the freestyle and posted a time of 2:11.89, a new personal best by over a half a second. Huske appeared to shut it down on the free and was content to let Ivey take the win as Huske finished in 32.64 and registered a time of 2:12.66, more than four seconds off her entry time.

The penultimate heat saw the #2 seed, Alex Walsh, post the faster time of the morning so far, as she stopped the clock at 2:11.62. Walsh trailed Beata Nelson at the half-way mark, as Nelson, who swam collegiately for Wisconsin, was out in 1:01.41, , whereas Walsh was 1:01.78. Walsh out split Nelson by two seconds in the breaststroke and never looked back. Nelson touched in 2:12.30, dropping .08 from her seed time.

The last heat saw reigning 200 IM Worlds Champion, Kate Douglass take to the water. Douglass, who won the 100 free and 200 breaststroke, posted a time of 2:11.80. She looked smooth and controlled over the race, never going to her legs or expending too much energy. Leah Hayes, a 2022 Medalist in this event, was a shadow behind Douglass for much of the race and finished in 2:12.52, to take the 5th seed into tonights semifinal.

WOMEN’S 800 FREESTYLE – Prelims

• World Record: 8:04.79, Katie Ledecky (USA) – 2016 Olympic Games
• American Record:  8:04.79, Katie Ledecky (USA) – 2016 Olympic Games
• U.S. Open Record: 8:06.68, Katie Ledecky (USA) – 2016 Pro Swim Series, Austin
• World Junior Record: 8:11.00, Katie Ledecky (USA)
• 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Champion: Katie Ledecky, 8:14.62
• 2024 Olympic Qualifying Time: 8:26.71

Final Qualifiers:

1. Katie Ledecky (GSC) – 8:17.70
2. Jillian Cox (TXLA) – 8:31.58
3. Aurora Roghair (ALTO) – 8:31.59
4. Paige Madden (NYAC) – 8:31.80
5. Kate Hurst (SCAR) – 8:32.24
6. Rachel Stege (ABSC) – 8:32.38
7. Claire Weinstein (SAND) – 8:33.68
8. Ashley Twitchell (TAC) – 8:33.93

Hayden Miller, swimming for Texas A&M, posted the top time from heat 1, stopping the clock in 8:39.70, a new personal best. Finishing behind Miller was Kennedi Dobson. Dobson recorded a time of 8:44.51, a new personal best by 1.16 seconds. What makes this even more special is the fact that roughly 25 minutes earlier, she swam in the first heat of the 200 IM, where she finished 22nd in a time of 2:15.76, a new PB by .29.

It was a tighter race in heat 2 as Mila Nikanorov and Gena Jorgenson dueled each other from across the pool. Nikanorov, who swam out of lane 3, was nearly three seconds ahead of lane 6’s Jorgenson, but the Nebraska swimmer closed hard and dropped the deficit to a little more than a second, touching in 8:36.72 to Nikanorov’s 8:35.36.

Heat three saw outside smoke as Alabama’s Liberty Williams took the win from lane one. Williams, who was 18th in the 1500 free earlier in the week closed in 29.77 to drop over two seconds from her seed time, stopping the clock in 8:40.10. Katie McCarthy recorded the top time out of heat 4, stopping the clock in 8:41.00.

Heat 5, the penultimate heat and the first of our circle-seeded heats, was a cat-and-mouse affair as Jillin Cox, Paige Madden, and Kate Hurst tried to keep an eye on each other and not let anyone get too far ahead. Madden led at the 400, flipping in 4:12.80, but was slowly reeled in by Cox and Hurst. Cox would get her hand on the wall first and take over the top time as she finished in 8:31.58, .22 ahead of Madden.

I’ll stand by my statement that Ledecky is pretty good at freestyle as she absolutely dominated her heat and the field, posting a time of 8:17.70. Ledecky was 2:00.84 at the 200, and the next fastest was Paige Madden’s 2:04.67 and was the only swimmer under 4:12 a the 400 as she flipped in 4:06.52. A pillar of consistency Ledecky was 31 lows-mids from the 150 mark to the 800. Having a strong race to place second behind Ledecky in the heat was Aurora Roghair, who posted a new personal best of 8:31.59.