Before the madness kicks off in Omaha, the US Olympic Committee will turn its aquatic eyes to Bismarck North Dakota for the 2012 Paralympic Team Trials that will run from Thursday to Saturday (June 14th-16th).
In contrast to the Olympic Trials, these Paralympic tests are much smaller in scope and include most times less than 4 heats of competitors who have earned the right to vie for a spot on the Paralympic Team.
But if you thought Olympic qualifying was complicated, Paralympic qualifying takes even more twists and turns. The short version is that the US gets three entries in each individual event from across the classifications (S1-S13), and those selections are in general based on an athlete’s Modified World Ranking: their ranking adjusted on a standard that is based on the current World Record for their classification. For a more complete rundown of the selection procedures, check out this complete PDF.
There are a huge number of medals handed out at the Paralympic Games, which will run from August 30th-September 8th in the London Olympic Aquatics Center. In total, there are 148 Olympic events.
The two superstars of the meet will be Mallory Weggemann (S7/SB6/SM7) and Jessica Long (S8/SB7/). The pair in total hold an astonishing 21 World Records in long course alone (8 for Weggemann and 13 for Long) and were both members of the World Record setting 400 free relay. Both swimmers have a ton of entries in this meet (Long, for example, medaled in each of the 5 disciplines at the 2008 Paralympics), but will focus on their specialties of the freestyles. Long is the defending Paralympic Champion in both the 100 and 400 freestyles; and Weggemann, competing in 2010 at her first major IPC competition at the World Championships, won an astonishing 8 gold medals.
Weggemann has a bit to prove, however, as some good international competition cropped up in the last year, specifically Australia’s Jacqueline Freney who led the World Rankings in the 400 free in 2011.
On the men’s side of the pool, the stars are IM’er Rudy Garcia-Tolson and breaststroker Curtis Lovejoy. Tolson-Garcia is the face of men’s Paralympic swimming, and has a pair of gold medals – the 200 IM from Athens and the 100 breaststroke from Beijing. Lovejoy is a Paralympic veteran and holder of 5 World Records; initially, he was one of the world’s best sprint freestylers and breaststrokers, winning 9 medals in Sydney. But as of late, he’s turned his focus to dual-sport participation, and was a 2006 World Champion in fencing.
At this meet, every single athlete is a huge inspiration. Don’t miss it.
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Watch out for American Tom Miazga in the 400 Free!