Now that Trials are over, we can comb over the results in detail. Thanks to Barry Revzin who sent us the analysis of swimmers making trials cuts and getting second swims from non circle seeded heats.
- 882 men swam 1478 entries (1.7 per swimmer). 801 women swam 1556 entries (1.9 per swimmer). This was down from 1709 women’s swims and 1641 men’s swims in 2012.
- Not counting time trials or DQ’s, swimmers completed 3567 races.
- The most events anyone did was 6. There were 4 women: Kenisha Liu, Megan Moroney, Becca Postoll, and Leah Stevens. No men did 6 events, but 5 men did 5 events: Ryan Lochte, Sean Grieshop, Cole Buese, Michael Andrew, and Kyle Whitaker.
- The most finals anyone swam in was 4 by Katie Ledecky and Gunnar Bentz.
- The most semifinals anyone swam in was 4 by Michael Andrew, Missy Franklin, and Melanie Margalis.
- In 8 events the only people who made it back were from the circle seeded heats: the women’s 100 breast, 200 fly, 400 free, 400 IM, and 800 free, and the men’s 100 free, 400 free and 400 IM.
- The highest seed to make it back was Brandon Fiala at 123rd in the 100 breast.
- Dani Barbiea moved up the most places from seed (not counting scratches) of anyone in the meet. She improved 135 places in the 50 free, going from 173rd to 38th. The men’s top mover was Mark McGlaughlin who moved up 123 places in the 100 back, going from 149th to 26th.
- 275 of the 1556 women’s entries were faster than seed (18%). In 2012 19% of women’s entries dropped time from their seed.
- 756 of women’s entries were faster than the trials cut (49%)
- 363 of the 1478 men’s entries were faster than seed (25%). In 2012 32% of men’s entries dropped time from their seed. This year the highest rate in a single event was 31% in the 100 breast.
- 810 of the men’s entries were faster than the trials cut (55%)
- There were no events where 2/3’s of swimmers made a trials cut.
Here’s the event by event breakdown of swimmers who made trials cuts in their trials swims and dropped time:
Women:
| Event | Cut | Entrants | Made Cut | % | Beat Seed | % |
| Total | 1556 | 756 | 49% | 275 | 18% | |
| 50 Free | 26.19 | 178 | 69 | 39% | 24 | 13% |
| 100 Free | 56.49 | 100 | 47 | 47% | 18 | 18% |
| 200 Free | 2:02.39 | 105 | 51 | 49% | 20 | 19% |
| 400 Free | 4:17.99 | 101 | 56 | 55% | 18 | 18% |
| 800 Free | 8:49.99 | 80 | 34 | 43% | 9 | 11% |
| 100 Back | 1:03.39 | 155 | 77 | 50% | 34 | 22% |
| 200 Back | 2:16.59 | 133 | 63 | 47% | 25 | 19% |
| 100 Breast | 1:11.49 | 123 | 66 | 54% | 26 | 21% |
| 200 Breast | 2:34.99 | 123 | 70 | 57% | 23 | 19% |
| 100 Fly | 1:01.19 | 134 | 77 | 57% | 30 | 22% |
| 200 Fly | 2:14.99 | 95 | 34 | 36% | 9 | 9% |
| 200 IM | 2:18.69 | 110 | 57 | 52% | 20 | 18% |
| 400 IM | 4:54.99 | 119 | 55 | 46% | 19 | 16% |
Men:
| Event | Cut | Entrants | Made Cut | % | Beat Seed | % |
| Total | 1478 | 810 | 55% | 363 | 25% | |
| 50 Free | 23.29 | 165 | 85 | 52% | 32 | 19% |
| 100 Free | 50.69 | 88 | 57 | 65% | 26 | 30% |
| 200 Free | 1:51.89 | 105 | 65 | 62% | 24 | 23% |
| 400 Free | 3:58.69 | 103 | 49 | 48% | 21 | 20% |
| 1500 Free | 15:49.99 | 97 | 58 | 60% | 21 | 22% |
| 100 Back | 57.19 | 183 | 101 | 55% | 54 | 30% |
| 200 Back | 2:03.79 | 109 | 57 | 52% | 27 | 25% |
| 100 Breast | 1:03.69 | 135 | 85 | 63% | 42 | 31% |
| 200 Breast | 2:18.39 | 98 | 45 | 46% | 18 | 18% |
| 100 Fly | 54.79 | 133 | 72 | 54% | 36 | 27% |
| 200 Fly | 2:01.99 | 81 | 48 | 59% | 20 | 25% |
| 200 IM | 2:05.09 | 89 | 49 | 55% | 23 | 26% |
| 400 IM | 4:27.49 | 92 | 39 | 42% | 19 | 21% |
- The smallest spread between 1st and 8th in a final was the 100 breast for the men (2.4%) and the 100 free for women (1.5%). The largest spreads came in the women’s 800 free (5.3%) and the men’s 200 breast (6.1%).
Here’s the full list of 1st vs 8th place in finals:
Women:
| 1st | 8th | Spread | |
| 50 Free | 24.28 | 25.13 | 3.5% |
| 100 Free | 53.28 | 54.06 | 1.5% |
| 200 Free | 1:54.88 | 1:58.6 | 3.2% |
| 400 Free | 3:58.98 | 4:09.72 | 4.5% |
| 800 Free | 8:10.32 | 8:36.09 | 5.3% |
| 100 Back | 59.02 | 1:00.48 | 2.5% |
| 200 Back | 2:06.9 | 2:11.41 | 3.6% |
| 100 Breast | 1:05.2 | 1:08.19 | 4.6% |
| 200 Breast | 2:24.08 | 2:28.12 | 2.8% |
| 100 Fly | 56.48 | 59.31 | 5.0% |
| 200 Fly | 2:06.8 | 2:11.88 | 4.0% |
| 200 IM | 2:09.54 | 2:14.16 | 3.6% |
| 400 IM | 4:33.73 | 4:46.58 | 4.7% |
Men:
| 1st | 8th | Spread | |
| 50 Free | 21.51 | 22.4 | 4.1% |
| 100 Free | 47.72 | 49.13 | 3.0% |
| 200 Free | 1:45.66 | 1:49.5 | 3.6% |
| 400 Free | 1:45.66 | 1:49.5 | 3.6% |
| 1500 Free | 14:47.61 | 15:30.79 | 4.9% |
| 100 Back | 52.26 | 54.72 | 4.7% |
| 200 Back | 1:53.95 | 1:58.69 | 4.2% |
| 100 Breast | 59.18 | 1:00.61 | 2.4% |
| 200 Breast | 2:07.17 | 2:14.88 | 6.1% |
| 100 Fly | 51 | 53.56 | 5.0% |
| 200 Fly | 1:54.84 | 1:58.34 | 3.0% |
| 200 IM | 1:45.66 | 1:49.5 | 3.6% |
| 400 IM | 4:09.54 | 4:22.81 | 5.3% |
interesting story about a competitor that my colleague told me about today.
http://olympics.si.com/olympics/2016/07/07/rio-2016-olympics-alex-ngan-flight-delay-swim-trials?xid=si_social
Thanks for the fun and interesting facts during the past two weeks. Has a chart been created showing which state each swimmer hails? I saw the one of each club or university. I think hometown and home state would be fun to read. Thanks
That’s so surprising that only 50-60% of entrants make their trials cuts at trials! I would have guessed that at least 75% are swimming faster at this meet than one it takes to make it into the meet.
Also surprised that the largest spread was in the Men’s 200 Breast. I guess Prenot and Cordes are so far ahead of the American field!!
Schiller
I’m surprised that only roughly 20% of swimmers dropped time. I know that a certain (small) percentage have bigger meets coming up this summer, but in a meet this competitive and important I was expecting more.
Let’s just remember that many, if not most swimmers are seeded with their lifetime best time from the best shape of their life. For lots of swimmers that might have come a year of two in advance, and they might not be able to repeat it.
Furthermore, that time likely represents a monumental effort: for a lot of swimmers the best swim of their life. Even if it occurred during the previous season, it’s sometimes a tall order to ask someone to replicate it in one shot at any given meet. Another point is that a lot of swimmers likely came very close, but couldn’t quite get over the hump. Swimming 1:01.1 instead of 1:00.9 is essentially the same–… Read more »
Some swimmers with 2014 cuts and didn’t train that much are not going to be faster than seed. The cuts from 2014 shouldn’t have been slowed. It should have been Jan. 1 2015. Some swimmers were not really prepared for the meet with decent training.
A girl swam 5 races ( qualified for 6) and finished in the top 30 of each race. Just an update. And two best times.
Are you going to tell us who this is or are we supposed to guess? While that is impressive, I don’t understand why you brought this up. Another girl swam 4 finals and won 3 of them (Katie Ledecky).
That’s not a current photo, the 2016 pool had lane lines on the outside of lanes 0 and 9. The 2012 pool did not. How many more fun facts can we find?
Well that and the Jumbotron says “Road to London”.
Of possible value, is how many swimmers/coaches didn’t fully taper for this meet ? Going for experience and focused a meet later in the summer. In talking with some coaches, heard an array of approaches. Singles for a week, 3 day rest, etc. Survey sent to coaches with a week to reply- simple form
T Hill – that’s a great idea in theory. In practice – not a snowball’s chance in a hot place we’d get any kind of reliable output from it.