A pandemic-shortened season threw a wrench into the typical selection process for the U.S. National Team, but USA Swimming has announced its roster and the new selection criteria.
Typically, the national team comprises the top 6 swimmers in each Olympic event across either the entire season or a selection of the top few national- and international-level meets. But with the coronavirus pandemic severely limiting competitive events since March (including the cancellation of the tail end of the Pro Swim Series, the U.S. Olympic Trials, and the Olympics), USA Swimming came up with a new system for putting together its national team:
- All members of the 2019-2020 National Team remain on the roster
- Any swimmer who hit a time faster than last year’s 6th-place time prior to March 17, 2020 is added to the team
In open water, the 2019-2020 National Teamers also carried over, with remaining positions filled based on results of the 2019 10K National Championship.
In the pool, both Molly Hannis and Sam Stewart joined the roster based on big swims this season after not appearing on last year’s National Team.
Per USA Swimming, Michael Andrew leads all swimmers with five National Team events, including one in each stroke. Athletes with four events include Melanie Margalis, Regan Smith, Katie Ledecky, Ally McHugh, Erica Sullivan, Ashley Twichell, Zane Grothe and Bobby Finke.
Meanwhile Allison Schmitt and Haley Anderson have made their 11th National Teams and Matt Grevers has made his 13th.
You can view the full 2020-2021 National Team roster here.
Women’s Roster By Event
Men’s Roster By Event
The U.S. National Team earns several key benefits, including access to monthly stipends, meet reimbursement, athlete health insurance, and Olympic Training Center access, among others. We broke down a number of the key benefits a few years ago, and you can check up on that story here.
Women
| Name | Events | ||||
| 1 | Erica Sullivan | 400FR | 800FR | 1500FR | 10K |
| 2 | Ashley Twichell | 400FR | 800FR | 1500FR | 10K |
| 3 | Katie Ledecky | 200FR | 400FR | 800FR | 1500FR |
| 4 | Regan Smith | 100BK | 200BK | 100FL | 200FL |
| 5 | Ally McHugh | 400FR | 800FR | 1500FR | 400IM |
| 6 | Melanie Margalis | 400FR | 100BR | 200IM | 400IM |
| 7 | Simone Manuel | 50FR | 100FR | 200FR | |
| 8 | Kathleen Baker | 100BK | 200BK | 200IM | |
| 9 | Madisyn Cox | 200BR | 200IM | 400IM | |
| 10 | Leah Smith | 200FR | 400FR | 800FR | |
| 11 | Katie McLaughlin | 200FR | 100FL | ||
| 12 | Erika Brown | 50FR | 100FR | ||
| 13 | Margo Geer | 50FR | 100FR | ||
| 14 | Gretchen Walsh | 50FR | 100FR | ||
| 15 | Abbey Weitzeil | 50FR | 100FR | ||
| 16 | Haley Anderson | 400FR | 10K | ||
| 17 | Sierra Schmidt | 800FR | 1500FR | ||
| 18 | Bethany Galat | 100BR | 200BR | ||
| 19 | Lilly King | 100BR | 200BR | ||
| 20 | Annie Lazor | 100BR | 200BR | ||
| 21 | Hali Flickinger | 200BK | 200FL | ||
| 22 | Allison Schmitt | 100FR | 200FR | ||
| 23 | Alex Walsh | 200BK | 200IM | ||
| 24 | Ella Eastin | 200IM | 400IM | ||
| 25 | Phoebe Bacon | 100BK | |||
| 26 | Katharine Berkoff | 100BK | |||
| 27 | Lisa Bratton | 200BK | |||
| 28 | Katy Campbell | 10K | |||
| 29 | Mallory Comerford | 100FR | |||
| 30 | Kelsi Dahlia | 100FL | |||
| 31 | Gabby DeLoof | 200FR | |||
| 32 | Kaitlyn Dobler | 100BR | |||
| 33 | Katie Drabot | 200FL | |||
| 34 | Emily Escobedo | 200BR | |||
| 35 | Brooke Forde | 400IM | |||
| 36 | Elise Haan | 100BK | |||
| 37 | Molly Hannis | 100BR | |||
| 38 | Charlotte Hook | 200FL | |||
| 39 | Torri Huske | 100FL | |||
| 40 | Amanda Kendall | 100FL | |||
| 41 | Breeja Larson | 100BR | |||
| 42 | Dakota Luther | 200FL | |||
| 43 | Becca Mann | 10K | |||
| 44 | Kensey McMahon | 1500FR | |||
| 45 | Kaersten Meitz | 400FR | |||
| 46 | Hannah Moore | 10K | |||
| 47 | Lillie Nordmann | 200FL | |||
| 48 | Maxine Parker | 50FR | |||
| 49 | Makayla Sargent | 400IM | |||
| 50 | Meghan Small | 200IM | |||
| 51 | Olivia Smoliga | 100BK | |||
| 52 | Isabelle Stadden | 200BK | |||
| 53 | Kendyl Stewart | 100FL | |||
| 54 | Micah Sumrall | 200BR | |||
| 55 | Aly Tetzloff | 100FL | |||
| 56 | Emma Weyant | 400IM |
Men
| Name | Events | |||||
| 1 | Michael Andrew | 50FR | 100BK | 100BR | 100FL | 200IM |
| 2 | Zane Grothe | 400FR | 800FR | 1500FR | 10K | |
| 3 | Bobby Finke | 400FR | 800FR | 1500FR | 400IM | |
| 4 | Caeleb Dressel | 50FR | 100FR | 100FL | ||
| 5 | Michael Brinegar | 800FR | 1500FR | 10K | ||
| 6 | Jordan Wilimovsky | 800FR | 1500FR | 10K | ||
| 7 | Andrew Seliskar | 200FR | 100FL | 200IM | ||
| 8 | Shaine Casas | 100BK | 200BK | 200IM | ||
| 9 | Maxime Rooney | 100FR | 100FL | |||
| 10 | Zach Apple | 50FR | 100FR | |||
| 11 | Ryan Held | 50FR | 100FR | |||
| 12 | Ryan Murphy | 100BK | 200BK | |||
| 13 | Jacob Pebley | 100BK | 200BK | |||
| 14 | Cody Miller | 100BR | 200BR | |||
| 15 | Andrew Wilson | 100BR | 200BR | |||
| 16 | Tom Shields | 100FL | 200FL | |||
| 17 | Blake Pieroni | 100FR | 200FR | |||
| 18 | Kieran Smith | 200FR | 400FR | |||
| 19 | Carson Foster | 200IM | 400IM | |||
| 20 | Chase Kalisz | 200IM | 400IM | |||
| 21 | Andrew Abruzzo | 400FR | 800FR | |||
| 22 | Jake Mitchell | 400FR | 800FR | |||
| 23 | Nathan Adrian | 50FR | ||||
| 24 | Nicolas Albiero | 200FL | ||||
| 25 | Clark Beach | 200BK | ||||
| 26 | Michael Chadwick | 50FR | ||||
| 27 | Jack Conger | 100FL | ||||
| 28 | David Curtiss | 50FR | ||||
| 29 | Mitch D’Arrigo | 400FR | ||||
| 30 | Abrahm DeVine | 200IM | ||||
| 31 | Dean Farris | 200FR | ||||
| 32 | Nic Fink | 200BR | ||||
| 33 | Ian Finnerty | 100BR | ||||
| 34 | Brandon Fischer | 100BR | ||||
| 35 | Brennan Gravley | 10K | ||||
| 36 | Matt Grevers | 100BK | ||||
| 37 | Sean Grieshop | 400IM | ||||
| 38 | Townley Haas | 200FR | ||||
| 39 | Zach Harting | 200FL | ||||
| 40 | David Heron | 10K | ||||
| 41 | Tate Jackson | 100FR | ||||
| 42 | Trenton Julian | 200FL | ||||
| 43 | Arik Katz | 1500FR | ||||
| 44 | Austin Katz | 200BK | ||||
| 45 | Eric Knowles | 400FR | ||||
| 46 | Will Licon | 200BR | ||||
| 47 | Jay Litherland | 400IM | ||||
| 48 | Ryan Lochte | 200IM | ||||
| 49 | Joshua Matheny | 200BR | ||||
| 50 | Bryce Mefford | 200BK | ||||
| 51 | Nick Norman | 1500FR | ||||
| 52 | Devon Nowicki | 100BR | ||||
| 53 | Josh Prenot | 200BR | ||||
| 54 | Justin Ress | 100BK | ||||
| 55 | Jack Saunderson | 100FL | ||||
| 56 | Miles Smachlo | 200FL | ||||
| 57 | Sam Stewart | 200IM | ||||
| 58 | Charlie Swanson | 400IM | ||||
| 59 | Luca Urlando | 200FL |
Just confused how one can qualify for the 20-21 team and there be no “check-in”, to see if these athletes are even still swimming… There must be a better system? Leaving people out who are currently training, and thus possibly losing sponsorship money, endorsements, etc. which in turn is crucial for one to continue swimming (paying rent/mortgage, food, dues, etc.)
Just to clarify, a swim mid-year in 2019, grants you access to this team for 2020-2021?
Doesn’t make sense given the current unprecedented situation happening in our world…
I know this isn’t the best year to measure performance, but I honestly don’t think the US currently have many individual medal contenders on the men’s side other than Dressel and Murphy. Sure, the improvement curves of people like Urlando, Kieran Smith or Bobby Finke are impressive, and the US usually perform extra well during an Olympic year, but I think this is the first olympics in a long time where the US men have something to prove instead of going in as overwhelming favourites
I remember the same thing being said prior to Rio…Dressel and Murphy may be the most likely GOLD medal conteders, but for individual medals the American men have many contenders – Nathan Adrian, Michael Andrew (yes a medal contender if he gets there), Chase Kalisz, Ryan Lochte (if he gets there), Andrew Wilson (100 breast pretty open after the Gold), Jordan Wilimovsky (he was 4th in the 1500 at Rio), Andrew Seliskar (200 free, 200IM or 100 fly), Blake Pieroni (he did win gold at worlds in SCM), and yes, with his improvement in the 1650 scy race, I would say Robert Finke can be considered a medal contender in the 1500 with a reasonable drop from his 1500 time… Read more »
That’s a stretch.
It is more likely that Regan Smith posts the fastest time in the world during calendar year 2021 in the women’s 200 meter butterfly by June 2021 than Robert Finke win an individual medal.
Michael Andrew does have five legitimate shots to make the Olympic team.
Figuring out the best competition schedule for him is going to be tricky. He will probably have to give up one of his chances to make it more likely that he’ll hit the top 2 in at least one of the five.
Maybe he can ask a math professor to figure out his probability odds before he makes his final decisions.
I think that his best events in order of making the team:
1. 50 Free. 21.3
2. 100 Breast. 58.5
3. 200 IM. 1:55.9
4. 100 Fly. 50.6
5. 100 Back. 52.9
The best shot for him winning an event is probably the 100 Breast. I think that Dressel and Kalisz will probably beat him in the other events that he swims in trials.
No shot in 100 back.
Michael Andrew’s best time in the men’s 50 meter freestyle is 21.46 not 21.30.
Michael Andrew’s best time in the men’s 100 meter breaststroke is 59.14 not 58.50
Michael Andrew’s best time in the men’s 200 meter individual medley is 1:56.83 not 1:55.90.
Michael Andrew’s best time in the men’s 100 meter butterfly is 51.33 not 50.60.
Michael Andrew’s best time in the men’s 100 meter backstroke is 53.40 not 52.90
Those are projections for next trials, buddy.
I had my fill of fantasy projections last month.
It seemed practically every race in the faux Tokyo 2020 Olympics resulted in a world record.
All depends how he holds up through all the races and can he crank out his best times with multiple races/relays during the same session?
In order to be named to the U.S. National Team, one must pass the chocolate milk challenge.
https://m.republicworld.com/sports-news/other-sports/katie-ledecky-net-worth-how-much-5-time-olympic-gold-medalist-worth.html
Another stunning indictment of USRPT.
any word on the NJT? Will they follow a similar selection process allowing 2019-20 team members to stay on the roster (assuming they are not over 18)?
We’ve been asking, but seems like nobody wants to preview the process until they announce the team.
Dave Durden’s rather impressive group stands out for the men (9 guys): Seliskar, Murphy, Shields, Adrian, Grieshop, Julian, Mefford, Prenot, and Norman. And, of course, kudos to Pebley, as well! Nice job all around….
Whoaaaa no Kevin Cordes 🤭 hope to see him back in form soon
Yeah it looks like the meets they did this year did not even count…..sad