Day 5 U.S. Olympic Roster Update: Dressel Officially Added, Fink(e) Qualifies

2021 U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS

Caeleb Dressel‘s event selections made fans wait until day 5 – but Dressel is officially returning to the U.S. Olympic team in 2021.

The 13-time World Championships gold medalist won the 100 free tonight, booking his trip to Tokyo in both the individual 100 free and as a member of the 4×100 free relay. His swim should also give him a spot on the U.S. men’s 4×100 medley relay, though he may wind up swimming butterfly instead of freestyle. The 24-year-old Dressel is the world record-holder in the 100 fly and will swim heats of that event tomorrow.

On the women’s side, there was just one final and no ‘new’ Olympians. That’s because the top two 200 fly spots went to Hali Flickinger and Regan Smithboth of whom were already locked into likely Olympic berths. Flickinger won the event and made her Olympic return official – she was second in the 400 IM on day 1 and will make the team there, but would have needed the U.S. to stay under the 26-woman roster cap to officially join the team. Smith won the 100 back and is now locked into two events.

The men, meanwhile, added five new names as Olympic locks, and three more as very likely Olympians. Zach Apple was already in line for an Olympic spot, but is now locked in as an individual 100 freestyler. Previously, he was a relay-only 200 freestyler counting on the U.S. men getting under the roster cap to secure a berth.

800 free winner Bobby Finke is in as a first-time Olympian. So is 200 breast winner Nic FinkBlake Pieroni and Brooks Curry will join the official Olympic team as relay-only 100 freestylers.

Andrew Wilson was already a likely qualifier, and he added a second event in the 200 breast. Michael Brinegar is now a likely Olympian after taking second in the 800 free. Bowe Becker and Ryan Held were 5th and 6th in the 100 free – they’ll join Patrick Callan as the three lowest qualifiers in Olympic priority, but we’d still expect them to officially make the team.

2021 U.S. OLYMPIC ROSTER AFTER DAY 4

Tonight’s new qualifiers are noted in bold.

Tentative qualifiers (who need a certain number of multi-event qualifiers to be officially added) are listed in italics.

Women:

  • Emma Weyant: 400 IM
  • Torri Huske: 100 fly
  • Katie Ledecky: 200 free, 400 free, 1500 free, 4×200 free relay
  • Regan Smith: 100 back, 200 fly
  • Lilly King: 100 breast
  • Allison Schmitt: 200 free, 4×200 free relay
  • Katie McLaughlin: 4×200 free relay
  • Paige Madden: 400 free, 4×200 free relay
  • Alex Walsh: 200 IM
  • Hali Flickinger: 400 IM, 200 fly
  • Claire Curzan: 100 fly
  • Rhyan White: 100 back
  • Lydia Jacoby: 100 breast
  • Kate Douglass: 200 IM
  • Erica Sullivan: 1500 free
  • Bella Sims: 4×200 free relay
  • Brooke Forde: 4×200 free relay

Men:

  • Chase Kalisz: 400 IM
  • Kieran Smith: 400 free, 200 free, 4×200 free relay
  • Michael Andrew: 100 breast
  • Townley Haas: 200 free, 4×200 free relay
  • Drew Kibler: 4×200 free relay
  • Andrew Seliskar: 4×200 free relay
  • Ryan Murphy: 100 back
  • Zach Harting: 200 fly
  • Bobby Finke, 800 free
  • Nic Fink, 200 breast
  • Caeleb Dressel, 100 free, 4×100 free relay, 4×100 medley relay
  • Zach Apple: 4×200 free relay, 100 free, 4×100 free relay
  • Blake Pieroni: 4×100 free relay
  • Brooks Curry: 4×100 free relay
  • Jay Litherland: 400 IM
  • Jake Mitchell: 400 free
  • Andrew Wilson: 100 breast, 200 breast
  • Hunter Armstrong: 100 back
  • Gunnar Bentz: 200 fly
  • Michael Brinegar: 800 free
  • Bowe Becker, 4×100 free relay
  • Patrick Callan: 4×200 free relay
  • Ryan Held: 4×100 free relay

DOUBLES

Here’s an overly-simplified version of the U.S. Olympic selection process: the team can have a maximum of 26 men and 26 women. Swimmers are added to the roster in these priorities until the roster cap is hit:

  1. Top 4 in 100/200 frees, Winner of all other events
  2. 2nd-place finisher in all events (besides 100/200 free)
  3. 5th-place finisher in 100/200 free
  4. 6th-place finisher in 100/200 free

We track ‘doubles’ as a way of knowing when the next priority of swimmers can be officially added to the team. A ‘double’ is effectively a swimmer qualifying in more than one event. One swimmer qualifying in three events counts as two ‘doubles’ for our purposes.

The Magic Numbers:

  • 6 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side means all priority 2 athletes (2nd-place finishers) can be added for that gender
  • 8 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side means all priority 3 athletes (5th-place in 100/200 free) can be added for that gender
  • 10 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side means all priority 4 athletes (6th-place in 100/200 free) can be added for that gender

After Day 3:

  • Women – 5 doubles:
    • Katie Ledecky: 200/400/1500 free
    • Regan Smith: 100 back, 200 fly
    • Hali Flickinger: 200 fly, 400 IM
    • Paige Madden: 400 free/4×200 free relay
  • Men – 3 doubles:

Tomorrow could officially lock in all of the second-place finishers on the women’s side. If either Kate Douglass or Allison Schmitt places in the top 6 in the 100 free final tomorrow night or if Lilly King places in the top two of the 200 breast, the women will hit 6 doubles and all second-placers can breathe a sigh of relief as their Olympic spots become guaranteed.

If none of those things happen, the women will have to wait for Saturday night, when Regan Smith and Rhyan White are among the favorites in the 200 back and where Ledecky should win the 800 free, potentially locking in event the 5th- and 6th-place relay-only athletes.

For the men, tomorrow night has fewer spots up for grabs, but plenty of potential doubles. That includes Ryan Murphy in the 200 back and Michael Andrew, Chase Kalisz and Andrew Seliskar in the 200 IM. If current seeds hold and Murphy, Andrew and Kalisz are all top two tomorrow, the men will hit six doubles and all second-placers will be officially added to the team.

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Miss M
2 years ago

Isn’t one of your relay only swimmers going to be left behind?

You can only take 12, and you’ve got 13:
1. Katie McLaughlin
2. Bella Sims
3. Brooke Forde
4. Olivia Smoliga
5. Natalie Hinds
6. Catie DeLoof
7. Drew Kibler
8. Andrew Seliskar
9. Blake Pieroni
10. Brooks Curry
11. Bowe Becker
12. Patrick Callan
13. Ryan Held

Who misses the seat on the plane?

Wahooswimfan
2 years ago

Seems like all 2nd are now assured for men and women; working on relay 5th and 6th tomorrow. Ledecky and Dressel are money in the bank!

Last edited 2 years ago by Wahooswimfan
Funny Emma 2
2 years ago

Nic fink and Bobby finke are related right?

Carlos Fernandez
2 years ago

Andrew Wilson would be a double qualifier in the 100/200 breast

ben
2 years ago

note to self: the way to get on the 4×100 relay is to draft off caleb.

Taa
Reply to  ben
2 years ago

body surfing is a skill

VFL
2 years ago

Wouldn’t Ledecky take a 4×2 spot, which makes 6 doubles for women? Same with Kieran…why is 4×2 listed as a double for Madden and Apple?

boknows34
Reply to  VFL
2 years ago

Madden and Apple are “relay-only” qualifiers for the 4×2.

Anyone finishing top two in the individual 100/200 free don’t count twice for relays.

14 events x 2 = 28 plus 4 spots for 3rd and 4th in the two free relays is 32. With a cap of 26 that’s why you need 6 doubles to get everyone qualified in the Tiers 1 and 2.

By also finishing second in individual events Madden and Apple are each covering two of those 32 spots.

Ole 99
2 years ago

This 26 person team cap is stupid and needs to go. Knowing FINA, that means it will probably ho to 20.

P K
Reply to  Ole 99
2 years ago

It’s unlikely due to how the IOC limits the number of athletes per federation. Lifting the cap would invariably mean fewer selections at the bottom of the swimming stack (swimmers invited with OST/B cuts), which would make smaller countries unhappy. Plus since it would be seen as favoring the US more than anyone else, it’s likely a non-starter.

Last edited 2 years ago by P K
Dan
Reply to  Ole 99
2 years ago

Don’t think that the 26 person cap is something new. At least we us the FINA A cut instead of what several nations who choose to use 8th or 12th place time from the prior World Championships.

NUSwimFan
2 years ago

Never thought we’d be here but MA is gonna need to take that 200 IM and 50 Free to have a shot of getting those 5th and 6th place swimmers on the team…

HJones
Reply to  NUSwimFan
2 years ago

Especially now that he has seemingly scratched the 100 fly. Was looking like he was going to get that second spot.

Idk
Reply to  NUSwimFan
2 years ago

I mean at this point it’s more likely he does then doesn’t

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Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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