The United States, much like it did in 2010 and 2011, is using a two-meet selection procedure for the 2015 World Championships.
The results of the A finals at U.S. Nationals, plus the A and B finals at Pan Pacs, will be combined, and the top swimmers will go on to Kazan, Russia next summer in the following order:
- Priority 1: Top 4 athletes in 100 and 200 free, top 1 athlete in each Olympic event added to team
- Priority 2: 2nd athlete in each Olympic event added to the team
- Priority 3: Top 1 athlete in each non-Olympic event (50 back/breast/fly, men’s 800 free, women’s 1500 free) added
- Priority 4: 5th athlete in 100 and 200 free added
- Priority 5: 6th athlete in 100 and 200 free added
There’s a lot of caveats to these rules, so below we’ve done our best to boil them down to a simple table.
- A yellow box means a swimmer has earned an individual swim in that event.
- A bright orange box means a swimmer has earned a relay swim in that event.
- For now, we’ve taken the top two priorities above, and called those “locks” for Worlds. The U.S. is limited by a 26 man and 26 woman roster size, however, so priorities 3, 4, and 5 we’re calling tentative for now. Those are swimmers denoted below in the pale orange. These swimmers are “on the Worlds team, if there’s enough room for them.” The exception is for swimmers like Matt Grevers – once they’re on the team, they get the right to swim a non-Olympic event they’ve won, regardless of roster spots. If the non-Olympic event winners make the team in something else, then decline their swim in the non-Olympic event, they aren’t replaced. If the non-Olympic event winners don’t make the team in something else, and decline their spot, then the second-fastest swimmer gets it (not likely to happen very often).
There’s one tab for men, and one tab for women. Scroll to the right on the tab, and you will see a listing of who’s qualified, to simplify things. W’e’ll be updating this all week as Pan Pacs go on.
Sucks for Michael Klueh for sure. Finished 6th in the 200 free, bested by Lochte’s time at Pan Pacs, now off the WC team.
A little off-topic, but Hannah Moore at the Youth Olympic Games went 2:10.42 in the 200 back – same exact time that Baker put up at Nationals. Assuming Baker doesn’t drop and no one else beats a 2:10.42, what would happen? I know YOG isn’t an official selection meet but that’s got to be something to look into.
Awesome time for Moore! I think it means she makes the National team, but since that’s not a selection meet for the World Team, she doesn’t make it. Maybe Junior Worlds or another international meet?d
thank you swim swam staff, this is really wall to wall coverage. if only the powers to be at NBC could see this and provide only a fraction of it on tv it would be nice !
Why are the winners of the 50 fly/50 back burnt orange, but the winner of the 50 breast is only light orange?
Foot – this is explained in the post. Matt Grevers and David Plummer made the team in other events, which means they’re guaranteed the spots in the 50 back/fly if they want them. Brendan McHugh, for example, in the men’s 50 breaststroke, only gets his spot in the men’s 50 breaststroke if there’s enough room left on the team.
Ah, I didn’t realize this earlier, but I suppose there is a 200 Medley relay at Worlds as well. So the two burnt orange 50 guy will be on that relay (guaranteed)
No, there is a 200 Individual Medley and there is a 400 Medley Relay, but no 200 Medley Relay.
Technically, since only three swimmers can get to the finals, have their swims count toward Worlds, 1st place finishers in the 100 free at Nationals are relay locks, and 2nd/3rd place fall into the “pale orange” category, as they can’t end up any worse than 5th/6th in the end, right?
TheTroubleWithX – that is true…99% of the time. The caveat is if the race comes out like the women’s 200 fly, and more swimmers are allowed to swim in the B Final, because there aren’t 16 legal swims.
We can say that 9999 times out of 10,000, there will be more than 16 swimmers entered in the 100 free at Pan Pacs. But technically speaking, the bump could happen.
We’re also trying to avoid an “at a minimum, this person will get….” sort of thing. Like, “this guy, at a bare minimum, is light orange, but could be dark orange, and could be yellow.” We thought that could be confusing.
Are those who are bumped off World Champs eligible for World U Games or Pan Am’s?
Love the chart! Sometimes charts give us better feel of what’s happening more than the written word!
Now that they are definitely on the team, shouldn’t Grevers and Plummer be bright yellow in the stroke 50’s, rather than relay orange?