2020 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials Dates Approved

The dates for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials were approved in a meeting off the Board of Directors on Tuesday. The event will be hosted in Omaha, Nebraska from June 21-28, 2020. That means that, even with the inclusion of 2 new events (the women’s 1500 and men’s 800; the mixed medley isn’t held at the Olympic Trials), USA Swimming will keep the trials meet at 8 days.

That means at least a 3-day overlap in the city with the NCAA’s Division I baseball College World Series, which runs from June 12th through June 23rd or 24th (depending on how the bracket plays out). In 2016, the championship game was rain-delayed, and ticket-holders to the swimming trials received free admission to watch the game.

The pool swimming events at the 2020 Olympic Games will run from July 25th through August 2nd in Tokyo. That means a 27-day gap from the end of the American trial to the start of competition at the Olympics. That’s shorter than the gap between events in 2016, but about the same as the gap between events in 2012.

2008-2020 Trials vs. Olympics

Year Trials End Date Olympics Start Date (Swimming) Gap Trials Host Olympics Host Distance Between Hosts Time Zones Between Hosts
2020 June 28th July 25th 27 days Omaha Tokyo 6060 miles 14 hours
2016 July 3rd August 6th 34 days Omaha Rio 5573 miles 2 hours
2012 July 2nd July 28th 26 days Omaha London 4269 miles 6 hours
2008 July 6th August 9th 34 days Omaha Beijing 6,472.73 miles 13 hours

2020 will be the 4th-straight occasion where the event is hosted at the 18,000-seat CHI Health Center in Omaha. Omaha was announced as host in May of 2017. Time standards for the 2020 Olympic Trials will be announced via a live webcast this Thursday – after the summer’s championship meets, which is later than they’ve traditionally been released.

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DMC
5 years ago

So is the rest of the country.

mike
5 years ago

Michael phelps will win this years olympics

Horninco
6 years ago

Would be great to see it in Austin, San Francisco, Charlotte, Phoenix or Atlanta in their basketball arenas

12Volt
Reply to  Braden Keith
6 years ago

Having been to Omaha for a couple of sessions in 2016, I thought it was a good venue and look forward to going back in ’20. That said, if we’re offering ideas for other places, I think St. Paul and Xcel Energy Center would also work well. It’s connected to the convention center, so the warm up pool set up could be the same as the Omaha set up. The Twin Cities is also very centrally located and MSP (a Delta hub) is an easy place to fly to from anywhere in the country.

I suppose the issue with the X is that the NHL season theoretically can also push into almost mid-June, which would limit pool construction time.

12Volt
Reply to  Braden Keith
6 years ago

Hard to disagree with any of that – you’re too damn practical. 😉

In any case, I like Omaha and had fun at OTs in ’16. We even went out twice that summer, as my kids swam in the OT pool for the Omaha Cup a couple of weeks prior to OTs. We stayed in a family budget hotel about 5 miles from downtown, which was just fine and not unreasonable price-wise.

anteater
Reply to  Braden Keith
6 years ago

wouldn’t this be a couple of weeks after the NBA finals are over?

Hello
Reply to  Braden Keith
6 years ago

I don’t see the Charlotte Hornets or the Phoenix Suns making an NBA finals anytime soon.

DutchWomen
6 years ago

Central location…small town with a big city feel…welcoming hosts…great facility…hard to beat – can you name another option?

Booooo
Reply to  DutchWomen
6 years ago

San Antonio… cheaper to get to, to stay, etc. Omaha jacks up prices so a family has to spend over 2 grand to go watch their kid swim- and that’s on the cheap end

joe bagodonuts
Reply to  DutchWomen
6 years ago

Dean Farris’s house! His mom has a freezer full of frozen yogurt and they can run multiple garden hoses for drinking water.

Erik Collins
Reply to  joe bagodonuts
6 years ago

Well said, Joe Bagodonuts- Dean Farris’s mum for President!

Slt
Reply to  DutchWomen
5 years ago

There isn’t a mess ..the traffic control is excellent..San Antonio would be toasty in late June

Chas in TX
Reply to  DutchWomen
5 years ago

“Jerry World” enough said.

Scribble
6 years ago

Only 642 days until Olympic Trials.

CoachGB
6 years ago

Going there is probably because of a great financial situation that the swimming membership has no knowledge of what it is specifically. Just calculate roughly plenty to go around. Like how are Nattional sites awarded?

Beach bum Jason
6 years ago

Would have been better if they did it around 34 days like the other past couple Olympics. Give those athletes more time to double taper and adjust to the host city time change and event times.

Mike A
Reply to  Beach bum Jason
6 years ago

Except any earlier and they really collide with the baseball tournament. By the time the trials start, baseball is down to the last few teams. No way there are enough hotel rooms earlier when 8 teams are still playing. It’s a good reason to look at other host cities, as good as Omaha has been.

meeeeee
Reply to  Mike A
6 years ago

All the more reason to move it to a state that supports men’s collegiate swimming

SuperSwimmer 2000
Reply to  Beach bum Jason
6 years ago

Meh. It always seems to work out. One more day than for London, and that turned out fine.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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