The 2024 Doha World Championships will go down in history as a bit of an anomaly. Some nations treated it as an in-season meet, while others approached it like any other Worlds meet. Many wondered if a Worlds meet at the beginning of an Olympic year would disrupt athletes’ Paris preparation.
The U.S. sent only 20 athletes to compete in pool swimming events in Doha, fielding a roster that was a mix of big names and first-timers. Now that the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials are in the books, let’s take a look at how those athletes fared.
At a glance, seven members of the Doha pool swimming roster will compete in Paris later this summer. Four of them were first-time Olympians and three represented the U.S. in Tokyo. Three athletes who were on the Tokyo team did not qualify for a second Olympics.
There were Olympic spots on the line for open water swimmers in Doha. The U.S. had six entrants.
First-Time Olympians from Texas*
Seven athletes who represented the U.S. in Doha were named to the Olympic team four of them are first-time Olympians.
Shaine Casas and Carson Foster are the most experienced of this group, having been Worlds teammates in 2022 and 2023. Coincidentally, they both qualified for Paris in the 200 IM (with Foster also earning qualification in the 400 IM).
It was a redemptive performance for both swimmers in Doha, who had been favored to make the Tokyo team back in 2021 but both had heartbreaking 3rd-place finishes at Trials.
Interestingly, Casas didn’t contest the 200 IM at the 2021 Trials, instead opting to go all-in on the backstroke events.
The other two are Luke Hobson and David Johnston, who were also a part of the 2023 Worlds team. Hobson qualified for the 200 free after picking up a bronze medal in Doha, while Johnston qualified in the 1500 free, an event he didn’t even contest in February.
All four first-time Olympians have ties to the University of Texas, with Casas, Foster, and Hobson all training in Austin. Johnston took a redshirt season to train with Mark Schubert’s The Swim Team in El Toro, California, but has plans to return to Texas in the fall.
It’s also worth noting that neither Casas nor Johnston medaled individually in Doha.
Returning Olympians
The three returning Olympians from the Doha team are led by Kate Douglass, who qualified for the 200 IM, 200 breast, and 100 free. She medaled in both 200s in Doha, picking up gold in the IM and silver in the breaststroke, as well as earning a silver in the 50 free. Despite being the American record holder in the 50 freestyle from her Doha performance, Douglass opted to not contest the event at Trials.
Douglass had the biggest program expansion of the trio, as she only swam the 200 IM in Tokyo. She now adds two more individual events to her Olympic program, and is likely to add two or three more relay swims between the 400 free, 400 medley, and mixed medley.
Hunter Armstrong will also swim an expanded Olympic program compared to three years ago. He once again qualified in the 100 backstroke and picked up a 4th-place finish in the 100 free, earning a spot on the 4×100 free relay. He swam the men’s and mixed 400 free relays in Doha, earning bronze in both. He also won the 100 back and recorded a runner-up finish in the 50 back.
Nic Fink medaled in all three breaststroke distances in Doha, earning bronze in the 50 and 200 and gold in the 100. He only qualified to swim the 100 breast in Paris, missing out on 200 breast which was his sole entry in Tokyo.
Major Misses
Claire Curzan is probably the biggest miss of this group. After having a standout meet, including becoming only the second woman to sweep the 50-100-200 backstrokes at a World Championship meet, she failed to qualify for a second Olympics. In Doha, Curzan hit lifetime bests in all three backstroke events, as well a season best in the 100 fly where she earned silver.
The closest Curzan came to earning a Paris berth was a 3rd place finish in the 200 back, where her best time would have placed 2nd in the final. In the 100 fly, an event she swam in Tokyo, she finished 4th overall. Curzan was slower in all her events at Trials compared to Doha.
Michael Andrew is another Tokyo Olympian who didn’t hit his ceiling at Trials. He only entered the 50s in Doha, earning a silver medal in the 50 fly. As only one of those events is on the Olympic schedule, he entered the 50 free, 100 breast, and 100 fly at Trials. While Andrew made it to the final of the former two (which were also a part of his Tokyo program, alongside the 200 IM), he finished 5th and 8th respectively.
Andrew is the American Record holder in the 100 breast, but hasn’t been close to his best in the past two years.
The U.S. didn’t have any other individual medalists in Doha who haven’t been discussed already, but there was another Tokyo Olympian in Zach Harting. Harting finished 9th in the 200 fly three years ago, his sole entry, and finished 11th in the event in Doha. Harting also competed in the 100 fly, finishing 6th.
Harting did have a surprising end to his Trials, popping two best times in prelims and semis of the 100 fly, but finished 4th behind three swimmers who got under the 51-second barrier.
Finally, while Jack Aikins didn’t earn an individual medal in Doha, he was favored to challenge for a berth in the 200 backstroke. However, he couldn’t break through the ironclad grip Cal-trained swimmers have on the event, as he finished 3rd behind veteran Ryan Murphy and freshman Keaton Jones.
Young Risers
While it didn’t turn into Olympic berths, some of the Doha roster rode their momentum to strong Trials performances.
Lilla Bognar, Kayla Han, and Kate Hurst were all late entries to Worlds, and all made finals in at least one event at the Olympic Trials. Bognar swam in the final of the 200 IM and 400 IM, finishing 3rd in the longer IM event. Hurst also made a pair of finals, earning 6th in the 800 free and 4th in the 1500 free.
Han had a rollercoaster of an opening day in Indianapolis. After finishing just nine-hundredths shy of the top eight in the 400 free, two scratches ahead of her earned her a night swim. She capitalized on that opportunity, dropping over a second from her entry time and ultimately finishing 4th after coming in seeded 16th.
None of these three swimmers have matriculated to college yet, and could be ones to watch out for during the next quad.
Open Water Footnote
The U.S. also sent six athletes to compete in the open water events in Doha: Michael Brinegar, Joshua Brown, Charlie Clark, Mariah Denigan, Katie Grimes, and Ivan Puskovitch.
Grimes had already qualified for Paris by way of her 10km bronze medal in Fukuoka, but Denigan and Puskovitch both booked their tickets courtesy of their Doha finishes. Denigan finished 6th in the women’s 10km while Puskovitch finished 14th in the men’s event. This will be both swimmer’s first Olympics.
Table of Pool Swimming Performances
The following table is sorted by swimmers who made Team USA, finals, semifinals, and did not advance, and alphabetically within each group.
| Doha Individual Performances | Trials Individual Performances | |
| Hunter Armstrong | 50 BK – 2nd 100 BK – 1st |
100 BK – 2nd 100 FR – 4th |
| Shaine Casas | 50 FL – 8th 100 FL – 16th 200 IM – 5th |
200 IM – 2nd 100 BK – 9th |
| Kate Douglass | 200 IM – 1st 200 BR – 2nd 50 FR – 2nd 100 FR – 4th |
100 FR – 1st 200 BR – 1st 200 IM – 1st |
| Nic Fink | 50 BR – 3rd 100 BR – 1st 200 BR – 3rd |
100 BR – 1st 200 BR – 6th |
| Carson Foster | 200 IM – 2nd 400 IM – 4th |
200 IM – 1st 400 IM – 1st |
| Luke Hobson | 200 FR – 3rd | 200 FR – 1st |
| David Johnston | 400 FR – 12th 800 FR – 11th 400 IM – 5th |
1500 FR – 2nd |
| Jack Aikins | 100 BK – 8th 200 BK – 4th |
100 BK – 3rd 200 BK – 3rd |
| Michael Andrew | 50 FR – 4th 50 BK – 8th 50 BR – 11th 50 FL – 2nd |
100 BR – 8th 50 FR – 5th 100 FL – 16th |
| Lilla Bognar | 200 BK – 10th 400 IM – 9th |
200 BK – 9th 200 FL – 24th 200 IM – 7th 400 IM – 3rd |
| Charlie Clark | 800 FR – 22nd 1500 FR – 10th |
800 FR – 6th 1500 FR – 6th |
| Claire Curzan | 50 BK – 1st 100 BK – 1st 200 BK – 1st 100 FL – 2nd |
100 BK – 8th 200 BK – 3rd 100 FL – 4th |
| Jake Foster | 100 BR – 9th 200 BR – 4th |
100 BR – 6th 200 BR – 7th |
| Kayla Han | 800 FR – 15th 1500 FR – 17th 400 IM – 13th |
400 FR – 4th 800 FR – 28th 1500 FR – 27th 400 IM – 10th |
| Zach Harting | 100 FL – 6th 200 FL – 11th |
100 FL – 4th 200 FL – 8th |
| Kate Hurst | 1500 FR – 9th | 400 FR – 9th 800 FR – 6th 1500 FR – 4th |
| Matt King | 50 FR – 11th 100 FR – 7th |
50 FR – 3rd 100 FR – 6th |
| Piper Enge | 50 BR – 6th 100 BR – 18th |
100 BR – 14th 200 BR – 28th |
| Rachel Klinker | 200 FL – 4th | 100 FL – 21st 200 FL – 13th |
| Addison Sauickie | 200 FR – 12th 400 FR – 11th |
100 FR – 34th 200 FR – 25th 200 FL – 44th |
The most eye-catching US swim for me in Doha was Foster’s relay split in the 4×200. Much faster than I would have expected given his swims in his other events there.
I’m not an MA hater, nor liker. Actually, I don’t really care. But I get a kick out of the social media / postings about this swimmer. So my comment:
We have all observed enough of his many years of swimming to know that MA/dad aren’t changing their plan. They’re not. Regardless of results in the meets, nothing is changing. Whether that’s driven by an unwillingness to recognize shortcomings at big meets, or an unwillingness to put forth an effort in ways that are uncomfortable for the athlete, it doesn’t matter. They’re not doing anything differently. They’ve made a permanent decision that USRPT / ultra low volume / lots of gym / surfing / whatever is the way to go,… Read more »
Nothing to see here, move along.
I find the hate to be kinda annoying but i do get it. If they would just do an ounce of more traditional training he would probably be on the team in one of the 100’s stroke… 200 IM… or 50 free
Just kinda frustrating to see him waste his potential
He made the team in 3 events last time doing non-traditional training. The difference was that he was training for the 200 IM which gave him a better base.
MA’s problem if anything is lack of gym. McEvoy might even be doing less yardage than MA but he’s a beast in the weight room.
Team MA having a good hard look at his training and preparation for OTs about now. I wonder where he will train now that it’s obvious change is necessary to move forward from here? I am thinking he stays in Southern California. Maybe Mission Viejo with Jeff Julian or Irvine Novaquatics with Dave Salo?
What evidence from everything you know about him and his family would make you think he’s going to make a major change?
Peter Andrew’s Instagram post from a few days ago inferred that Michael would be making a change to his training base.
Probably means less yardage….
Hahaha. That was a good one.
I mean you can infer that he’s making a change to his training, but to me it implies he’s debating a soft retirement: “for Michael to decide what is best for him going forward and what sets himself up to be his best self heading into the next season of life”
I also thought that sounded strange.
Btw, Salo is at ASU now. Not sure who is at Irvine
Salo would probably make sense… It’s too late for him to try to get a substantial middle-distance base to maybe finish a 200IM for once. But sprint training with Salo would probably do him some good. On the other hand, do you really believe they’ll change anything? Because I don’t. People like that have bought into their thing so deeply, there is no way out. They’ll die on the cross.
And to be fair.. he’s got an Olympic gold medal. Who are we to judge what he’s doing anyway?
He’s back at the pool with his dad today, per IG.
For now, but is pretty hard to wrote off MA’s results since Tokyo as just bad luck, and MA does the training he is given, so the coaching is clearly at fault here. He’s not the kind of athlete who is given a set and swims it half-assed.
I am not saying he would join a pro group today but maybe after Paris and the summer. I am sure he wants to stay in Encinitas and surf right now.
Work for MA is merely taking a photo and posting a pic of a supplement while driving his fancy truck off for vacay.
The future of USA Swimming is not Michael Andrew.
Kate Douglass finished first in the W 200 IM at the 2024 USA Swimming Olympic Team Trials with a personal best time.
What does “W” mean? i need you to spell it out in it’s entirety to understand what you’re saying