Along with its qualifying times for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials, USA Swimming has released its order of events, which will mirror the Olympic lineup except for having prelims in the morning and finals at night, instead of the morning finals that will be used in Tokyo.
The event lineup is new only in that it includes the two new Olympic events: the men’s 800 free and women’s 1500 free. The women’s 1500 will take place with heats on day 3 (Tuesday, June 23) and finals on day 4 (Wednesday, June 24), while the men’s 800 will have heats on day 4 (Wednesday, June 24) and finals on day 5 (Thursday, June 25). Despite the addition of two new events (and one new relay at the Olympics themselves), the event order will not expand from its traditional 8-day format.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics announced this month that it would run swimming finals in the mornings and prelims in the evenings, typically done to better accommodate live TV broadcasts in the United States. That schedule has prompted a lot of varying opinions from fans and media, but was also used at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Despite that Olympic schedule, though, USA Swimming will continue to run its Olympic Trials as a traditional morning heats, evening finals event. The organization announced this week that heats will take place at 10 AM Central Time and finals at 6:45 PM Central Time.
That came with USA Swimming’s announcement of official 2020 U.S. Olympic Trial qualifying standards. You can see our live coverage and analysis of the cut times here.
The full USA Swimming press release is below:
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – American swimmers’ road to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 began in earnest today, as USA Swimming announced the qualifying time standards for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming, which will be held June 21-28, 2020, in Omaha, Nebraska, at the CHI Health Center Omaha.
Once again, the electrifying eight-day competition will serve as the sole qualifier for pool swimmers on the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team.
The 2020 Olympic Trials qualifying time standards are as follows:
| WOMEN | EVENT | MEN |
| 25.99 | 50 Freestyle | 23.19 |
| 56.29 | 100 Freestyle | 50.49 |
| 2:01.69 | 200 Freestyle | 1:50.79 |
| 4:16.89 | 400 Freestyle | 3:57.29 |
| 8:48.09 | 800 Freestyle | 8:12.99 |
| 16:49.19 | 1500 Freestyle | 15:44.89 |
| 1:02.69 | 100 Backstroke | 56.59 |
| 2:14.69 | 200 Backstroke | 2:02.99 |
| 1:10.99 | 100 Breaststroke | 1:03.29 |
| 2:33.29 | 200 Breaststroke | 2:17.89 |
| 1:00.69 | 100 Butterfly | 54.19 |
| 2:14.59 | 200 Butterfly | 2:01.19 |
| 2:17.39 | 200 Individual Medley | 2:04.09 |
| 4:51.79 | 400 Individual Medley | 4:25.99 |
“With the announcement of the 2020 Olympic Trials qualifying standards, thousands of swimmers around the nation now have a goal as they chase their Olympic dreams,” USA Swimming National Team Managing Director Lindsay Mintenko said. “USA Swimming athletes have enjoyed two successful years since the 2016 Olympic Games, and we look forward to seeing lots of fast swimming over the rest of this Olympic quadrennial as we build toward Tokyo.”
The qualifying time standards for the 2020 Olympic Trials were announced Thursday at the United States Aquatic Sports Convention in Jacksonville, Florida. An archived webcast can be viewed via usaswimming.org.
Qualifying times must be posted in a USA Swimming sanctioned, observed or approved competition between November 28, 2018, and the 2020 Olympic Trials entry deadline. Only long-course meters times are considered for Trials qualification.
USA Swimming’s 2018 Winter National Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, open November 28 – the first day of the qualification period. The four-day, long-course meet is slated for Nov. 28-Dec. 1.
For the 2020 Olympic Trials, two temporary 50-meter pools will be installed by Myrtha Pools in the CHI Health Center Omaha, the state-of-the-art, 17,000-seat sports and entertainment venue in downtown Omaha.
The event order for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming will mirror that of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo; however, preliminary heats will be held at 10 a.m. CDT, followed by semifinals and finals at 6:45 p.m. CDT. The full schedule for the 2020 Olympic Games is available at Tokyo2020.org.
2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming Order of Events
| Preliminaries | Semifinals & Finals |
| Sunday, June 21 | Sunday, June 21 |
| Men’s 400 Individual Medley | Men’s 400 Individual Medley – FINAL |
| Women’s 100 Butterfly | Women’s 100 Butterfly – Semifinal |
| Men’s 400 Freestyle | Men’s 400 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Women’s 400 Individual Medley | Women’s 400 Individual Medley – FINAL |
| Men’s 100 Breaststroke | Men’s 100 Breaststroke – Semifinal |
| Monday, June 22 | Monday, June 22 |
| Women’s 100 Backstroke | Women’s 100 Butterfly – FINAL |
| Men’s 200 Freestyle | Men’s 200 Freestyle – Semifinal |
| Women’s 100 Breaststroke | Women’s 100 Breaststroke – Semifinal |
| Men’s 100 Backstroke | Men’s 100 Breaststroke – FINAL |
| Women’s 400 Freestyle | Women’s 400 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Men’s 100 Backstroke – Semifinal | |
| Women’s 100 Backstroke – Semifinal | |
| Tuesday, June 23 | Tuesday, June 23 |
| Women’s 200 Freestyle | Women’s 200 Freestyle – Semifinal |
| Men’s 200 Butterfly | Men’s 200 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Women’s 200 Individual Medley | Women’s 100 Backstroke – FINAL |
| Women’s 1500 Freestyle | Men’s 100 Backstroke – FINAL |
| Women’s 100 Breaststroke – FINAL | |
| Men’s 200 Butterfly – Semifinal | |
| Women’s 200 Individual Medley – Semifinal | |
| Wednesday, June 24 | Wednesday, June 24 |
| Men’s 100 Freestyle | Men’s 100 Freestyle – Semifinal |
| Women’s 200 Butterfly | Women’s 200 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Men’s 200 Breaststroke | Men’s 200 Butterfly – FINAL |
| Men’s 800 Freestyle | Women’s 200 Butterfly – Semifinal |
| Men’s 200 Breaststroke – Semifinal | |
| Women’s 200 Individual Medley – FINAL | |
| Women’s 1500 Freestyle – FINAL | |
| Thursday, June 25 | Thursday, June 25 |
| Women’s 100 Freestyle | Men’s 800 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Men’s 200 Backstroke | Men’s 200 Breaststroke – FINAL |
| Women’s 200 Breaststroke | Women’s 100 Freestyle – Semifinal |
| Men’s 200 Individual Medley | Men’s 200 Backstroke – Semifinal |
| Women’s 200 Butterfly – FINAL | |
| Men’s 100 Freestyle – FINAL | |
| Women’s 200 Breaststroke – Semifinal | |
| Men’s 200 Individual Medley – Semifinal | |
| Friday, June 26 | Friday, June 26 |
| Women’s 800 Freestyle | Women’s 200 Breaststroke – FINAL |
| Men’s 100 Butterfly | Men’s 200 Backstroke – FINAL |
| Women’s 200 Backstroke | Women’s 200 Backstroke – Semifinal |
| Men’s 200 Individual Medley – FINAL | |
| Women’s 100 Freestyle – FINAL | |
| Men’s 100 Butterfly – Semifinal | |
| Saturday, June 27 | Saturday, June 27 |
| Men’s 50 Freestyle | Men’s 100 Butterfly – FINAL |
| Women’s 50 Freestyle | Women’s 200 Backstroke – FINAL |
| Men’s 1500 Freestyle | Women’s 800 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Men’s 50 Freestyle – Semifinal | |
| Women’s 50 Freestyle – Semifinal | |
| Sunday, June 28 | Sunday, June 28 |
| No Preliminaries | Men’s 50 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Women’s 50 Freestyle – FINAL | |
| Men’s 1500 Freestyle – FINAL |