2024 Paris Olympics: #8 Seed Thomas Heilman (USA) Misses 100 Fly Semifinals

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

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In what continues to be a middling meet for the American men, #8 seed Thomas Heilman missed out on semifinals of the 100 butterfly.

Swimming in heat 4, the 17-year-old clocked 51.82 for 6th, over a second back of the 17-18 NAG record he set at U.S. Olympic Trials. That time would stand for 18th overall, leaving Heilman 0.2-seconds outside of a second semifinals berth. He opened the race in 24.56, just about even with his 24.53 split from Trials, but couldn’t find the same closing speed as he did in Indy (27.56 vs. 26.57).

Heilman already made a semifinals appearance in the 200 butterfly earlier this meet, where he also couldn’t quite match his Trials time and finished 10th.

That leaves defending champion Caeleb Dressel as the sole American representative in the 100 fly. The defending Olympic champion swam 50.83 to sit in 6th heading into tonight. He’ll pull a double tonight, as he’s also in the 50 free final.

MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – HEATS

• World Record: 49.45 – Caeleb Dressel, USA (2021)
• World Junior Record: 50.62 – Kristof Milak, HUN (2017)
• Olympic Record: 49.45 – Caeleb Dressel, USA (2021)
• 2021 Winning Time: 49.45 – Caeleb Dressel, USA
• 2021 Time to Advance to Semifinals: 51.74

1. Kristof Milak (Hungary) – 50.19
2. Josh Liendo (Canada) – 50.55
3. Noe Ponti (Switzerland)/Maxime Grousset (France) – 50.65 (TIE)
4. –
5. Ilya Kharun (Canada) – 50.71
6. Caeleb Dressel (United States) – 50.83
7. Matthew Temple (Australia) – 50.89
8. Nyls Kortsanje (Netherlands) – 51.17
9. Jakub Majerski (Poland) – 51.18
10. Gal Groumi (Israel) – 51.30
11. Ben Armbruster (Australia) – 51.33
12. Katsuhiro Matsumoto (Japan) – 51.43
13. Simon Bucher (Austria) – 51.33
14. Hubert Kos (Hungary) – 51.58
15. Naoki Mizunuma (Japan)/Clement Secchi (France) – 51.62 (TIE)
16. –

Perhaps invigorated by his silver medal finish in the men’s 200 fly a few nights ago, Hungarian Kristof Milak looked excellent in the heats of the 100 fly this morning. Milak clocked a 50.19, posting the top time of the morning by a decent margin, given how tight the rest of the field was. He was out in 23.57, a solid opening split, but them came roaring home in 26.62, which was the fastest back half in the field this morning.

Canada had a strong showing in this event, seeing Josh Liendo and Ilya Kharun go 1-2 in the final heat. Liendo, who entered the meet as the top seed in the event, hit the wall in 50.55, just ahead of Kharun, who clocked a 50.71. Liendo’s time was good for 2nd overall, while Kharun was 5th.

There was a tie for 3rd this morning, as Switzerland’s Noe Ponti and France’s Maxime Grousset both clocked a time of 50.65. Grousset was out the fastest of anyone this morning, splitting a very speedy 23.27 on the opening 50m. Conversely, Ponti came home in 26.67 on the 2nd 50, which was 2nd only to Milak on the back half this morning.

American Caeleb Dressel put up a solid time in the final heat this morning, swimming a 50.83. Perhaps most importantly, the World Record holder and defending Olympic champion in the event looked happy with the time after he finished this morning. He was out in 23.75, and came home in 27.08. We know Dressel has more speed on the front half in him.

The 2nd American in this event, 17-year-old Thomas Heilman, didn’t make it back for semifinals tonight, finishing 18th with a 51.82.

200 backstroke champion Hubert Kos narrowly made it through to the semis, taking 14th this morning with a 51.58.