This week, USA Swimming split its 2021 Olympic Trials meet into two separate waves in order to limit athlete numbers and promote health and safety amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The current Olympic Trials qualifying standards will allow athletes into the four-day Wave I meet, while a new, tougher standard will allow athletes into the Wave II meet. The top two finishers in each event at Wave I will be able to compete in the Wave II meet the following week, with the Olympic team selected based off of Wave II results. You can read more about the full format here.
Below, we’re running through the event orders for each meet, as they differ quite a bit. The Wave II order is unchanged from the original Trials plan, but the Wave I meet is a shorter, four-day meet using a modified version of the Pan Pacs meet order.
Wave I Event Order
The Wave I schedule is a four-day meet with a prelims/finals format – no semifinals. Most pretty common event combos are fairly spread out between the days, with a few notable exceptions: the 100 free and 100 back are back-to-back on day 1, and any 400 IMers who cross over into the 200 free would have a tough double on day 2.
However, it’s also worth noting that Wave I will feature a good number of single-event qualifiers, with most of the swimmers set up for really busy Olympic Trials schedules getting under Wave II cuts in at least one event. (Any swimmer with a Wave II cut can swim any other events with a Wave I cut at the Wave II meet).
- Prelims 10 AM (Central)
- Finals 7 PM (Central)
| WOMEN’S EVENT # | EVENT ORDER | MEN’S EVENT # |
| Friday, June 4 | ||
| 1 | 100m Freestyle | 2 |
| 3 | 100m Backstroke | 4 |
| 5 | 200m Butterfly | 6 |
| 7 | 800m Freestyle* | 8 |
| Saturday, June 5 | ||
| 9 | 200m Freestyle | 10 |
| 11 | 100m Breaststroke | 12 |
| 13 | 400m Individual Medley | 14 |
| Sunday, June 6 | ||
| 15 | 400m Freestyle | 16 |
| 17 | 100m Butterfly | 18 |
| 19 | 200m Backstroke | 20 |
| Monday, June 7 | ||
| 21 | 200m Individual Medley | 22 |
| 23 | 50m Freestyle | 24 |
| 25 | 200m Breaststroke | 26 |
| 27 | 1500m Freestyle* | 28 |
* The 800m and 1500m freestyle events will be conducted as timed finals, with the fastest seeded heat in each of these events swimming in the Finals sessions. All other heats of the 800m and 1500m freestyle events will swim fastest to slowest, alternating women and men following the conclusion of that morning’s preliminary session.
Wave II Event Order
Wave II follows the traditional Olympic Trials – and Olympic – event format.
| ESSION BEGINS AT 10 A.M. CT | SESSION BEGINS AT 6:45 P.M. CT (ACTUAL START TIME 6:51 – 7:03 P.M. DUE TO TV) |
| Preliminaries | Semifinals & Finals |
| Sunday, June 13 | Sunday, June 13 |
| Men’s 400 Individual Medley | Men’s 400 Individual Medley – FINAL |
| Women’s 100 Butterfly | Women’s 100 Butterfly – Semifinal |
| Men’s 400 Freestyle | Men’s 400 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Women’s 400 Individual Medley | Women’s 400 Individual Medley – FINAL |
| Men’s 100 Breaststroke | Men’s 100 Breaststroke – Semifinal |
| Monday, June 14 | Monday, June 14 |
| Women’s 100 Backstroke | Women’s 100 Butterfly – FINAL |
| Men’s 200 Freestyle | Men’s 200 Freestyle – Semifinal |
| Women’s 100 Breaststroke | Women’s 100 Breaststroke – Semifinal |
| Men’s 100 Backstroke | Men’s 100 Breaststroke – FINAL |
| Women’s 400 Freestyle | Women’s 400 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Men’s 100 Backstroke – Semifinal | |
| Women’s 100 Backstroke – Semifinal | |
| Tuesday, June 15 | Tuesday, June 15 |
| Women’s 200 Freestyle | Women’s 200 Freestyle – Semifinal |
| Men’s 200 Butterfly | Men’s 200 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Women’s 200 Individual Medley | Women’s 100 Backstroke – FINAL |
| Women’s 1500 Freestyle | Men’s 100 Backstroke – FINAL |
| Women’s 100 Breaststroke – FINAL | |
| Men’s 200 Butterfly – Semifinal | |
| Women’s 200 Individual Medley – Semifinal | |
| Wednesday, June 16 | Wednesday, June 16 |
| Men’s 100 Freestyle | Men’s 100 Freestyle – Semifinal |
| Women’s 200 Butterfly | Women’s 200 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Men’s 200 Breaststroke | Men’s 200 Butterfly – FINAL |
| Men’s 800 Freestyle | Women’s 200 Butterfly – Semifinal |
| Men’s 200 Breaststroke – Semifinal | |
| Women’s 200 Individual Medley – FINAL | |
| Women’s 1500 Freestyle – FINAL | |
| Thursday, June 17 | Thursday, June 17 |
| Women’s 100 Freestyle | Men’s 800 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Men’s 200 Backstroke | Men’s 200 Breaststroke – FINAL |
| Women’s 200 Breaststroke | Women’s 100 Freestyle – Semifinal |
| Men’s 200 Individual Medley | Men’s 200 Backstroke – Semifinal |
| Women’s 200 Butterfly – FINAL | |
| Men’s 100 Freestyle – FINAL | |
| Women’s 200 Breaststroke – Semifinal | |
| Men’s 200 Individual Medley – Semifinal | |
| Friday, June 18 | Friday, June 18 |
| Women’s 800 Freestyle | Women’s 200 Breaststroke – FINAL |
| Men’s 100 Butterfly | Men’s 200 Backstroke – FINAL |
| Women’s 200 Backstroke | Women’s 200 Backstroke – Semifinal |
| Men’s 200 Individual Medley – FINAL | |
| Women’s 100 Freestyle – FINAL | |
| Men’s 100 Butterfly – Semifinal | |
| Saturday, June 19 | Saturday, June 19 |
| Men’s 50 Freestyle | Men’s 100 Butterfly – FINAL |
| Women’s 50 Freestyle | Women’s 200 Backstroke – FINAL |
| Men’s 1500 Freestyle | Women’s 800 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Men’s 50 Freestyle – Semifinal | |
| Women’s 50 Freestyle – Semifinal | |
| Sunday, June 20 | Sunday, June 20 |
| No Preliminaries | Men’s 50 Freestyle – FINAL |
| Women’s 50 Freestyle – FINAL | |
| Men’s 1500 Freestyle – FINAL |
Isn’t the wave 2 following the Olympics morning finals?
Perfect event schedule for MA
Is wave 1 timed finals ? A? B?
Nope, there’s prelims and finals for wave 1 (a and b only), but idk if you get into wave two if you place high enough tho.
You need to either get the wave 2 time or top 2 in the a heat the only way to qualify in heat b is by getting the qualification time for wave 2.
Are they allowing spectators? It seems they were still selling tickets.
I *believe* they’re planning on like 70% capacity or something.
all issues aside I read this and my number one feeling is…excited!