2025 U.S. Summer Championships
- Tuesday, August 5 – Friday, August 8, 2025
- Irvine, California
- William Woollett Aquatics Center
- Start Times
- Prelims: 9:00 am local / 12:00 pm ET
- Finals: 5:00 pm local / 8:00 pm ET
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Live Stream Info (Available on USA Swimming Network App)
- Live Recaps
Day 3 Prelims Heat Sheet
After a tumultuous back half to 2024 and start to 2025 which saw Hunter Armstrong withdraw from Short Course Worlds, and miss the 2025 US Nationals, the two time Olympian seemed to bounce back on the first evening of the 2025 US Summer Championships. However, the third day of competition in Irvine may have stalled such efforts.
After revealing in a candid interview with SwimSwam’s own Coleman Hodges that he contemplated retiring from the sport, the Ohio State product produced a new Personal Best in the 50 free. His new time of 21.76 was a drop of .24 from his previous best set at the 2022 US International Team Trials and would have placed 4th at the US Nationals this past June.
Entering Thursday morning’s prelims session, Armstrong was the top seed in the 100 free (47.59) and 100 back (52.72), the first and last events of the session. He was also entered into the 50 fly as the 23rd seed with a yard’s time of 46.49 Y. However, Armstong did not take to the water in the 100 free, 50 fly nor the 100 back.
On the live results webpage found here, Armstrong’s results in the 100 free appear as a No-Show (NS), as opposed to a Declared False Start (DFS), a key distinction. Per the Meet Information packet, screenshotted on the right, the penalty for not competing in an individual preliminary heat in which the swimmer is entered “…will be one of the following”
- Being barred from all further individual and relay events of that day as prescribed in section 207.11.6c or
- Fine of $200 payable to host
As the screenshots above show, Armstrong was listed as a no-show in the 100 free (left picture), while in the 50 fly (right picture) he was listed as a DFS. The results of the 100 backstroke, are as of 3:20 PM Eastern time, published on the results page, but based on visual data and the livestream announcement, Armstrong did not swim the event either, presumably as a result of the penalty from the No-show in the 100 free.
SwimSwam reached out to both USA Swimming and Armstrong for a comment on the issue. A spokesperson for USA Swimming confirmed that Armstrong was disqualified from the rest of the day’s events after no-showing the prelims of the 100 free without scratching or declaring a false start.
Per the spokesperson, Armstrong would have been eligible to swim in the 100 back – if he paid a $200 fine. That is an event in which not only is he the 3rd fastest American ever, with a PB of 51.98, but also in a hunt to earn a spot on the Pan-Pacific Roster.
The USA selection procedure for the meet details that the times for selection will come from the results of the US Nationals, World Champs, Junior World Champs, World University Games, and this meet, the 2025 US Summer Championships. Armstrong and the rest of the 100 backstrokers were chasing the 52.54 and 52.94 put up by Will Modglin and Daniel Diehl at the World University Games.
Armstrong said that he was unaware of the no-show penalty, and by the time he was informed of the ability to buy his way back into the session, he had already missed the 50 fly.
I’ll admit I’m definitely disappointed not to be able to swim today. When I made my entries I didn’t realize I was signing up for a triple, and with the low attendance here the meet is running faster which would have given me even less time between events. After racing on the relay yesterday I felt I was in a good position to focus on the 50 fly and 100 back.
I have never officially scratched a prelim swim in my career, but the meet information stated clearly that a no show would disqualify you for the day. I’ll be reading that more carefully from now on, as I assumed this meet followed the same procedures as others I’ve competed in.
I was given the option to buy back into the session for $200, but I was informed of my ineligibility 15 minutes before I was supposed to race the 50 fly, and with the 100 back right after, I decided to put my energy into cheering on my teammates instead. Based on my 50 free, I was really looking forward to racing Caeleb in the 50 fly, so I’ll likely time trial it tomorrow to see what I can do. And at $20 for a time trial, that’s a much better deal than paying the fine.
While the issues seems to be resolved it does beg the question or not regarding the application of the rules and the use of a fine to work one’s way around the issue. While a no-show in a final session potentially prevents other swimmers from competing, a no-show in the prelims makes no difference to the overall results and in functionality is no different than a declared false start.
Empty lanes, however, have become a common target for people concerned with the viewability of high level swim meets, though this particular rule doesn’t prevent an athlete from leaving an empty lane by declaring a false start.
While Armstrong stated that he through this meet was following the same procedures as other meets he has attended, most USA swimming meets in a Trials/Finals format follows the rules outlined above. The USA Swimming Operating Policy Manual does outline alternative rules.
F. Notwithstanding the provisions of 207.11.6, the scratch procedures for the United States teams for the Olympic Games, the FINA World Championships, the Pan Pacific Championships, the Pan American Games, or the World Student Games shall be established by the National Team Steering Committee and the Program & Events Committee Coordinator (or his/her designee).
A review of the Westmont Pro Swim Series meet information, which Armstrong raced at, does not reveal a fine to return to competition or disqualification. The only penalty ascribed in that meet information is that the event still counts toward an athletes three-per-day or seven-per-meet limit, which is not particularly pertinent to most pros.
There is no penalty for failing to compete in a preliminary or timed final heat, except an individual event in which a swimmer has not scratched prior to the appropriate deadline will be counted toward that swimmer’s
three-event/day and seven-event/meet limit.
Armstrong is still entered in the 50 back on Friday, where he is the top seed. Although the entry times are 100 times, Armstrong is a former World Record holder in the event with a time of 23.71 from 2022. With USA swimming confirming that the 50s of stroke will be held at the Pan-Pacs, Armstrong could still make the team in the event, should he go faster than Shaine Casas‘s 24.44 from the US Nationals.
This rule has been in place for decades even in age group swimming. The fact he was oblivious to this is hilarious.
The beauty of pan pacs is even if he only gets in for 1 event, he gets to swim as many as he wants to there. While this approach may be over confident, I think he gets in the 50 back.
Does he have a venmo? Il venmo him $20 for the time trial.
We have same kind of rules here, nothing new under the sun, just like in doping, it is athletes responsibility to know the rules.
You’d think at a Pan Pacs qualifying meet the US would want to give their best athletes a shot. Maybe something that a new CEO could fix.
No, thanks. $200 might be a bit too steep (maybe $100?), but giving an Olympian a free pass while forcing some random club swimmer in the same situation to pay is the EXACT sort of behavior that drove me crazy about the last regime.
Get rid of it for all athletes in prelims. So stupid since a DFS is the same thing.
I agree that it is kind of silly to have such a steep punishment when, like you said, a DFS is practically the same thing.
But on a technical level, I do think there’s a difference in that a DFS counts against your event total, whereas a NS doesn’t. At least that’s how it has been explained to me by multiple officials.
200 is a perfect idiot tax for people that are to dumb to scratch their event like they’re supposed to. This rule has been around forever
I get that it’s meant to be somewhat of an idiot tax, but it doesn’t work as a tax if you set it so high that no one actually pays it. I feel like $75-100 stings enough to remind you to scratch properly next time, and you’re more likely to pay the fine.
Lol, USA Swimming is a gold mine
It goes to the meet host.
It’s literally always something.
Wholly age grouper. Dude, get your stuff together.