2021 U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS
- When:
- Wave I Dates: June 4-7, 2021
- Wave II Dates: June 13-20, 2021
- Prelims: 10am CDT | Finals: 7pm CDT
- Where: CHI Health Center / Omaha, Nebraska
- 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifying Cuts
- Wave I & II Event Order
- LCM (50m)
- Prelims Live Stream (NBC Olympics)
- Finals Live Stream (Olympic Channel)
- Wave II Live Results
Originally published June 9th
WAVE II PRE-SCRATCH PSYCH SHEETS
With Wave II of the U.S. Olympic Trials set to kick off Sunday, the pre-scratch psych sheets have been released by USA Swimming, giving us our first glimpse into what races athletes are intending to swim.
Just a quick reminder on how the Wave I/Wave II qualification works: Only swimmers who had one or more Wave I cuts, but had not achieved a Wave II cut competed in last weekend’s Wave I meet. Any swimmer who has at least one Wave II cut also has the ability to race any event in which they only have the Wave I cut at the Wave II meet.
As we scan through the psych sheets for entries that may be of interest to our readers, we will be posting separate article on the site going into detail on specific swimmers’ lineups.
Caeleb Dressel, at least as things stand now, has opted for a busy schedule. In addition to the fully expected 50 free, 100 free, and 100 fly, Dressel has also entered in the 200 free, 200 fly, and 200 IM. It was expected that Dressel would enter in, and compete in, the 200 free because it’s a relay event. He’s the 11th seed with a 1:47.31. The 200 fly and 200 IM weren’t nearly as expected for Dressel, although it should be noted that this is just a pre-scratch psych sheet, so it in no way means he will actually race all six of these events.
There was speculation as to whether women’s sprint star Simone Manuel would enter in the 200 free. She enters as the 3rd seed with her best of 1:56.09, but she hasn’t raced the event since March of 2020, which is what has caused the speculation around whether she’ll actually race it. Manuel’s coach, Greg Meehan, confirmed to SwimSwam that Manuel is entered in the 200 free, and a final decision will be made on whether or not she’ll race it as the event approaches. Without the 200 free, Simone will just be racing the women’s 50 free and 100 free, events in which she holds the American Records.
Versatile sprinter Michael Andrew is also entered in a high volume of events. Andrew enters the meet in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, and 200 IM. All six of these events run in a prelims/semifinals/finals format, so if he ends up racing them all, he’ll have one of the busiest schedules of anybody over the week.
Ryan Lochte is entered in a whopping 6 events as well. The 36-year-old veteran Olympic star is chasing a 5th consecutive Olympic berth. He’s entered the meet in the 200 IM, 400 IM, 100 back, 200 back, 200 free, and the 100 fly. It’s seems very likely Lochte will end up scratching a number of events, in order to focus his energy on making the team. The event where it appears he has the best shot at finishing in the top 2 is the 200 IM, where he is the World Record holder, and the 5th seed for this meet.
Sandpipers of Nevada 15-year-old Bella Sims is a rising star to look out for at these Trials. At just 15 years of age, Sims had managed to qualify for this meet in 11 events. Instead of entering in all of them, then scratching, Sims and her coaches have decide to whittle down the focus from the start, only entering her in 5 events. Sims is set to race in the 100 free, 200 free, 800 free, 100 fly, and 200 fly. Other events she was eligible for were the 400 free, 1500 free, 100 back, 200 back, 200 IM, and 400 IM.
Olivia Smoliga has not entered in the women’s 200 back, an event where her best time would have had her seeded 9th. Smoliga is right in the thick of it in the 100 back, where she’s the 2nd seed behind only Regan Smith. Instead, Smoliga is set to swim the 50 free, 100 free, and 200 free, in addition to the 100 back. She’s seeded 5th in the 200 free, which is a relay event, so the top six swimmers will make the Olympic team. Smoliga is seeded 11th in the 100 free, also a relay event, and 10th in the 50.
Shaine Casas is entered in 7 events, giving him one of the heaviest schedules to start out with, Casas is entered in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free, 100 back, 200 back, 100 fly, and 200 IM. It’s unlikely Casas races all 7 events, especially given they’re all prelims/semi/finals events. That being said, out of his entries, it seems most likely Casas will end up scratching the 50 free and 200 free, because he’s seeded 67th and 52nd respectively in those events. On the other hand, Casas is 2nd in the 100 back, 3rd in the 200 back, and 8th in the 100 fly and 200 IM. He’s the 17th seed in the 100 free, which is a relay event.
Ryan Lochte is 38th in the 100 fly, I think he can possibly make the Olympic but is swimming this event a warmup or a last Olympic trials event?
Is Comerford going to be able to get back down to her 52 speed? It is so shocking she has only been 55 in season, considering she is one of the best sprint stars in the world. 55 wouldn’t make the team, let alone even the finals, so I am really curious to see what she is capable of at this event.
Question for the data nerds – What/who is the lowest seeded swimmer (based on entries) to make the U.S. team? Historically, I mean. Maybe both women’s and men’s. Curious to know from how far down the seedings someone rose up to shock the world (or at least the U.S.).
Since 2000, 38th place.
Historically historically? Results are so shady that far back, plus the whole Trials meet was a way different thing – in some years and in some events, there wouldn’t have even been 38 swimmers in a lot of events.
So, probably 38th place, but hard to know for sure.
Wow. I would not have guessed that someone would/could come from that low down the sheet. Thanks for the response. Are you able to share who that was? Understand that access to records going back much further gets sketchier, but that is interesting.
Erin Phenix, in the 100 free at the 2000 Olympic Trials. She actually went on to win a gold medal on the relay.
USA Swimming actually used this data to determine where to draw the Wave I/Wave II cutlines this year: https://staging.swimswam.com/from-38th-trials-seed-to-olympic-gold-the-stories-of-low-seeds/
Why aren’t the morning sessions actually streaming live? The schedule references I see are all 5:30/6:30PM ET. Why the delay until the evening immediately preceding the Finals broadcasts? I can’t figure that one out. Its not really a live stream then is it?
It does appear the morning session will be streamed life; June 13 Qualifying Heats 11 a.m. NBCOlympics.com; Qualifying Heats 5:30 p.m. NBCSN Peacock; Finals 8 p.m. NBC. It looks to me that qualifying heats will be streamed life starting at 11 am and then replayed at 5:30 pm
I can settle on a top 5 for mens 2 Breast, but order of finish is a big shrug for me
Interesting that Abrahm DeVine is only entered in the 200 free and the 200 IM. No 400 IM.
I can’t find the psych sheets.
Click on Wave II pre-scratch psych sheets (in red, above). It’s a link 🙂
All the criticism of Michael Andrew’s 100free has got me thinking- is it physically possibly to do the 100free no breath / 1 breath? And what type of time would be possible with that?
Possible? Yes. I think the oxygen debt would be worse than the speed loss by breathing.
If I were him, I’d save my breaths for right before the turns (watch all of the coaches’ heads explode). If you’re going to lose pace and momentum via increased drag, why not do it right before a turn where you lose all of your momentum anyway?