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Carson Foster No-Shows 200 Free, 2nd DFS of U.S. Olympic Trials

2024 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS

Carson Foster was a no-show in the first circle-seeded heat of the men’s 200 free this morning. Lane four was left empty as Indianapolis-local Blake Pieroni put up the fastest performance of his comeback season (1:46.09).

Foster was entered at 1:45.64, just off his personal best from the 2022 U.S. Team Trials.

This is the second event Foster has DFS’d at these trials. The first was the 400 free on day 1, where he was seeded 8th.

Foster was entered in a grueling slate of events on the psych sheets, including back-to-back events in the 200 free and 400 IM today. There was speculation on whether he would attempt the double to try and claim a relay spot in the former, but when he didn’t scratch either event last night it was expected that he would at least swim the heats.

He is the top seed in the 400 IM where he will look to qualify for his first Olympic team. In 2021, he was the top seed out of prelims before getting run down by Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland to the wall.

Foster still has the 200 fly, 100 free, 200 back, and 200 IM left on his schedule after today.

In 2021, he only no-showed the 200 fly, though the schedule was changed for these Trials.

There have been 12 no-shows so far, up to the men’s 200 freestyle. In comparison, there were only four through the end of day 2 prelims in 2021, though again the schedule was slightly different.

We’ll track the DNS’s below through day 2:

Updated through men’s 100 backstroke.

  • Day 1
    • Women’s 400 Free – 2
    • Men’s 100 Breast – 6
    • Men’s 400 Free – 3
  • Day 2
    • Men’s 200 Free – 1
    • Men’s 400 IM – 1
    • Men’s 100 Back – 2

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Comet16
4 months ago

Too many have my cake and eat it too attitude. Last year foster was criticized for swimming too many races and dying in the finals when it counted. Now he is scratching too many events. After making a few mistakes in the previous meets I think he and his coaches finally figured it out. Even MP and lochte had to drop events.

emma
Reply to  Comet16
4 months ago

Scratching too many events isn’t the issue. It’s the fact that instead of scratching on time he DFS’s so there’s an empty lane. If he knows he won’t swim, just scratch.

Apiarist
4 months ago

Does he not have to swim it in order to be on the relay? I thought that’s why Phelps (2016) and Dressel (2021) swam prelims and then just scratched semis.

RealSlimThomas
Reply to  Apiarist
4 months ago

There’s no rule technically requiring it. His split at 2024 worlds certainly warrants an automatic finals spot.

Regardless, I’m sure at training camp he’ll have some sort of official/unofficial time trial like Phelps did to earn his spot on the 4×100 free in 2016.

emma
Reply to  Apiarist
4 months ago

I mean Maya Dirado also swam the finals 4×200 and didn’t swim it at trials. There’s doesn’t seem to be explicit rules about this

J-Money
4 months ago

Took out 2 extra mortgages on my home and sold my dog to bet it all on Foster DNSing the 100 free

Last edited 4 months ago by J-Money
J-Money
4 months ago

The optimist in me was hoping that the DFS yesterday was because it was the first day, or a last minute decision, or he just missed the deadline. but dude? that’s not cool to do it twice

Last edited 4 months ago by J-Money
Barbossa Andrew 🐍
4 months ago

Someone give the kid a back scratcher. Geez.

Bailey Ludden
4 months ago

He presumes he will automatically be on the relay… I can’t blame him tho he did split 1:43.7…

Joel Lin
4 months ago

Not a fan at all of the DFS. If you’re not going to compete the event, just scratch. It does have a direct impact on others in the event racing for spots in the next round. A DFS gives swimmers on each side of the empty lane an advantage of open water to one side of their lane at a meet where hundredths of a second are the difference between advancing or not to the next round.

JimSwim22
4 months ago

The DFSs are moving him down my list of athletes to really love. Just scratch dude! It’s obnoxious

Last edited 4 months ago by JimSwim22

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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