2016 U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS
- Sunday June 26th-Sunday July 3rd, 2016
- Century Link Center – Omaha, Nebraska
- Friday-Sunday – Prelims – 11:00 am EDT Finals – 7:45 pm EDT
- SwimSwam Preview Links & Schedule
- NBC Televison Coverage Schedule
- Psych Sheets
- Sunday Heat Sheets
- Live results
The tension of the anticipation of finding out the first names of swimmers who will represent the United States in the pool in Rio will be relieved on Sunday night. The first six members of the U.S Olympic team will be announced tonight following the finals of the men’s 400m IM, the women’s 400m IM, and the men’s 400m freestyle.
Ryan Lochte and Chase Kalisz are in a great spot to be the first to swimmers on the Olympic roster after finishing first and second overall during the heats in the 400m IM this morning.
Zane Grothe is looking to push his way past both Connor Jaeger and Conor Dwyer in the 400 freestyle to make his first Olympic team. This morning he took the top seed in prelims ahead of the two swimmers.
Much like Grothe, Sarah Henry is looking to take down national team members Elizabeth Beisel and Maya DiRado in the 400m IM en route to her first Olympic roster berth.
While the focus of the action will be centered around the finals, there’s plenty of semifinal action as well featuring Kelsi Worrell and Dana Vollmer in the 100m butterfly as well as Kevin Cordes and Cody Miller in the 100m breaststroke.
To see a full recap of what happened during this morning’s prelims, click here.
MEN’S 400m IM
Top seed: Chase Kalisz (4:11.86)
World record: 4:03.84 – Michael Phelps
American record: 4:03.84 – Michael Phelps
U.S Open record: 4:05.25 – Michael Phelps
U.S Nationals record: 4:05.25 – Michael Phelps
JR World record: 4:14.07 – Brandonn Almeida (Brazil) 4:14.00 – Sean Grieshop
2012 Winning Time: 4:07.06 – Ryan Lochte
Dethroned. For the first time since the 2000 Olympic Games, the 400m IM will not feature Ryan Lochte or Michael Phelps.
Chase Kalisz claimed the 400m IM crown with a wicked breaststroke leg to push past 2012 Olympic champion Ryan Lochte before holding on for the freestyle and touching in to be the first swimmer on the U.S Olympic team.
It was all Lochte after the fly, leading with a 55.39 split. After the backstroke leg Lochte had opened up his lead significantly. Kalisz pushed past him on the breaststroke leg, and to everybody in the crowd it appeared that the race was between Lochte and Kalisz.
Kalisz turned in 3:10.07, Lochte turned in 3:11.46, and nobody paid attention to a charging Jay Litherland who turned over two seconds behind Lochte in 3:13.64.
Fifty-meters of freestyle to go and Kalisz was still in the lead, Lochte was still in second. With all eyes still on those two, Litherland’s 28.82 freestyle split went largely unnoticed.
Coming home Lochte began to fade, Litherland began to accelerate, and with 25-meters to go Litherland passed Lochte. Kalisz touched in 4:09.54, Litherland touched in at 4:11.02 to deny multi-time Olympic medallist Lochte a spot on the 2016 Olympic team.
Lochte was third in 4:12.02.
Gunnar Bentz finished fourth in 4:13.72 making him the third Georgia swimmer in the top four.
- Chase Kalisz (4:09.54)
- Jay Litherland (4:11.02)
- Ryan Lochte (4:12.02)
- Gunnar Bentz (4:13.72)
- Sean Grieshop (4:14.08)
- Abrahm DeVine (4:14.98)
- Charlie Swanson (4:21.62)
- Austin Snyder (4:22.81)
For official results click here.
WOMEN’S 100m BUTTERFLY
Top seed: Kelsi Worrell (56.84)
World record: 55.64 – Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden)
American record: 55.98 – Dana Vollmer
U.S Open record: 56.38 – Sarah Sjostrom (Sweden)
U.S Nationals record: 56.42 – Dana Vollmer
JR World record: 56.99 – Penny Oleksiak (Canada)
2012 Winning Time: 56.50 – Dana Vollmer
The much anticipated Kelsi Worrell–Dana Vollmer showdown might be closer than anticipated. In prelims, it was all Worrell with a 56.84, however Vollmer dominated the semifinals with a 56.90 performance.
That time gives Vollmer the top seed heading into tomorrow night’s final where she’ll be right beside Worrell. The final will feature their first time racing in the same heat at this meet.
Worrell won the second semifinal with a 57.12 time, slightly slower than what she was this morning but still good enough to get her a middle lane for finals.
All remaining finalists behind Vollmer and Worrell were in the 58-second range, far behind the two leaders.
TOP EIGHT
- Dana Vollmer (56.90)
- Kelsi Worrell (57.12)
- Sarah Gibson (58.02)
- Cassidy Bayer (58.11)
- Kendyl Stewart (58.33)
- Hellen Moffitt (58.46)
- Claire Donahue (58.76)
- Hali Flickinger (58.81)
For official results, click here.
MEN’S 400m FREESTYLE
Top seed: Zane Grothe (3:47.03)
World record: 3:40.07 – Paul Biedermann (Germany)
American record: 3:42.78 – Larsen Jensen
U.S Open record: 3:43.53 – Larsen Jensen
U.S Nationals record: 3:43.53 – Larsen Jensen
JR World record: 3:44.60 – Mack Horton (Australia)
2012 Winning Time: 3:47.67 – Peter Vanderkaay
Clark Smith was out like a rocket right from the get-go in this race with only one plan in mind: to hold on. Up until the 300-meter mark he looked amazing, ahead of world record pace and fighting to keep his position as they approached the wall.
Dwyer made his move and turned first at the 300 with Smith holding on to second and Connor Jaeger advancing to third.
Top seed from prelims Zane Grothe turned in fifth behind Townley Haas as they all turned on the jets for the last 100.
At 350 it was Dwyer-Jaeger with Smith fading to third. With a 28.05 last 50, Jaeger pulled out ahead of Dwyer to clock in at 3:43.79 ahead of Dwyer’s 3:44.66.
Haas improved his placing to touch in for third in 3:45.04 with Grothe behind him in 3:45.60. Clark Smith faded hard on the final 50 and was forced to settle for fifth in 3:45.74.
- Connor Jaeger 3:43.79
- Conor Dwyer 3:44.66
- Townley Haas 3:45.04
- Zane Grothe 3:45.60
- Clark smith 3:45.74
- True Sweetser 3:50.71
- Grant Shoults 3:51.25
- Michael McBroom 3:52.60
For official results click here.
WOMEN’S 400m IM
Top seed: Sarah Henry (4:36.93)
World record: 4:28.42 – Ye Shiwen (China)
American record: 4:31.12 – Katie Hoff
U.S Open record: 4:31.07 – Katinka Hosszu (Hungary)
U.S Nationals record: 4:31.12 – Katie Hoff
JR World record: 4:39.01 – Rosie Rudin (Britain)
2012 Winning Time: 4:31.74 – Elizabeth Beisel
Maya DiRado of Stanford punched in her ticket to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games with a very strong 4:33.73 performance in the 400m IM final which ranks her fifth in the world this season.
Behind DiRado was Elizabeth Beisel in 4:36.81. Beisel played catch-up the entire race and although she was able to get ahead of early leaders like Bethany Galat, she wasn’t able to push past DiRado at any point in the race.
Beisel’s 4:33.55 performance from early May however still ranks her as the fastest American this season ahead of DiRado’s swim from tonight.
While Galat led at the 100, she faded to the middle of the pack during the backstroke and breaststroke legs before moving up to third on the freestyle and staying there through to the wall. Galat was a 4:37.69 to finish less than a second behind Beisel for third.
Sarah Henry, who posted the fastest time this morning, was a 4:42.01 to finish sixth. Her 4:36.93 from prelims would have placed her third overall in tonight’s final.
- Maya DiRado (4:33.73)
- Elizabeth Beisel (4:36.81)
- Bethany Galat (4:37.69)
- Madisyn Cox (4:38.85)
- Caitlin Leverenz (4:39.58)
- Sarah Henry (4:42.01)
- Lindsey Clary (4:42.81)
- Kate Mills (4:46.58)
For official results click here.
MEN’S 100m BREASTSTROKE
2016 Top seed: Kevin Cordes (59.05)
World record: 57.92 – Adam Peaty (Britain)
American record: 58.96 – Eric Shanteau
U.S Open record: 59.01 – Mark Gangloff
U.S Nationals record: 59.01 – Mark Gangloff
JR World record: 1:00.12 – Anton Chupkov (Russia)
2012 Winning Time: 59.68 – Brendan Hansen
In the first semifinal of the men’s 100m breaststroke Cody Miller packed a punch, moving way out in front of the field with a time of 59.09. His closest competitor was Andrew Wilson who touched the wall in 59.87 for second.
The real speed came in the second semifinal as four swimmers went under one-minute to secure their spot in tomorrow’s final.
Kevin Cordes came back with an unreal last 50 to break Eric Shanteau’s American record as well as Mark Gangloff’s U.S Open and U.S Nationals record.
Cordes’ time of 58.94 not only breaks the record, but moves him to second in the world this year only behind world record holder Adam Peaty.
Josh Prenot was second behind Cordes in 59.60 followed by Michael Andrew in 59.85 and Nic Fink in 59.88.
TOP EIGHT
- Kevin Cordes (58.94) American record
- Cody Miller (59.09)
- Josh Prenot (59.60)
- Michael Andrew (59.85)
- Andrew Wilson (59.87)
- Nic Fink (59.88)
- Marcus Titus (1:00.19)
- Will Licon (1:00.30)
For official results click here.
Did Sean grieshop make the Olympic team at all??
Yeah – Go New Zealand!
Sorry Kiwi, I love your country, but Jay lives and trained here and he chose us. Maybe you guys will get Kevin or Mick next time if you’re lucky.
I add that I fell in love with Ariana Kukors.
She’s beautiful, funny, smart, poised and articulate.
I love her voice too.
Hopefully we’ll see her very often behind a micro in the future.
First Sogsr at nationals and now Kukors. You are so creepy
Quick thoughts.
I can’t watch prelims live.
And for finals it was a nightmare to find a NBC link which worked. I missed some races. Not happy.
Hopefully it’s better for the rest of the meet and then for track and field.
I should never change some picks at the last moment because of hype or rumors….
Why I put Lochte and Smith while I’ve never picked them until yesterday? Crazy senseless.
Times overall were not crazy as I expected. It’s not necessarily a bad sign. You just have to qualify this week. You have to peak in Rio.
Men’s 400 IM
All season I picked Kalisz and Litherland so no surprise. Why I… Read more »
How much will Kalisz improve? Im guessing a 4.07 in rio
Really don’t like the “too old for the event” argument for Lochte. Zero biological evidence to back up that theory. Were Eastin, Henry, and Beisel on the women’s side (the three you named who had disappointing swims) too old for it, too? Henry couldn’t double in one day (slower finals), so she must be too old. Beisel went faster in mid-season, so she’s clearly too old. And Eastin was apparently so old she couldn’t muster a good prelims swim.
Maybe it’s just tough to train for 100 free on up to 400 IM and make both work. Only one other guy on the planet has ever made that work.
Agree with SwimDoc about Lochte, in fact the bio evidence negates Bobo’s theory; Lochte’s coach said that his lactates actually cleared rapidly after prelims. And Lochte was injury prone earlier in his career when he was younger too. His strategy in finals was the only choice he had with the injury; if he’d held back more the first 200, he might have lost by even more than he did.
Bobo, Good comments as always. You were actually right about picking Lochte. According to news reports today, he got a pretty serious groin injury in prelims and in retrospect would have scratched the finals. If that hadn’t happened, he would have qualified. However, I don’t think his heart was fully in the 400 IM and no way he can medal unless he was fully committed. Maybe a blessing in disguise. The groin injury which puts him in some new challenges for the rest of his races.
I still think Lochte would have gone under 4:10, too old! PHAH, how many 31 year olds break 4:12 in a prelim?
Race videos?
Please anyone?
What was Lochte doing that first 100? That was so unnecessary. I hope he can swim all of that out so it doesn’t hurt the rest of his meet. Ugh…
I have it on good authority that MA has his sights set on that 400 FRR. He will be top 6. Mark my words. With what he has dropped in his br it is no question that he goes 49.low at the least. He only recently started his focus on the 100 fr so i expect huge drops. May even contend for top 2.
Top two… Uhh right
6 qualify for the relay.
No Dude……48.5 will be needed to make the relay. I would love to see MA do that, but I think that we will have to wait for next year.
Smith out 1:49.4. Looked somewhat easy. Hope he swims the 200 could be 1:45 mid unless the concentration is on the mile now but with Yeager and wilmonsky his best bet might be the 200. Hass looks like a lock in the 200 given phelps scratch.
Physiologically for the best mid distance males it is 2×200 time +10-12 secs. So if Clarke can go 1.45 you would expect this 400 to have been 3.41-43. For a 1500 swimmer he certainly died in the last 50 unlike Jaeger. So i think he was 2 secs to the feet off max.