2024 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS
Beach Cities Swimming 13-year-old Gabi Brito will be the youngest swimmer at the U.S. Olympic Trials next week after pulling off an impressive time drop in the 50 freestyle over the past month.
Last month, Brito shaved almost a second off her lifetime best in the 50 free with a time of 25.71, taking down a Southern California LSC record (26.04) belonging to 12-time Olympic medalist Dara Torres from 1982. She followed that performance up with a personal-best 25.42 earlier this month — right before the qualifying window closed — making her the fastest 13-year-old American ever by a relatively wide margin ahead of Kate Douglass (25.80). Brito is seeded 39th in the 50 free scheduled for Saturday, June 22.
The only other swimmer competing at Lucas Oil Stadium who was born in 2010 is Nasa Wildcat Aquatics 14-year-old Grace Koenig-Song. She’s seeded 55th in the 100 breaststroke (1:09.97).
Kayla Han was the youngest U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier in 2021 at 13 years old. Back in 2000, Dana Vollmer made the U.S. Olympic Trials at just 12 years old. The youngest U.S. Olympic swimmer in Tokyo was 15-year-old Katie Grimes (800 free), who marked the youngest U.S. Olympic swimmer since Jilen Siroky and Amanda Beard made the Atlanta 1996 squad at just 14 years old.
The youngest boy to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials was Santa Clara Swim Club 14-year-old Shareef Elaydi, who’s seeded 51st in the 200 butterfly (2:00.38). He’s just about a second shy of Michael Phelps‘ national age group (NAG) record of 1:59.02 from way back in 2000.
Other age-group standouts to keep an eye on in Indianapolis include Jersey Wahoos 14-year-old Audrey Derivaux, who qualified for six events. She’s the 18th seed in both the 200 fly (2:10.81) and 200 back (2:10.36), 28th seed in the 200 IM (2:15.14), 41st seed in the 100 fly (59.62), and 49th seed in the 100 back (1:01.66).
She’s joined by fellow 14-year-olds Bianca Nwaizu of Irvine Novaquatics and Ellie Clarke of Carmel Swim Club. Nwaizu is seed 72nd in the 100 breast (1:10.20) while Clark is seeded 28th in the 200 back (2:11.93) and 32nd in the 400 IM (4:49.24).
Laker Swimming 15-year-old Rylee Erisman will be gunning for some second swims as the No. 15 seed in the 50 free (24.98), No. 16 seed in the 100 free (54.34), and No. 18 seed in the 100 back (1:00.58). The youngest American to break 25 seconds in the 50 free, Erisman is also seeded 27th in the 200 back (2:11.80) and 42nd in the 200 free (2:00.19).
Of course, we can’t forget about distance free phenom Luka Mijatovic. The Pleasanton Seahawks 15-year-old is eyeing a top-6 finish (and National Team berth) in the 800 free, where he’s seeded 13th with a personal-best 7:59.64. Mijatovic is also seeded 19th in the 400 free (3:51.18), 22nd in the 1500 free (15:26.73), and 45th in the 200 free (1:49.63). The last 15-year-old boy to make a U.S. Olympic team was Phelps back in 2000 (and before Phelps, the last was Ralph Flanagan in 1932).
Besides Elaydi and Mijatovic, no other boys born in 2009 qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials.
