- Fact – the U.S. Olympic Trials will be one of the three-fastest meets anywhere in the world in 2016. It may even be 2nd, ahead of the Short Course World Championships in December.
- Fact – we will be covering the meet. A lot. A lot, a lot. Our site will be taken over by U.S. Olympic Trials coverage for the next 10 days or so.
- Fact – there are approximately 6.8 billion non-Americans on earth, and many of them will be swimming “somewhere else” this weekend.
To aid those of you interested in following “the rest” of swimming (and there’s some pretty big national and international meets overlapping with the Olympic Trials), below are some hints on how to do so.
In General
Use the headings above to find other landing pages on the site. We know that many of our readers just come to the home page to read the 12 newest stories, but this would be a good time to become acquainted with the menus at the top.
“International,” “Paralympic & IPC Swimming,” and “Club” would be good ones to check out.
What’s Happening
- The U.S. Paralympic Trials – while one share of American swimmers are gunning for tickets to Rio to race at the Olympics, the other will be shooting to make the same journey a month later for the Paralympics. June 30th-July 2nd, Event Channel here.
- The Sette Colli Trophy – A major international meet hosted in the 7 Hills (Sette Colli) of Rome. This meet, with big cash prizes, will attract Olympic medal contenders from across Europe and the world. June 24th-26th, Event Channel here.
- 2016 Latvian Nationals – This meet will determine the composition of the Latvian team for the Olympics and, as one of the final Olympic qualifying meets, will see swimmers from 14 countries – including NCAA All-American Paul Le of Vietnam. June 27th-29th, Event Channel here.
- 2016 Caribbean Island Championships – Most of the Caribbean swimmers are based in the U.S., and they don’t always take their regional championship meets with full steam. In an Olympic year, however, their coaches are all off to Omaha to focus on their American swimmers. Among the names confirmed to compete: Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace and Elvis Burrows of the Bahamas, and Dylan Carter of Trinidad & Tobago. June 29th-July 2nd, Event Channel here.
- 2016 Scottish Open – Swimming at the beautiful Tollcross International Swim Centre in Glasgow, this meet will feature not only Scotland’s best, but top swimmers from the rest of the UK (Hannah Miley, Aimee Wilmott, Siobhan O’Connor) as well as around the Europe (including a contingent from Belgium). June 30th-July 3rd, Event Channel here.
- 2016 Swimming Australia Grand Prix – The times from some of the best of the world’s other swimming superpower won’t pop much against the background of the U.S. Trials, but the Campbell sisters and Mitch Larkin have never shown the need to wait for a big taper meet to put in some head-turning times. Cate Campbell, though, is capable of beating the USA’s best sprinters even in-season, and if she can do that, it would be a psychological death-blow for the American 400 free relay. July 1st-2nd, Event Channel here.
All of the meets lifted above will be covered with full recaps, so if they’re of interest to you, please navigate over the the International Channel and check them out.
By the way why Omaha to host olympic trials?
That US city is the only candidate each time?
No offense at all, it’s sold out, great atmosphere, I’m sure they are proud to host that big meet. But Nebraska is not very known for swimming.
And is it a chance that one day it will be back in outdoor? I prefer outdoor pools with finals at sunset. 😎
In track and field it’s at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon since 2008.
But it seems logical. The passion of fans, track town USA, Nike, the university, the history, the stadium, the state of Oregon where so many athletes train, everything breathes track and field there.
There’s… Read more »
bobo – it largely comes down to the fact that there are not many basketball/hockey arenas in the US that can shut down early enough for when USA Swimming needs to take over. All of the professional arenas have to leave open the possibility of making the NBA or NHL playoffs, which ran up until the last week or so.
CenturyLink’s primary tennants are Creighton college basketball, and then other conventions and “touring” events. So, there’s no “primary tennant” who can’t avoid conflicts – and it’s one of the largest basketball-type-arenas in the country to have such a condition.
This time, USA Swimming explored several football stadiums, that they were going to curtain off huge sections of, but opted to… Read more »
Ok. Thanks for the explanation. But why necessarily indoor in a basketball/hockey arena? I like that. No problem. But in 2004 it was in Long Beach in outdoor. It’s just to have a much bigger attendance and more money?
And for my question about the equivalent of Eugene in US swimming?
Yes – largely for bigger attendance, an indoor basketball/hockey arena makes more sense. More flash, more buzz, more bang, more power. A basketball arena is probably the equivalent of what they have in Eugene. Hayward Field is largely subsidized as a pet project for Nike, and frankly can sell out frequently enough to justify it. Swimming…Worlds Trials in 2013, for example, Indy wasn’t even 25% full. And that’s not nearly as big as Hayward Field.
I think when an event becomes as large as the swimming Trials are, there’s a need to control conditions as well. Can’t have 14,000 fans and risk either it being 110 degrees outside, or raining. Track has to deal with the same scenario, but it’s… Read more »
Money. Money. Always money…. 😆
Thanks for the comprehensive answer.
I like your facts. 😆
You can add the French open in Vichy on July 1 and 2 with most of French stars and many European big names.
Correction. July 2 and 3
Only three days to Oly Trials!
Off topic: this Huffington Post article “GOAT TESTICLES DO CURE IMPOTENCY” may be of some interest to your Michael Phelps fanboys.
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_576a8db7e4b0c0252e77c25e?
Braden: nice review in today’s Wall Street Journal by Matthew Rees (who did that very recent Katie Ledecky piece for SwimSwam) of the new Bob Bowman book “The Golden Rules: 10 Steps to Becoming A Champion Human Being.” Foreword by Michael Phelps.
Here’s the link but there may be a pay wall:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-win-like-michael-phelps-1466635351
I believe that the Bulgarian national championship meet is also taking place in Sofia from the 29th to the 3rd
No offense to Charlotte, but the US couldn’t host Paralympic Trials at a pool with a 50 meter warm-up pool? Or at least more than one 25 yard warm up pool? Or even less, one with an 8 lane warm-up pool? How sad.
On a beautiful day some people just choose to see the clouds.
I’m not trying to make negative comments about Paralympic athletes. I am also a fan. I just think they deserve the respect of having their trials at a top notch facility.
No dont worry about the facility its way more than adequate given the number of competitors. The sad part is the lack of support given these wonderful swimmers by the USOC.
It may be adequate in size, but I’m sure some athletes would like the opportunity to do some warm-up pacing in a 50 meter pool right before their race.