USA Swimming has announced their full roster of 47 swimmers to compete in the pool at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships from August 2nd-9th in Kazan, Russia.
Among the headliners, with Michael Phelps’ withdrawal, will be Katie Ledecky, Missy Franklin, and Ryan Lochte. In total, there will be 7 individual Olympic gold medalists on this roster: Nathan Adrian, Tyler Clary, Anthony Ervin, and Matt Grevers will compete.
Aside from the replacements for Phelps (Tim Phillips in the 100 fly, Tyler Clary in the 200 IM), the biggest mysteries were who would be the entries in the non-Olympic events. In fact, in two of the events, the American have opted not to enter anybody, leaving two big holes in the American entries. A summary below:
Women
- 1500 free – Katy Campbell (National Champion)/Katie Ledecky
- 50 fly – Claire Donahue/Kendyl Stewart (National Champion)
- 50 back – Rachel Bootsma (National Champion)
- 50 breast – Micah Lawrence/Jessica Hardy (National Champion)
Men
- 800 free – Michael McBroom (National Champion)/Connor Jaeger
- 50 fly – Matt Grevers (National Champion)
- 50 back – Matt Grevers/David Plummer (National Champion)
- 50 breast – Kevin Cordes /Brendan McHugh (National Champion)
The most interesting selections include that of Kevin Cordes in the 50 breaststroke, as he didn’t qualify in the 100 (he was on the team already in the 200). On the women’s side, Micah Lawrence, who was only 3rd in the 50 breaststroke, was entitled to the spot over Breeja Larson, who was 2nd in the 50 breaststroke, based on the results of the 100, though it also shows just how far Lawrence has come in her long course sprinting since making the Olympic team in just the 200 in 2012.
Aside from that, there were no major surprises that we noticed on the roster. Superstar Katie Ledecky has held onto her entry in the individual 200 free, despite hinting pre-meet that she might hold off on challenging that event until Rio.
See the full Team USA lineup here.
Note: not all relay positions are accounted for on the official roster, they’re there primarily when a swimmer was not an individual qualifier, but was a relay qualifier, in a certain stroke/distance.
I haven’t thoroughly dissected the roster, but without Feigen as a possible choice, the 4×100 freestyle relay is at their most vulnerable since…. 2004? Feigen wasn’t great in 2010, but having someone who has been under 48 would help significantly. The current roster means the relay will most likely HAVE to be Adrian, Lochte, Grevers, Ervin. Ervin’s state is somewhat question after 2010, and there is a real possibility that they finish off the podium.
With Phelps off the team, I also question their favorite status in the 4×200 free relay. Lastly, if neither Tim Philips nor Tom Shields deliver at the championships, they’d be vulnerable in the medley as well.
How is Feigen not a possible choice? He’s on the team.
And if both Phillips and Shields are off (not likely, IMHO), you still have Lochte who we all is capable of splitting a 51.5. Worse comes to worse, he swims fly for both prelims and finals, and Feigen swims free in prelims. Options abound.
rightfully put THETROUBLEX ! Some comments are hard with the Usa team for next year’s WC . I will alwayd be optimistic with Team Usa even if for both 400 free relays , Usa needs improvements between now and next August . It will come in due time
Yes, although I would not be shocked if the USA men’s 4×100 free relay the WUG is close to the time at the World Championships…some combination of Conger/Dressel/Ellis/Murray/Ryan/Stubblefield could be pretty special by next summer.
John the relay will probably be feigen ervin adrian lochte. Probably by now we already know the possible lineup of all relays
I’m a little disappointed to have Clary in the 200 IM. He’s already got a full plate with the 4 IM, 2 Bk, 2 Fly. I’d rather Kalisz got the chance (improving rapidly), or Dwyer (with a better taper, should be swimming more than just the 200 fr).
Weird… Only one entry in the mens 50 fly and womens 50 back? Tim Phillips and Kathleen Baker each only have one swim and would have been eligible for a second.
Also, I wonder how Cordes got into the 50 breast? Miller and Fink were eligible… It seems like there may have been some “pressure” from the coaches to get Cordes a second individual race.
The womens breaststroke wasn’t similar. I think Breeja would be faster in the 50 than Micah, although Micah has improved her speed considerably in the last year.
Cordes has the FINA “A” standard for the 50 breast; Miller and Fink do not.
Also, Phillips and Baker do not have the “A” standards in their respective events (though Phillips is very close). There are a number of American women who have the “A” standard, but none of them except Bootsma happen to be on the WC team.
s/b “…American women in the 50m back…”
Is Ryan Lochte actually going to swim the individual 100?! That will be interesting. Can’t imagine him medalling though (more than happy to be proven wrong).
Also, what’s up with Cullen Jones? His form after 2012 hasn’t been good at all.
Phelps out, weak year for Feigen.. What is locthe PB on 100 free textile? I think he will need at least a 48,4 to final..There are 9 guys under 48,3 this year. Depending on the schedule maybe he should drop. Can he drop it after the schedule is released?
I’m not sure what Lochte’s PB in 100 free textile is, but I think it might be 48.5. In my opinion, that time probably won’t even make the final.
Mohsin – it is 48.58. He split 47.7 on the relay in London, 47.8 in Barcelona, and 48.2 in prelims in Shanghai, all rolling starts.
One would expect that now that he’s dropped 400IM training for good, he’d be able to get a touch faster in the 100 free, but we didn’t get to find out for sure this year because of the injury.
I like this team and I like this article. This is not a weak team.
Chad will win 100 and 200 fly. The US will be in danger for the relay. They don’t have Phelps. US Swimming will be destroyed in Kazan. This is the worst team they have.
It’s not that bad. The only thing that I’d most likely that the Americans won’t medal at the 4x100free, Phelps was a key to that relay. The medley it’s safe just as last year
It’s* Damn autocorrect.
The 4×1 free relay will be tough for the men. I suspect there will be 5 teams in contention for gold this time around….Australia, France, Russia, Brazil and the US.
However we are nearly a year away…a lot can happen before then. Hope we see some improvements from our team by then. Fiegen is still fairly young and can improve…
Actually we are 9 months and 2 days away .
This is not a weak US team. It might be a touch weaker than some of their previous efforts, but they will perform well. Ledecky and Missy will dominate the women’s events. Chad and Hagino will dominate the men’s events. That still leaves Team USA in a good combined position.
Missy will not dominate her events. Not in the 100 free when you have the Campbell sisters and Manuel. And her backstroke events = went downhill when she decided to swim for Cal.
This is the worst US team. And I will bet that the US Swimming will regret when they throw Phelps under the bus because they’re trying to save their own image. Then replaced by an unproven swimmer with a choker.
How is Missy recovery from back pains? She need to be 100% especially on 200..
100 Free I think now she is would be a darkhorse.. 200 free will probably be the women side best race.. Too bad Sjostrom probably won´t swim it too..
Would have really liked to have seen Lochte do a SCM 100 fly.
I think in 2011 he swam on the relay and outsplit the Russian who won the individual event.
Wait this is LCM isn’t it, not SCM…
You’re thinking of the 2010 SCM worlds where Lochte pulled off a great 100m fly in the relay. He already swam the event at 2010 SCM worlds and had a very good 3rd place finish.
Back to 2015 LCM worlds…let’s all hope that Shields becomes more consistent in the 100LCM fly. He has consistently performed well in the short course format, but for some reason he is relatively all over the board at the LCM meets.
Braden— off topic- but does anyone know where Elise Haan is considering for college?? She got 3rd in the 100back at jr.nats. Very very talented swimmer. She has only been swimming for about 5 years, if that! I’ve been trying to find it, but I figured if anyone could find out, it would be swimswam! Love the website!!!
hey Hannah – we haven’t heard a peep, but we’ll let you know if we do!