How Did the Doha Roster Perform at U.S. Olympic Trials?

The 2024 Doha World Championships will go down in history as a bit of an anomaly. Some nations treated it as an in-season meet, while others approached it like any other Worlds meet. Many wondered if a Worlds meet at the beginning of an Olympic year would disrupt athletes’ Paris preparation.

The U.S. sent only 20 athletes to compete in pool swimming events in Doha, fielding a roster that was a mix of big names and first-timers. Now that the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials are in the books, let’s take a look at how those athletes fared.

At a glance, eight members of the Doha pool swimming roster will compete in Paris later this summer. Five of them were first-time Olympians and three represented the U.S. in Tokyo. Three athletes who were on the Tokyo team did not qualify for a second Olympics.

There were Olympic spots on the line for open water swimmers in Doha. The U.S. had six entrants.

First-Time Olympians from Texas*

Eight athletes who represented the U.S. in Doha were named to the Olympic team, and fiveof them are first-time Olympians.

Shaine Casas and Carson Foster are the most experienced of this group, having been Worlds teammates in 2022 and 2023. Coincidentally, they both qualified for Paris in the 200 IM (with Foster also earning qualification in the 400 IM).

It was a redemptive performance for both swimmers in Doha, who had been favored to make the Tokyo team back in 2021 but both had heartbreaking 3rd-place finishes at Trials.

Interestingly, Casas didn’t contest the 200 IM at the 2021 Trials, instead opting to go all-in on the backstroke events.

Luke Hobson and David Johnston, who were also a part of the 2023 Worlds team, booked their individual berths as well. Hobson qualified for the 200 free after picking up a bronze medal in Doha, while Johnston qualified in the 1500 free, an event he didn’t even contest in February.

Matt King rounds out the first-time Olympians, and is the only one who is a relay-only swimmer courtesy of his 6th-place finish in the 100 free. He also recorded a 3rd-place finish in the 50 free with a personal best, just 0.01-seconds back of an individual berth.

Four of the five first-time Olympians have ties to the University of Texas, with Casas, Foster, and Hobson all training in Austin. Johnston took a redshirt season to train with Mark Schubert’s The Swim Team in El Toro, California, but has plans to return to Texas in the fall.

King isn’t completely left out of the party, as he spent the last year training under Coley Stickels at Texas Ford Aquatics while taking a redshirt season from Virginia.

It’s also worth noting that neither Casas nor Johnston medaled individually in Doha.

Returning Olympians

The three returning Olympians from the Doha team are led by Kate Douglass, who qualified for the 200 IM, 200 breast, and 100 free. She medaled in both 200s in Doha, picking up gold in the IM and silver in the breaststroke, as well as earning a silver in the 50 free. Despite being the American record holder in the 50 freestyle from her Doha performance, Douglass opted to not contest the event at Trials.

Douglass had the biggest program expansion of the trio, as she only swam the 200 IM in Tokyo. She now adds two more individual events to her Olympic program, and is likely to add two or three more relay swims between the 400 free, 400 medley, and mixed medley.

Hunter Armstrong will also swim an expanded Olympic program compared to three years ago. He once again qualified in the 100 backstroke and picked up a 4th-place finish in the 100 free, earning a spot on the 4×100 free relay. He swam the men’s and mixed 400 free relays in Doha, earning bronze in both. He also won the 100 back and recorded a runner-up finish in the 50 back.

Nic Fink medaled in all three breaststroke distances in Doha, earning bronze in the 50 and 200 and gold in the 100. He only qualified to swim the 100 breast in Paris, missing out on 200 breast which was his sole entry in Tokyo.

Major Misses

Claire Curzan is probably the biggest miss of this group. After having a standout meet, including becoming only the second woman to sweep the 50-100-200 backstrokes at a World Championship meet, she failed to qualify for a second Olympics. In Doha, Curzan hit lifetime bests in all three backstroke events, as well a season best in the 100 fly where she earned silver.

The closest Curzan came to earning a Paris berth was a 3rd place finish in the 200 back, where her best time would have placed 2nd in the final. In the 100 fly, an event she swam in Tokyo, she finished 4th overall. Curzan was slower in all her events at Trials compared to Doha.

Michael Andrew is another Tokyo Olympian who didn’t hit his ceiling at Trials. He only entered the 50s in Doha, earning a silver medal in the 50 fly. As only one of those events is on the Olympic schedule, he entered the 50 free, 100 breast, and 100 fly at Trials. While Andrew made it to the final of the former two (which were also a part of his Tokyo program, alongside the 200 IM), he finished 5th and 8th respectively.

Andrew is the American Record holder in the 100 breast, but hasn’t been close to his best in the past two years.

The U.S. didn’t have any other individual medalists in Doha who haven’t been discussed already, but there was another Tokyo Olympian in Zach Harting. Harting finished 9th in the 200 fly three years ago, his sole entry, and finished 11th in the event in Doha. Harting also competed in the 100 fly, finishing 6th.

Harting did have a surprising end to his Trials, popping two best times in prelims and semis of the 100 fly, but finished 4th behind three swimmers who got under the 51-second barrier.

Finally, while Jack Aikins didn’t earn an individual medal in Doha, he was favored to challenge for a berth in the 200 backstroke. However, he couldn’t break through the ironclad grip Cal-trained swimmers have on the event, as he finished 3rd behind veteran Ryan Murphy and freshman Keaton Jones.

Young Risers

While it didn’t turn into Olympic berths, some of the Doha roster rode their momentum to strong Trials performances.

Lilla Bognar, Kayla Han, and Kate Hurst were all late entries to Worlds, and all made finals in at least one event at the Olympic Trials. Bognar swam in the final of the 200 IM and 400 IM, finishing 3rd in the longer IM event. Hurst also made a pair of finals, earning 6th in the 800 free and 4th in the 1500 free.

Han had a rollercoaster of an opening day in Indianapolis. After finishing just nine-hundredths shy of the top eight in the 400 free, two scratches ahead of her earned her a night swim. She capitalized on that opportunity, dropping over a second from her entry time and ultimately finishing 4th after coming in seeded 16th.

None of these three swimmers have matriculated to college yet, and could be ones to watch out for during the next quad.

Open Water Footnote

The U.S. also sent six athletes to compete in the open water events in Doha: Michael Brinegar, Joshua Brown, Charlie Clark, Mariah Denigan, Katie Grimes, and Ivan Puskovitch.

Grimes had already qualified for Paris by way of her 10km bronze medal in Fukuoka, but Denigan and Puskovitch both booked their tickets courtesy of their Doha finishes. Denigan finished 6th in the women’s 10km while Puskovitch finished 14th in the men’s event. This will be both swimmer’s first Olympics.

Table of Pool Swimming Performances

The following table is sorted by swimmers who made Team USA, finals, semifinals, and did not advance, and alphabetically within each group.

Correction July 5, 2024: The original version of the article omitted Matt King as a Paris Olympian.