2018 U.S. Winter Nationals: First Olympic Trial Cuts Await

2018 US WINTER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• November 28th-December 1st, 2018
• Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
• LCM
• Psych Sheets

The 2018 U.S. Winter Nationals begin tonight in Greensboro. Here’s what to watch for in Wednesday’s pretty straightforward timed finals session:

First Olympic Trials Cuts of 2020

The 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifying period opened this morning – that means it’s extremely likely that tonight’s session crowns the very first 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials qualifier. We’d expect it to happen in the women’s 800, which starts at 6 PM Eastern with 15 women entered faster than the Trials cut.

Meet timelines show five heats. The second heat features most of the top yards time qualifiers, and might be a likely spot for the first cut to take place. If not, the final two heats should both have multiple qualifiers.

The men have an interesting distinction of their own: the first man to make the 8:12.99 Olympic Trial cut will become the first U.S. Olympic Trial qualifier in that event in history. The men’s 800 (and women’s 1500) were added to the Olympic and Olympic Trials lineup for 2020, meaning this group of men will be the first ever to qualify in that new event.

Ledecky November WR Watch

The past two Novembers, Katie Ledecky has broken short course yard American and NCAA records (essentially world-bests for the yards format). Now a pro, Ledecky will look for a long course world record with a time drop tonight. She’s the top seed in the 800 free, chasing her own 2016 world record of 8:04.79. At the very least, she’s likely to continue her ownership of the top times in history in this event.

Wilimovsky Bolstering Pool Accolades

Jordan Wilimovsky is one of the top American distance threats, both in the pool and in marathon open water swimming. He’ll shoot for the national 800 free title after finishing second to Zane Grothe at both U.S. Summer Nationals and the Pan Pacific Championships this summer. His top threat is 2018 NCAA mile champion Anton Ipsen, a Danish Olympian.

Juniors Look For Top 10 All-Time Performances

17-year-old Ross Dant is the third overall seed on the men’s side, and he’s looking to crack the top 10 all-time in USA Swimming history for the 17-18 age group. Dant is currently 17th at 8:00.51, and a drop of about three and a half seconds would put him inside the top 10. Meanwhile Lleyton Plattel, 16, is 33rd in 15-16 age group history.

Meanwhile 18-year-old Erica Sullivan is already 10th in 17-18 age group history on the women’s side (8:25.51). It would only take as much as a few seconds dropped to surge up to 6th, and only four American women have ever been sub-8:20: Ledecky, Janet Evans, Kate Ziegler and Katie Hoff.