The first finals session of the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials – Swimming begins this Sunday night with the men’s and women’s 400 IM finals and the men’s 400 free finals.
The Trials begin with the first prelims session in less than five short days, and NBC will be broadcasting all sessions of prelims and finals between NBC and NBC Sports. The full schedule, which was originally posted on nbcsports.com, is laid out below with times in Eastern Time.
| Day | Time (ET) | Network | Key Events |
| Sunday, June 26 | 6 p.m. | NBCSN | Qualifying Heats (tape) |
| 8 p.m. | NBC | M/W 400 IM; M 400 FR | |
| Monday, June 27 | 6:30 p.m. | NBCSN | Qualifying Heats (tape) |
| 8 p.m. | NBC | W 100 FL, 400 FR; M 100 BR | |
| Tuesday, June 28 | 7 p.m. | NBCSN | Qualifying Heats (tape) |
| 8 p.m. | NBC | M/W 100 BK; W 100 BR; M 200 FR | |
| Wednesday, June 29 | 7 p.m. | NBCSN | Qualifying Heats (tape) |
| 8 p.m. | NBC | W 200 FR, 200 IM; M 200 FL | |
| Thursday, June 30 | 6:30 p.m. | NBCSN | Qualifying Heats (tape) |
| 8 p.m. | NBC | M 100 FR, 200 BR; W 200 FL | |
| Friday, July 1 | 6 p.m. | NBCSN | Qualifying Heats (tape) |
| 8 p.m. | NBC | W 100 FR, 200 BR; M 200 BK, 200 IM | |
| Saturday, July 2 | 5 p.m. | NBCSN | Qualifying Heats (tape) |
| 8 p.m. | NBC | W 200 BK, 800 FR; M 50 FR, 100 FL | |
| Sunday, July 3 | 7 p.m. | NBC | W 50 FR, M 1500 FR |
Prelims will be taped and then broadcasted directly before the finals. All of the finals sessions will be shown at 8pm ET. Live streams of both the prelims and finals each day will also be available, with more information on that here.
The Trials will be contested in Omaha, Nebraska, which is located in the Central Time zone. Wondering when to head to the live stream (or to NBC for finals if you have access in other time zones)? Check out the time differences below:
| Time Zone | Prelims (live) | Finals (+15 mins for NBC TV start) |
| Pacific | 8AM | 4:45PM |
| Mountain | 9AM | 5:45PM |
| Central | 10AM | 6:45PM |
| Eastern | 11AM | 7:45PM |
| Rio de Janeiro (BRT) | 12PM | 8:45PM |
| London (BST) | 4PM | 12:45AM |
| Paris/Rome/Madrid (CEST) | 5PM | 1:45AM |
| Moscow/Nairobi (MSK) | 6PM | 2:45AM |
| Beijing (CST) | 11PM | 7:45AM |
| Tokyo (JST) | 12AM | 8:45AM |
| Sydney (AEST) | 1AM | 9:45AM |
So annoying that they didn’t air tonight’s finals in favor of NASCAR. Evwrything I’m seeing online says they were supposed to air the trials tonight at 8:00/7:00 Central. But it wasn’t on, only NASCAR. Huge disappointment.
Saturday finals are supposed to be on TV but NBC is broadcast NASCAR racing instead!
So disappointing.
Please Adjust the audio in your coverage We cannot hear the commentators over the pool noises/loud speaker/cheering. Would love to hear what they are saying about the swimmers, but it is a painful struggle to do so!!
SwimSwam is not in charge of NBC commentators.
Oh joy, they’re going to skip the semis for the 50 freestlye as well. I can’t wait for NBC’s Olympic contract to expire. This is ridiculous.
What’s with NBC! I cannot believe NBC has such limited coverage of the swimming trials! This coverage is the worst by far of the events. No coverage of the prelims, semis, etc. Shame on you NBC–this is the Super Bowl of olympic trials. I hope your network never is able to get coverage again!!!!
USA all the way!
I think NBC altered the TV schedule for Saturday – it’s showing up on NBCSN on the cable for me. Also Sunday is now tied into track and field trials.
So disappointing. NASCAR is boring!
What’s with the missing semis for the 100 free!!??? If you add up the actual race time for everything competed tonight it would be less than twenty minutes. I REALLY wanted to see these semi finals. What brain trust at NBC decided to leave that out???