2021 U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS
- When:
- Wave I Dates: June 4-7, 2021
- Wave II Dates: June 13-20, 2021
- Prelims: 10am CDT | Finals: 7pm CDT
- Where: CHI Health Center / Omaha, Nebraska
- 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifying Cuts
- Wave I & II Event Order
- LCM (50m)
- Prelims Live Stream (NBC Olympics)
- Finals Live Stream (Olympic Channel)
- Wave II Psych Sheets
- Wave II Live Results
Pre-Scratch Wave II Psych Sheets
NCAA Champion and American record-holder Kieran Smith is currently entered in 7 events for the 2021 Wave II U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, which include the 100/200/400/800 free, 200 BK, and 200/400 IM. While Smith’s freestyle talent covers the 100 to the 800 and flexes his BK/IM proficiencies, he is only seeded within the top-3 times in two events: the 200 free and 400 free. Smith also boasts four top-16 seeds, giving the Florida Gator a rare opportunity to select semi-finals/finals swims if he advances based on his higher seeds.
On Sunday AM, Smith can get his first-swim jitters out during the 400 IM prelims, where he is seeded No. 8 at 4:15.17. Then, Smith will put up his morning efforts in the 400 free prelims with his No. 2 seed of 3:47.71, arguably the event with his best chances of placing top two in the final.
Smith would most likely not want to swim both the 400 IM and 400 free finals in the same session. Only one event separates the two finals, the women’s 100 fly semi-finals, which would last at least 5-10 minutes. Plus, Smith would vie for Olympic spots in the IM race against specialists Jay Litherland, Chase Kalisz, Carson Foster, Bobby Finke, Sean Grieshop, and Jake Foster. Meanwhile in the 400 free, Smith’s No. 2 seed puts him in heavy contention for the Tokyo team, only having to worry about top seed Zane Grothe (3:45.78), 2019 World Junior champion Jake Mitchell (3:47.95), and 2021 NCAA champion Jake Magahey (3:48.56).
From Monday morning through Tuesday night, Smith will swim prelims/semi-finals/finals of his second-best event on the psych sheets, the 200 free. He is seeded third on the psych sheets at 1:46.21, which ranges from Nov. 28, 2018, only behind Andrew Seliskar (1:45.71) and Townley Haas (1:45.92).
At this point in the meet, Smith would have (or have not) made the Olympic team and is shifting towards his additional events. On Wednesday morning, Smith is scheduled to swim both the 100 free and 800 free in the same session. In the 100 free, Smith is seeded in 16th at 49.11. However, Smith will need to keep an eye on possible semi-finalists Jake Magahey (49.20), Shaine Casas (49.16), Justin Ress (49.06), Seliskar (48.80), Haas (48.60), and Michael Chadwick (48.57). In the 800 free, Smith would need to beat his lifetime best of 7:59.27 to better his 13th seed and qualify for Thursday night’s final.
After swimming all freestyle since Sunday, Smith will change it up and swim the prelims of the 200 back and 200 IM on Thursday morning. At the moment, Smith is seeded at 21st in the 200 back at 2:00.33, just 0.22s off the 16th seed (Blake Hanna, 2:00.11). Smith then is the No. 12 seed in the 200 IM at 1:59.38, where he will swim for semi-finals spots against Josh Prenot (1:59.04), Will Licon (1:59.13), J. Foster (1:59.15), Trenton Julian (1:59.43), and the Caeleb Dressel (1:59.97).
However, Thursday night is where Smith has some last-minute decisions to make depending on how is meet has gone. If Smith swam fast enough, he has to decide between the 800 free final, 200 back semifinal, 100 free final, and 200 IM semifinal. The 800 free is the first event of the session, and there is no reason for Smith not to swim it if he qualifies on Wednesday morning. A reminder that Smith is seeded 21st in the 200 back, and it’s not clear if he would even choose to swim it at all. The top six swimmers make the Olympic team in the 100 free, which would add another relay to Smith’s line-up if he can boost from No. 16 seed to at least 8th in semi-finals. Then, he will have to put in big efforts in the competitive IM semi-finals.
If Smith can qualify top eight in either/or/both the 200 back and 200 IM, then Friday night would be a solid 200-400 meters of racing. Both those events are lower priority on Smith’s pre-dominantly freestyle schedules, again putting a question mark if he would swim or scratch those events.
Potential Event Schedule
| MORNING | EVENING | |
| Day 1 (Sun. 6/13) | Men’s 400 IM (Prelims) | |
| Men’s 400 Free (Prelims) | Men’s 400 Free (FINAL) | |
| Day 2 (Mon. 6/14) | Men’s 200 Free (Prelims) | Men’s 200 Free (SEMI) |
| Day 3 (Tue. 6/15) | — | Men’s 200 Free (FINAL) |
| Day 4 (Wed. 6/16) | Men’s 100 Free (Prelims) | Men’s 100 Free (SEMI) |
| Men’s 800 Free (Prelims) | ||
| Day 5 (Thu. 6/17) | Men’s 200 Back (Prelims) | Men’s 800 Free (FINAL) |
| Men’s 200 IM (Prelims) | Men’s 200 Back (SEMI) | |
| Men’s 100 Free (FINAL) | ||
| Men’s 200 IM (SEMI) | ||
| Day 6 (Fri. 6/18) | — | Men’s 200 Back (FINAL) |
| Men’s 200 IM (FINAL) | ||
| Day 7 (Sat. 6/19) | — | — |
| Day 8 (Sun. 6/20) | — | — |
Same
400/400 double. Sounds typical for Gregg Troy
If he makes the team in the 200/400, maybe he’ll hammer a fast morning 100 (if he has it in him) and scratch the semi-finals. Just to be considered for a prelim 4×100 since he’ll be there anyway.
800 vs 100 is kind of an interesting choice for him. Maybe he could get night swims in both in one morning—it would be very impressive.
Hope he is smart about conserving energy. Like others have said his best chances(400/200 free) are early on so hopefully he can gain some momentum and smash this meet! Also a random note, I was sure Kieran’s first international team/Olympic shot was the 400 IM if you asked me 2-3 years ago…but just shows how talented and versatile a swimmer he is.
Same with Carson Foster in the 200 back.
I really think it’s him and seliskar in the 2 free, it’s a dogfight at the top but at the same time I think those two get it
That program is a little intense, to paraphrase Kolesnikov, Kieran Smith is not a robot… or Michael Phelps
Idk, has anyone ever seen Kieran Smith and Michael Phelps in a room together?
Lol everyone seems to add the 100 free as insurance policy in case something goes wrong.
Blake pepperoni method