The USA Swimming official Meet Information book is out for this summer’s World Championship Trials, to be held from June 25th-29th in Indianapolis, Indiana. We’ve dug through and picked out some key points that will help you prepare to watch, compete in, or coach at this summer’s trials.
- No international swimmers
- No-show rules: this year, swimmers will be able to pay a $200 fine to escape disqualification from the entire meet if they miss a swim without scratching. Recall that in 2010, Josh Schneider was almost cost a chance at making the National Team under this rule.
- Timed Finals for the distance freestyles, which will be the 800 and 1500 for both men and women
- No Semi-finals in any races, all except the above will be prelims-finals
- C-Final is for the top 18 & under athletes who do not make the A and B finals
- Prelims may be swum in a flighted format, or may be swum with flyover starts, at the discretion of the Meet Referee.
- The entry deadline is June 17th, with the qualification period beginning on March 29th, 2012
- As we reported a few months ago, 50 meter stroke races will be swum at this meet – including the 50 back, 50 breast, and 50 fly.
A full meet brochure is available here.
Selection Criteria
See more about the selection criteria here.
Order of Events
| Heats Begin at 9:00 a.m. | Finals begin at 6:00 p.m. | ||
| Women’s Events | Day 1 – Tuesday, June 25 | Men’s Events | |
| 1 | 200 Butterfly | 2 | |
| 3 | 100 Freestyle | 4 | |
| 5 | Women’s 800 Freestyle | – | |
| – | Men’s 1500 Freestyle | 6 | |
| 7 | 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay | 8 | |
| Day 2 – Wednesday, June 26 | |||
| 9 | 200 Freestyle | 10 | |
| 11 | 200 Breaststroke | 12 | |
| 13 | 200 Backstroke | 14 | |
| 15 | 50 Butterfly | 16 | |
| – | Men’s 4 x 200 Freestyle Relay | 17 | |
| Day 3 – Thursday, June 27 | |||
| 18 | 400 Individual Medley | 19 | |
| 20 | 100 Butterfly | 21 | |
| 22 | 50 Breaststroke | 23 | |
| 24 | 50 Backstroke | 25 | |
| 26 | Women’s 4 x 200 Freestyle Relay | – | |
| Day 4 – Friday, June 28 | |||
| 27 | 400 Freestyle | 28 | |
| 29 | 100 Breaststroke | 30 | |
| 31 | 100 Backstroke | 32 | |
| 33 | 4 x 100 Medley Relay | 34 | |
| Day 5 – Saturday, June 29 | |||
| 35 | Women’s 1500 Freestyle | – | |
| 36 | 200 Individual Medley | 37 | |
| – | Men’s 800 Freestyle | 38 | |
| 39 | 50 Freestyle | 40 | |
Time Standards
Really sad to hear about Dagny Knutson’s retirement today from the New York Times. She was swimming so well just 2 months ago and I thought on track to make it to Worlds, at least on the 4×200 relay. Congrats on a great career and best wishes to Dagny!
Is there a selection method posted anywhere showing the priority as the doubles are created so it is seen ahead of time? Or is this going to be up to the National Coach? As for the distance swimmers that’s the way it is. It is not just USSwimming as the NCAA’s is also part of it. With 5 relays the major teams have more need for the shorter distance swimmers and the distance swimmer can’t score as much. Is it possible that the 2nd distance spot would be low on the list with 50’s and then someday they will be in the Olympic Games.
If they continue 26-26 this becomes a real problem here as forever we have filled… Read more »
Coach GB – as is under the “selection criteria,” there is no selection method posted yet. Spoke with a few National Teamers who haven’t seen one yet either.
I think it has to do more with keeping the meet sessions within a certain time frame than it does with de-emphasizing distances at the international level. If it ever came down to choosing a 2nd place swimmer in a shorter non relay event (e.g. 50 free or 200 fly) vs. a distance event they would probably do so on the basis of FINA QT and world rankings.
I don’t like it because it potentially puts legitimate world team (and other international event) candidates in a disadvantageous situation swimming in slower heats. Pacing can be critical in the longer distances. People who swam a great time two years ago but haven’t shown form lately will be given a leg up… Read more »
Depends on when the time was swam. Isn’t the window within about 1.5 years and only long course? You’ll have some people possibly entered despite not training very hard but who is really going to do that for the 800/1500? With it being TF, the top heat will be top 8, there will be some good racing. I’m sure there are some guys and girls who would like to have two shots at swimming it, but for schedule I can see why and energy wise it might give the distance kids more of a chance to come down and race in the 400s without worrying about putting two elite level 800/1500 together in 5 days.
What about the women? I don’t think the 26 person thing should be an issue with them. They are so strong and have great depth w people in multiple events.
*shouldnt
Might be even harder..Soni, Missy and Ledecky can easy get multiple events.. but the sprints will be tough..
50 Free-Adrian, Ervin
100 Free-Adrian, Grevers (Lochte, Jones)
200 Free-Lochte, Berens (Dwyer, Vanderkaay)
400 Free-Vanderkaay, Dwyer
800-Vanderkaay, La Tourette
1500-La Tourette, Jaeger
50 Back-Grevers, Thoman
100 Back-Grevers, Thoman
200 Back-Lochte, Clary
50 Breast-Alexandrov, Gangloff
100 Breast-Shanteau, Cordes
200 Breast-Shanteau, Weltz
50 Fly-McGill, Jones
100 Fly-Lochte, McGill
200 Fly-Clary, Bollier
200 IM-Lochte, Clary
400 IM-Lochte Clary
1.Adrian,
2. Ervin
3.Grevers
4. Lochte
5. Jones
6. Dwyer
7. Vanderkaay
8. La Tourette
9. Jaueger
10.Thoman
11.Clary
12. Alexandrov
13. Gangloff
14. Shanteau
15. Cordes
16. Weltz
17. McGill
18. Bollier
what about the women? they have quite a few people with doubles or multiple events…i think. what are your predictions? pretty good predictions on the men’s side. Hopefully swim swam will have another contest!
shanteau isnt swimming this year
And I don’t think he’d beat Cordes in the 100…
Is PVK swimming/ Is Chad swimming seriously. Didn’t Lochte swear off 4IM ala Phelps. is Gangloff 110 years old yet?
pvk is considering retirement, nothing for sure yet. La Tourette i haven’t heard anything about, so I assume he’s swimming. He’s also only 24
gangloff also swam last week in austin and he’s only 30, he can swim a 50 breast
Also would not bet on Greevers getting on the 100free.. more like Feigen or Jones.. I would choose Morozov but he will swim for Russia for sure..
i agree. the second spot in the 100 is wide open
Jack If I recall correctly there are some guys on US who are specialist on 50 styles that can actually get the spots.. they never went before to Worlds because US chose to pick up the 100 winner on the 50 spot.. but who were the fastest 50 guys on 2011??? (not couting free of course)
my bad, I overlooked this.
Since 2010
50 Fly-
Cullen Jones 23.50–2010 Pan Pacs
Tim Phillips 23.5–2011 World University Games
Eugene Godsoe 23.89–2012 Charlotte Ultra Swim
Tyler Mcgill 23.90–2012 Olympics
50 Back
Matt Grevers-24.72 2011 Austin Grand Prix
Nick Thoman-24.82 2010 Pan Pacs
Randall Bal-24.83 2011 SA invite
David Plummer-24.87 2010 Pan Pacs
50 Breast
Mark Gangloff-27.49 2011 Worlds
Michael Alexandrov-27.70 2010 Pan Pacs
Marcus Titus-27.79 2011 Deaf Worlds
I realize some of these times are old
So if we swim the 50’s stroke as “selection events” it is very possible that we would exceed the 26 person limit by taking 2 from each event. Going to cause some problems somewhere. I say cut back on 100/200 free swimmers for relays. Go only 4 deep.
You will have 4 50 event, 4 100, 5 200, 2 400, and 2 distance..
Total of 19 eventos.. the total of 26 swimmers is very small.. apart from Locthe and Adrian, who else on the men side can qualify on 2 events or more??
Uh, Clary? Grevers? Cordes? Possibly Berens, Irvin?
I would find normal.
Clary: Both IM, 200 back
Lotche: Both IM, 200 Free, 200 Back
Adrian: 100 free/50 free.
Can´t see a place for Ervin, berens on any double..
Maybe cordes can, but who else? where would ervin and greevers and berens double??
Not sure Ervin would either. Lochte could be in for 100 fly, Clary for 200 fly.
Probably no space for relay only guys so..
Is 26 the limit of US swimming or from the worlds??
Worlds.
Whoever is in the 800/1500 or 400/800 could probably double, but overall you’re right, not a lot of doubles in there anymore for the men.
Grevers can do the 100/200 back; he’s more than capable of being on the finals relay of 4×100 but it’s too close to the 100 back. Doesn’t seem like Lochte’s doing the 400IM anymore…despite his dominance in the event. Could open up spot for Dwyer or Kalisz (can’t remember others…). Berens is definitely 200 free, and 4×100 relay (prelims at least). I wonder how many events Clary can handle. With Phelps gone, he’s capable for qualifying in a few more events…just not sure how many he can handle on the big stage.
(btw, I’m a bit uncomfortable with Clary. Props to him for swimming events dominated by phelps and lochte….but it seems like the only reason he’s swimming is… Read more »
Lochte announced early on that he was retiring from the 4IM. Smart move since the WR is a longshot without a LZR, he has the textile WR, the competition wasn’t close enough to push him, his advancing age, and his witnessing what happened to Phelps in the event. Kalisz, if he doesn’t burn out or get injured, looks good to push Clary.
Ervin could find a way to double in a couple of the 50s, outside chance but its a chance. He swam backstroke in college, if I remember correctly. The second spot in the 100 is not a guarantee for anyone either.
You won’t have to if they are already on the team, plenty of guys with multiple events.
It’s likely that all Olympic event swimmers, including relay pool members, will be given priority over 50m stroke swimmers who will only be added provided the 26 member cap hasn’t been met. Probably based on world rankings. Of course that’s not an issue if they’ve already qualified for the team in other events.
why don’t they just automatically qualify swimmers for the 50 by making the 100… they’ve done similar things a few times even with qualifying a 200 MR and FR by making the 400 standards
Because if there is a move to get the 50s in the Olympics and Olympic gold is at stake, you bet your butt that Busch is going to start identifying those who can win those medals. There has been talk about it this past year and the US needs all the time in this quad to get its 50s up to speed.
I hope the trend away from three rounds of swims continues. Trials and finals are enough. I too don’t like to see timed finals in distance free. Have to swim it twice at Worlds, so the selection meet should reward those who are prepared for that.
sure lets give sprinters more chances in more events, but lets cut opportunities to swim fast for distance swimmer. where is the justice? boo USA swimming. I’m not saying we need 3 finals worth, but there could at least be an A-final.
You’re a little late to the party, or you didn’t get the memo? USA Swimming hasn’t cared about distance swimmers for a while now…………………
And I agree with you 100% A big HISS BOO to USA Swimming!
Whole American continent don´t care about distance swimming.. the South American record of 800 free Stood for nearly 30 YEARS!
For some reason this news makes me anxious. #ithurtstocare So excited to see what transpires this summer.