2024 Paris Olympics: #8 Seed Thomas Heilman (USA) Misses 100 Fly Semifinals

by Laura Rosado 21

August 02nd, 2024 International, News, Paris 2024

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

In what continues to be a middling meet for the American men, #8 seed Thomas Heilman missed out on semifinals of the 100 butterfly.

Swimming in heat 4, the 17-year-old clocked 51.82 for 6th, over a second back of the 17-18 NAG record he set at U.S. Olympic Trials. That time would stand for 18th overall, leaving Heilman 0.2-seconds outside of a second semifinals berth. He opened the race in 24.56, just about even with his 24.53 split from Trials, but couldn’t find the same closing speed as he did in Indy (27.56 vs. 26.57).

Heilman already made a semifinals appearance in the 200 butterfly earlier this meet, where he also couldn’t quite match his Trials time and finished 10th.

That leaves defending champion Caeleb Dressel as the sole American representative in the 100 fly. The defending Olympic champion swam 50.83 to sit in 6th heading into tonight. He’ll pull a double tonight, as he’s also in the 50 free final.

MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY – HEATS

  1. Kristof Milak (Hungary) – 50.19
  2. Josh Liendo (Canada) – 50.55
  3. Noe Ponti (Switzerland)/Maxime Grousset (France) – 50.65 (TIE)
  4. Ilya Kharun (Canada) – 50.71
  5. Caeleb Dressel (United States) – 50.83
  6. Matthew Temple (Australia) – 50.89
  7. Nyls Kortsanje (Netherlands) – 51.17
  8. Jakub Majerski (Poland) – 51.18
  9. Gal Groumi (Israel) – 51.30
  10. Ben Armbruster (Australia) – 51.33
  11. Katsuhiro Matsumoto (Japan) – 51.43
  12. Simon Bucher (Austria) – 51.33
  13. Hubert Kos (Hungary) – 51.58
  14. Naoki Mizunuma (Japan)/Clement Secchi (France) – 51.62 (TIE)

Perhaps invigorated by his silver medal finish in the men’s 200 fly a few nights ago, Hungarian Kristof Milak looked excellent in the heats of the 100 fly this morning. Milak clocked a 50.19, posting the top time of the morning by a decent margin, given how tight the rest of the field was. He was out in 23.57, a solid opening split, but them came roaring home in 26.62, which was the fastest back half in the field this morning.

Canada had a strong showing in this event, seeing Josh Liendo and Ilya Kharun go 1-2 in the final heat. Liendo, who entered the meet as the top seed in the event, hit the wall in 50.55, just ahead of Kharun, who clocked a 50.71. Liendo’s time was good for 2nd overall, while Kharun was 5th.

There was a tie for 3rd this morning, as Switzerland’s Noe Ponti and France’s Maxime Grousset both clocked a time of 50.65. Grousset was out the fastest of anyone this morning, splitting a very speedy 23.27 on the opening 50m. Conversely, Ponti came home in 26.67 on the 2nd 50, which was 2nd only to Milak on the back half this morning.

American Caeleb Dressel put up a solid time in the final heat this morning, swimming a 50.83. Perhaps most importantly, the World Record holder and defending Olympic champion in the event looked happy with the time after he finished this morning. He was out in 23.75, and came home in 27.08. We know Dressel has more speed on the front half in him.

The 2nd American in this event, 17-year-old Thomas Heilman, didn’t make it back for semifinals tonight, finishing 18th with a 51.82.

200 backstroke champion Hubert Kos narrowly made it through to the semis, taking 14th this morning with a 51.58.

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SadButTrue
25 minutes ago

It’s sad Heilman’s gonna peak in High School. Kids already jacked and training like a pro.

Last edited 25 minutes ago by SadButTrue
Boomer
1 hour ago

I’ll put my money on Milak who’s speed is looking good and probably very hungry after his silver in the 200 fly

Washedupd3swimmer
1 hour ago

Men’s medley relay prelim lineups should be very interesting. I’m not entirely sure I trust Armstrong Swanson Heilman Giuliano to get us back considering on 1 made the final in his event. US coaches are gonna have to think outside the box

Thomas The Tank Engine
Reply to  Washedupd3swimmer
5 minutes ago

Armstrong Swanson Heilman Giuliano is fast enough to get USA to advance to final.

Mens Medley Relay is not that deep.

Claire
2 hours ago

This is obviously not ideal, but I’m not too concerned given his age. Hopefully he has at least enjoyed his time in Paris, and maybe learned a thing or two along the way. I think we can still be quite confident he will be a force in fly in the years to come.

Random123
2 hours ago

pretty weak meet overall from the men

Max Hardie
3 hours ago

Very strange that he swims slower at 17 than he did at 16, big regression.

Idontevenswim:)
Reply to  Max Hardie
1 hour ago

He isn’t regressing. He swam his PB by a huge margin at trials, which was only 6 weeks ago. Hes just not having the meet he should be having. But by NO means is he regressing

Flag Holder
Reply to  Max Hardie
1 hour ago

Regression? IMO, this is simply a result of tapering for trials in order to make the team. More evidence for changing the us olympic trials to an earlier date to avoid problems like this. Ilya didn’t have to taper to make the Canadian team.

Also, don’t rush to compare Ilya w/ Thomas. Ilya was very good while training in a distance program with Sandpipers. Now that he is training properly we can see the difference between an elite 17 year old and an elite 19 year old. Thomas will catch up.

selfdrafter
Reply to  Flag Holder
6 minutes ago

I don’t know if the trials date is the problem. Remember that the Australians were having issues underperforming at the Olympics when they had their trials in March/April and moved them to June/July to copy the US in 2021 (which has had great success with this trials format) and have been performing up to par at the Games ever since. The double-taper seems to work better for the Australians than the earlier trials format, so I don’t think the opposite would be likely for the Americans.

Swim
3 hours ago

Thomas and Maximus please go to Texas.

Swimmer.thingz
3 hours ago

He seems like such a likable young man but I feel like he believes he can rest the prelims/semis even though he can’t. I definitely think he has more in him than that!