Comparing The 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifiers: Men vs. Women

By our count, there have been 684 swimmers qualify for the next year’s U.S. Olympic Trials with less than nine months to go, with 380 men and 304 women having punched their ticket to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis since the qualifying period opened in November 2022.

• Meet The 304 Women Who Have Qualified For The 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials
• Meet The 380 Men Who Have Qualified For The 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials

There are several discernible differences between the data on the female and male qualifiers, so let’s dive into it:

THERE ARE MORE MALE QUALIFIERS

The most obvious difference between the two datasets is the fact that 74 more men have qualified for the Trials than women, which, while it might not necessarily be surprising, is interesting given that when the 2024 standards were announced, the men’s field was projected to be cut more than the women’s.

But there’s a large disparity both in terms of the number of male and female swimmers qualified, and the number of ‘swims’ that have qualified.

The percentage difference is slightly smaller when it comes to number of swims qualified, which makes sense given that we saw six women qualify in seven different events, something only two men did, indicating that a higher percentage of the women’s field had swimmers qualify in multiple events.

GENERAL COMPARISON

MOST & LEAST QUALIFIED FOR EVENTS

The 50 free has generally been the event that’s had the most qualifiers at Olympic and World Championship Trials meets, but that was turned on its head this year, at least for the men.

Just 50 men have met the 50 free standard thus far, which is a direct result of the qualifying time dropping four-tenths of a second from 23.19 to 22.79—that made it the second-highest percentage drop at 1.72, trailing only the men’s 100 breast (1.74).

The 50 free is now the lowest qualified for event for men, while on the women’s side, it’s still at the top, though all of the events are pretty close together after we’ve previously seen a large disparity in the number of qualifiers across events (more on that below).

The biggest disparity in the number of qualifiers per event is in individual medley, as the men’s 200 and 400 IM are now the most populated events, but on the women’s side, they’re two of the lower ones.

NUMBER OF QUALIFIERS VERSUS 2021 – MEN

In 2021, there were eight different events that had at least 100 qualifiers (this is based on the actual field size at the 2021 Trials, and not necessarily the number of actual qualifiers), and this year, the most qualified event between either gender is 76.

USA Swimming made every single standard faster compared to 2021, and that’s resulted in the qualifiers per event much more than level than we’ve seen in previous Trials.

For example, there were 167 male 50 free qualifiers in 2021, and just 57 in the 1500 free, a difference of 110. This time around, the biggest disparity on the men’s side is 26 (200 IM – 76, 50 free – 50) with the 50 free being the one on the lower end of the spectrum, interestingly enough.

*Through September 28, 2023

NUMBER OF QUALIFIERS VERSUS 2021 – WOMEN

The women’s data is similar to the men. In 2021, the difference between the most qualified for event (50 free) and the least (1500 free) was 88. This time, it’s just 19, with the 50 free still having the most (58) and the 1500 free still having the fewest along with the 200 breast (39).

*Through September 28, 2023

NUMBER OF QUALIFIERS VERSUS 2021 – COMBINED

The combined numbers show that nearly 200 fewer swimmers have qualified in the 50 free for 2024 compared to 2021, while some of the longer events, like 1500 free (9), 400 IM (13) and 800 free (15) have nearly the same number of qualifiers.

Keep in mind that the COVID postponement resulted in an extra year of qualifying opportunity for 2021 and that there are still eight months of qualifying time remaining for 2024.

2024 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS STANDARDS

• Read more on how much the Olympic Trials standards changed from 2021 to 2024 here.
• Read more on the men’s data here.
• Read more on the women’s data here.