2016 U.S. OLYMPIC TEAM TRIALS
- Sunday June 26th-Sunday July 3rd, 2016
- Century Link Center – Omaha, Nebraska
- Friday-Sunday – Prelims – 9:00 am EDT Finals – 6 pm EDT
- SwimSwam Preview Links & Schedule
- NBC Televison Coverage Schedule
- Psych Sheets
Most athletes on the U.S. Olympic Trials psych sheets (released earlier today) are over-entering with the flexibility to scratch later, and that seems to be the case with Maya DiRado and Ella Eastin, both of whom could face tough event triples during the meet.
The conflict comes up on the night of Wednesday, June 29, where the evening session features finals of the women’s 200 free, semifinals of the women’s 200 fly and finals of the women’s 200 IM.
DiRado and Eastin are among the most versatile athletes at Trials, with chances at Olympic berths in all three races. At this point, both have entered all three, though it seems likely each will scratch one or more races based on how early swims in each event go.
For DiRado, the 200 IM should be the main focus. The Stanford grad is a favorite to make the Olympic team in the 200 and 400 IM, where she is the top seed on the psych sheets. She’s also the 3rd seed in the 200 fly, and one of the two swimmers ahead of her (Katie McLaughlin) is a major question mark coming off a neck injury.
DiRado is the 2nd seed in the 200 back late in the meet and the 8th entrant in the 200 free, where the top 6 will make the Olympic team as part of the 4×200 free relay.
Eastin, a current Stanford collegiate swimmer, is coming off of an explosive NCAA season. She’s entered in the 400 IM, 200 free, 200 IM, 200 fly and 200 breast. She’s probably also focused mostly on the 200 IM, but a big NCAA relay split in the 200 free makes her a candidate for that Olympic relay, too.
What the IM/fly/free combo would look like if either woman swims all three rounds of each:
- Tuesday morning: 200 free heats, (one event break), 200 IM heats
- Tuesday night: 200 free semifinals, (five event break), 200 IM semifinals
- Wednesday morning: 200 fly heats
- Wednesday night: 200 free finals, (one event break), 200 fly semifinals, (one event break), 200 IM finals
Both women might be hoping to put up strong 200 free times in the early rounds to put themselves in the running for a relay berth, which would give them the flexibility to scratch out of the 200 free final to focus on the remaining swims. They would then be eligible for a relay slot in the 4×200 free relay if they made the Olympic team in a different event.
A few more swimmers who could find themselves with event conflicts in those events:
Georgia’s Hali Flickinger will swim the 200 free and 200 fly. She was more of a longshot in the 200 IM anyways, and won’t enter that race. That double shouldn’t be as difficult, as Flickinger merely has to make top 6 in the 200 free finals, then sneak into the top 8 in the 200 fly semifinals one event later.
Flickinger’s full event lineup is the 100 fly, 400 free, 200 free, 200 fly and 200 back.
Her Athens Bulldog Swim Club teammate Melanie Margalis will enter the 200 free and 200 IM. That gives her an event double in three sessions between the two days, but should be relatively manageable if Margalis does go through with swimming all three rounds of both.
