2024 U.S. Olympic Trials: Day 1 Prelims Preview

2024 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS

• June 15-23, 2024
• Lucas Oil Stadium — Indianapolis, IN
• LCM (50 Meters)
• Session Start Times (ET):
  • 11 a.m. Prelims
  • 7:45 p.m. Finals (varying based on broadcast needs)
• Meet Central
• Broadcast Info
• SwimSwam’s Definitive Guide to Trials
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest

DAY 1 PRELIMS HEAT SHEET

In the opening session of the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials, the preliminary heats of the women’s 100 butterfly, women’s 400 freestyle, men’s 100 breaststroke, and men’s 400 freestyle will be contested.

Kicking things off will be the women’s 100 fly, where Torri Huske sits as the top seed with an entry time just 0.06 seconds off of her own American record. She’s the only swimmer under 56 seconds, but the event is still competitive behind her. Sitting in second is Gretchen Walsh, who is racing in her first major long course meet since having a historic short course season where she broke NCAA records in four different individual events. She qualified for Worlds last year in this event, but will she have what it takes to bring it up a notch this year? It’s also worth keeping an eye on third-seeded Regan Smith, who has been putting up strong numbers in the 100 fly but hasn’t raced it at a trials meet since 2021. In fourth is Claire Curzan, who represented Team USA in the 100 fly in Tokyo but missed the Worlds team last year.

The women’s 400 free will be the first we see of Katie Ledecky, one of the headliners of this meet. She’s the heavy favorite to win this race, and is the top seed by nearly five seconds. Behind her are a myriad of teenagers, which includes second seed Bella Sims (who qualified for Worlds in the 400 free behind Ledecky last year), fourth seed Claire Weinstein, sixth seed Katie Grimes, seventh seed Jillian Cox, and eighth seed Erin Gemmell. However, there are still quite a few veterans. Leah Smith and Paige Madden are the third and fifth seeds respectively — both swimmers have experience racing the 400 free at past Olympic games. This event is one of Smith’s chance sto bounce back after missing the Tokyo Olympics, while Madden will look to build momentum after setting a best time two weeks ago.

Nic Fink has been the epitome of consistency in the 100 breast during this Olympic cycle, and will be the favorite in this race as well. The second spot behind him is very wide open though. 2023 Worlds finalist Josh Matheny (second seed) will be a factor, and so will third seed Noah Nichols, who was just a few tenths from a Worlds berth last year. And of course, don’t forget about Michael Andrew. He’s seeded fifth with a time of 59.52 and missed finals during trials last year, but he’s also the American Record holder — so it wouldn’t be wise to count him out totally.

Prelims will end with the men’s 400 free, which is arguably the most wide open event of the session. SwimSwam’s pickems and preview article have Kieran Smith winning — he’s been the most consistent racer in the field, having represented Team USA in this event since 400 free. However, he’s not the top seed, as that belongs to David Johnston, who qualified for Worlds alongside Smith last year. Don’t forget about third seed Jake Mitchell, who famously qualified for the Tokyo Olympics through a solo time trial. Something to keep an eye on is that only two swimmers on the psych sheet have seed times faster than the Olympic ‘A’ cut of 3:46.78, so we may be in for another Mitchell situation this year.