2016 U.S. Olympic Trials: Day One Finals Preview

2016 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS

• Sunday, June 26 – Sunday, July 3, 2016
• CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Nebraska
• SwimSwam Preview Links and Schedule
• Psych Sheets
• NBC Broadcast Schedule
• Sunday Finals Heat Sheets
• Live Results via Commit Swimming App (or find them here. )
• Links to Live Stream

Tonight marks the first session of semifinals and finals at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. Event finals will include the men’s 400 IM, the men’s 400 free, and the women’s 400 IM. Semifinals tonight will be the women’s 100 fly and the men’s 100 breast.

Men’s 400 IM – Finals

Tonight, the men’s 400 IM field is packed, with rising star Chase Kalisz of North Baltimore and defending Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte leading the pack from the middle of the pool. The duo come in separated by just .12 seconds this morning, with Kalisz sitting at 4:11.86 and Lochte at 4:11.98. The winning time from the previous Trials (from Lochte) was a 4:07.06.

We can expect tonight’s race to be a tightly contested final between the two of them.

The field is tightly packed, though, and Dynamo’s University of Georgia leading triplet Jay Litherland showed us a dangerous back half this morning that could slip in between Lochte and Kalisz. Litherland has gone faster than his 4:12.57 from this morning (his personal best is a 4:12.43 from the 2015 FINA World Championships), so he should still have some gas in the tank for tonight.

His Georgia teammate Gunnar Bentz went a personal best time this morning (4:13.67) to take the fourth seed. Meanwhile, seventeen-year-old Sean Grieshop has proven that he is in top form, after swimming this morning in a junior world record 4:14.00. While neither should be able to come up to challenge the Kalisz/Lochte duo, they will be fighting for a top placement.

It’s worth noting that eighth seed 2012 Olympian Tyler Clary, sixth seed Josh Prenot and seventh seed Michael Weiss all scratched the final.

Women’s 100 Fly – Semifinals

Ever since it became apparent that Cal Aquatics’ Dana Vollmer was back and in top shape after her post-2012 break from swimming (which included the birth of her first child), the swimming community has been aching for a high pressure showdown between her and NCAA star Kelsi Worrell of Louisville.

And it looks like we’re going to get it.

But, before the final tomorrow, the women will have to make it through semifinals tonight.

While Worrell (56.84) and Vollmer (57.50) are the clear top two (and also the fastest two American women ever to swim the 100 fly, as of today), the remainder of the final is a lot less clear cut.

The only other swimmer under 59 was 16-year-old Nation’s Capital’s Cassidy Bayer with 58.91, but she’s gone even faster in the past. Bayer will swim with Worrell in the second semifinal, taking on Aquazot’s young Eva Merrell, another 16-year-old. Merrell comes into the semis with the 5th-fastest time. The second final also includes Texas A&M’s Sarah Gibson, this year’s NCAA runner-up.

The first semifinal includes Kendyl Stewart, a member of last year’s World Champs squad; Cal’s Katie McLaughlin, who has recovered nicely from a  devastating neck injury earlier this year, NCAA standout Hali Flickinger, and 2012’s Olympic fifth place finisher in the 200 fly Cammile Adams. 

Men’s 400 Free – Finals

The men’s 400 free final is packed tight with talent; the top six swimmers all finished within a 1.2 second margin this morning.

Taking the middle lane will be Auburn grad Zane Grothe of Badger Swim Club, with 2012 Olympic finalist Conor Dwyer of Trojan and Texas’s 2015 World Championships finalist Michael McBroom on either side. Grothe was 3:45.98 at 2015 U.S. Nationals, and Dwyer holds the fastest time for an American this season with his world eighth-ranked 3:46.09 from the Arena PSS – Santa Clara.

However, the favorite going into the race will be Connor Jaeger out of lane 6, who took fourth at the 2015 Kazan World Championships, where he swam 3:44.81.

Also well within striking distance are Texas NCAA duo Clark Smith of Longhorn Aquatics and Townley Haas of NOVA. Haas is coming off an incredible NCAA collegiate season where he took the American record in the 200 free and came within a second of the record in the 500 free. Though Smith’s NCAA meet was not his best, he went 3:47.10 at U.S. Nationals.

Also in the field will be Gator’s True Sweetser, who swam his best time this morning with 3:48.20, and Mission Viejo’s national high school record-holder Grant Shoults. 

Women’s 400 IM – Finals

This morning, Aggie Swim Club’s 2015 U.S. Nationals runner-up Sarah Henry posted the top time with 4:36.93, followed by her Texas A&M teammate Bethany Galat. 

However, all eyes will be on lanes five and six, 2012 Olympic silver medalist Elizabeth Beisel of Bluefish will take on 2012 World Championships silver medalist Maya DiRado of Stanford. Beisel, looking for her third Olympic Trials victory in this event, has swam a personal best of 4:31.27, while DiRado has gone 4:31.71.

The other swimmer under 4:40 this morning was Cal’s 2012 6th-place Olympic finisher Caitlin Leverenz, who went 4:35.46 at the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Men’s 100 Breast – Semifinals

This morning featured big statement swims from Kevin Cordes of Fox Valley and Cody Miller of Badger, who became the third and fifth fastest American swimmers in history. They will be the clear swimmers-to-beat in finals, while Cordes could chase down the American record tonight or tomorrow. His time this morning was only .09 from Eric Shanteau’s super-suited American mark.

Josh Prenot of Cal and Andrew Wilson of Longhorn tied for the third spot this morning with 59.76. That swim was Prenot’s personal best, while Wilson has been 59.65.

However, perhaps the biggest story of the morning came from the new youngest ever American breaststroker under a minute Michael Andrew, who could prove dangerous in finals tomorrow.