Kate Douglass currently sits in the National Team rankings in a whopping six events spanning freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and IM. Archive photo via Jack Spitser/Spitser Photography
With the 2023 U.S. National Championships done and dusted, let’s take a look at where the 2023-2024 National Team rankings stand.
The National Team roster is comprised of the top-six ranked swimmers (by time) in each individual Olympic Event (no 50s of butterfly, backstroke, or breaststroke). The times must have been swum between January 1, 2023 and September 9th, 2023 (at a USA Swimming sanctioned competition or AQUA approved competition) and be entered into the USA Swimming database. The team is scheduled to be officially announced on September 11th, 2023.
Due to the Pan American Games occurring after this deadline (10/20-11/5), swimmers who post a top-six time at this meet will be eligible to be added to the National Team and in doing so will not displace a swimmer who was previously announced.
The U.S. Open Water National Team was announced in April, following the conclusion of the 10k Open Water National Championships. You can read more about that here.
In past years, the benefits of qualifying for the National Team include the possibility to receive monthly stipends, meet reimbursements, athlete health insurance, and Olympic Training Center access, among other things.
It should be noted that in addition to one’s times, membership is also based on being eligible to represent the U.S., attending an onboarding session in person, and being in good standing with one’s membership in USA swimming including Athlete Protection Training and a current background screening. The full selection criteria can be found here.
Leading both the men’s and women’s team is Kate Douglass with six events (50/100 Fr, 100/200 Br, 100 Fl, 200 IM). Just behind her with five events are Regan Smith (100/200 Bk, 100/200 Fl, 200 IM) and Katie Ledecky (200/400/800/1500 Fr, 400 IM). Leading the men’s team with four events is Carson Foster (200 Fr, 200 Fl, 200/400 IM).
Facts and Figures
All of the top times are from the 2023 U.S. National Championships with the exception of
W 200 Free – Katie Ledecky’s 1:54.96 from the PSS – Fort Lauderdale
W 400 Free – Katie Ledecky’s 3:58.84 from the Atlanta Classic
W 200 Fly – Regan Smith’s 2:03.87 from the Sun Devil Open
W 400 IM – Katie Grimes’s 4:31.81 from the Fran Crippen SMOC
M 200 IM – Shaine Casas’s 1:56.06 from the PSS – Westmont
The highest-placed swimmer in the National Team rankings to not make the World’s Team is Hali Flickinger who ranks 2nd in the 200 Fly rankings with 2:06.80 from the Sun Devil Open
Noticeably absent is Beata Nelson which is a bummer. If SCY were tested at international meets, I can’t help but think she would’ve had a much different career trajectory simply based on her successful NCAA performances.
That’s another reason why the US’s selection procedures for SC Worlds is so annoying – us die-hards tend to know who the biggest NCAA studs are, and then we see them literally shut out from going to the championship meet they deserve to go to for…reasons.
Dawg Talk
1 year ago
So, if I am reading this correctly, these folks are guaranteed a spot on the roster as there are no other meets before the official announcement of the team in September?
Any time at a USA swimming-sanctioned event or AQUA-approved event that places in the top six could displace a swimmer in the tables above. So a time set at the TYR Pro Championships or at Junior Worlds could break into the top six, as could many other meets.
CasualSwimmer
1 year ago
Cody Miller got that 301 year old baby face
Taay
1 year ago
I’ve looked at the list of roster who will go to the world championships. I just saw that 50s stroke (except freestyle) will only have 1 swimmer and the men’ 50 fly has no swimmer
es cuestion de estrategia para él parece, ni siquiera se apunta porque sabe que simplemente ganaria, parece que no le interesa mostrar que en esto es el mejor, pues tendria un 3:43 seguro.
supongo que no le interesa porque no quiere que se sepa que es el mejor, ya que no quiere hacer esta categoria a nivel internacional, quizas el hecho de practicarla le da cierto miedo a como puede influir a sus categorias estrellas 800/1500 que ve muy seguras de oro, sobre todo de aqui a paris
most of your comment makes no sense, since by that logic, nesty would pull ledecky out of the 800 and 1500 since she knows she would win those events anyway. finke is an olympic and world champ, so it really isn’t a secret that he is a gold medal contender. the comment about his 400 training detracting from his 1500 does have some merit though
He’s talked about having a really hard time pacing it before. I think he’s swam it a few times at PSS/smaller meets and never really popped a good time. For whatever reason he likes the 400 IM a lot more
So, did McDuff make the 4×100 as an alternate?
Noticeably absent is Beata Nelson which is a bummer. If SCY were tested at international meets, I can’t help but think she would’ve had a much different career trajectory simply based on her successful NCAA performances.
That’s another reason why the US’s selection procedures for SC Worlds is so annoying – us die-hards tend to know who the biggest NCAA studs are, and then we see them literally shut out from going to the championship meet they deserve to go to for…reasons.
So, if I am reading this correctly, these folks are guaranteed a spot on the roster as there are no other meets before the official announcement of the team in September?
Any time at a USA swimming-sanctioned event or AQUA-approved event that places in the top six could displace a swimmer in the tables above. So a time set at the TYR Pro Championships or at Junior Worlds could break into the top six, as could many other meets.
Cody Miller got that 301 year old baby face
I’ve looked at the list of roster who will go to the world championships. I just saw that 50s stroke (except freestyle) will only have 1 swimmer and the men’ 50 fly has no swimmer
https://www.usaswimming.org/news/2023/07/02/athletes-coaches-set-for-2023-world-aquatics-championships
They’ll fill in the other 50 slots later with swimmers already on the team. That’s usually a second announcement.
Has Bobby voiced displeasure with the 400, or does he not think he could medal? 3:41 or 42 seems doable for him.
es cuestion de estrategia para él parece, ni siquiera se apunta porque sabe que simplemente ganaria, parece que no le interesa mostrar que en esto es el mejor, pues tendria un 3:43 seguro.
supongo que no le interesa porque no quiere que se sepa que es el mejor, ya que no quiere hacer esta categoria a nivel internacional, quizas el hecho de practicarla le da cierto miedo a como puede influir a sus categorias estrellas 800/1500 que ve muy seguras de oro, sobre todo de aqui a paris
most of your comment makes no sense, since by that logic, nesty would pull ledecky out of the 800 and 1500 since she knows she would win those events anyway. finke is an olympic and world champ, so it really isn’t a secret that he is a gold medal contender. the comment about his 400 training detracting from his 1500 does have some merit though
He’s talked about having a really hard time pacing it before. I think he’s swam it a few times at PSS/smaller meets and never really popped a good time. For whatever reason he likes the 400 IM a lot more
He doesn’t have the speed for a 3:41-3:42. That’s why he swims the 400 IM over the 400 free.
For the Michael Andrew cultists:
Cody Miller is older than Nic Fink
That he is