2016 U.S. Olympic Trials Fun Facts

Now that Trials are over, we can comb over the results in detail. Thanks to Barry Revzin who sent us the analysis of swimmers making trials cuts and getting second swims from non circle seeded heats.

  • 882 men swam 1478 entries (1.7 per swimmer). 801 women swam 1556 entries (1.9 per swimmer). This was down from 1709 women’s swims and 1641 men’s swims in 2012.
  • Not counting time trials or DQ’s, swimmers completed 3567 races.
  • The most events anyone did was 6. There were 4 women: Kenisha Liu, Megan Moroney, Becca Postoll, and Leah Stevens. No men did 6 events, but 5 men did 5 events: Ryan Lochte, Sean Grieshop, Cole Buese, Michael Andrew, and Kyle Whitaker.
  • The most finals anyone swam in was 4 by Katie Ledecky and Gunnar Bentz.
  • The most semifinals anyone swam in was 4 by Michael Andrew, Missy Franklin, and Melanie Margalis.
  • In 8 events the only people who made it back were from the circle seeded heats: the women’s 100 breast, 200 fly, 400 free, 400 IM, and 800 free, and the men’s 100 free, 400 free and 400 IM.
  • The highest seed to make it back was Brandon Fiala at 123rd in the 100 breast.
  • Dani Barbiea moved up the most places from seed (not counting scratches) of anyone in the meet. She improved 135 places in the 50 free, going from 173rd to 38th. The men’s top mover was Mark McGlaughlin who moved up 123 places in the 100 back, going from 149th to 26th.
  • 275 of the 1556 women’s entries were faster than seed (18%). In 2012 19% of women’s entries dropped time from their seed.
  • 756 of women’s entries were faster than the trials cut (49%)
  • 363 of the 1478 men’s entries were faster than seed (25%). In 2012 32% of men’s entries dropped time from their seed. This year the highest rate in a single event was 31% in the 100 breast.
  • 810 of the men’s entries were faster than the trials cut (55%)
  • There were no events where 2/3’s of swimmers made a trials cut.

Here’s the event by event breakdown of swimmers who made trials cuts in their trials swims and dropped time:

Women:

Event Cut Entrants Made Cut % Beat Seed %
Total   1556 756 49% 275 18%
50 Free 26.19 178 69 39% 24 13%
100 Free 56.49 100 47 47% 18 18%
200 Free 2:02.39 105 51 49% 20 19%
400 Free 4:17.99 101 56 55% 18 18%
800 Free 8:49.99 80 34 43% 9 11%
100 Back 1:03.39 155 77 50% 34 22%
200 Back 2:16.59 133 63 47% 25 19%
100 Breast 1:11.49 123 66 54% 26 21%
200 Breast 2:34.99 123 70 57% 23 19%
100 Fly 1:01.19 134 77 57% 30 22%
200 Fly 2:14.99 95 34 36% 9 9%
200 IM 2:18.69 110 57 52% 20 18%
400 IM 4:54.99 119 55 46% 19 16%

Men:

Event Cut Entrants Made Cut % Beat Seed %
Total   1478 810 55% 363 25%
50 Free 23.29 165 85 52% 32 19%
100 Free 50.69 88 57 65% 26 30%
200 Free 1:51.89 105 65 62% 24 23%
400 Free 3:58.69 103 49 48% 21 20%
1500 Free 15:49.99 97 58 60% 21 22%
100 Back 57.19 183 101 55% 54 30%
200 Back 2:03.79 109 57 52% 27 25%
100 Breast 1:03.69 135 85 63% 42 31%
200 Breast 2:18.39 98 45 46% 18 18%
100 Fly 54.79 133 72 54% 36 27%
200 Fly 2:01.99 81 48 59% 20 25%
200 IM 2:05.09 89 49 55% 23 26%
400 IM 4:27.49 92 39 42% 19 21%
  • The smallest spread between 1st and 8th in a final was the 100 breast for the men (2.4%) and the 100 free for women (1.5%). The largest spreads came in the women’s 800 free (5.3%) and the men’s 200 breast (6.1%).

Here’s the full list of 1st vs 8th place in finals:

Women:

  1st 8th Spread
50 Free 24.28 25.13 3.5%
100 Free 53.28 54.06 1.5%
200 Free 1:54.88 1:58.6 3.2%
400 Free 3:58.98 4:09.72 4.5%
800 Free 8:10.32 8:36.09 5.3%
100 Back 59.02 1:00.48 2.5%
200 Back 2:06.9 2:11.41 3.6%
100 Breast 1:05.2 1:08.19 4.6%
200 Breast 2:24.08 2:28.12 2.8%
100 Fly 56.48 59.31 5.0%
200 Fly 2:06.8 2:11.88 4.0%
200 IM 2:09.54 2:14.16 3.6%
400 IM 4:33.73 4:46.58 4.7%

Men:

  1st 8th Spread
50 Free 21.51 22.4 4.1%
100 Free 47.72 49.13 3.0%
200 Free 1:45.66 1:49.5 3.6%
400 Free 1:45.66 1:49.5 3.6%
1500 Free 14:47.61 15:30.79 4.9%
100 Back 52.26 54.72 4.7%
200 Back 1:53.95 1:58.69 4.2%
100 Breast 59.18 1:00.61 2.4%
200 Breast 2:07.17 2:14.88 6.1%
100 Fly 51 53.56 5.0%
200 Fly 1:54.84 1:58.34 3.0%
200 IM 1:45.66 1:49.5 3.6%
400 IM 4:09.54 4:22.81 5.3%

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tm71
7 years ago

interesting story about a competitor that my colleague told me about today.
http://olympics.si.com/olympics/2016/07/07/rio-2016-olympics-alex-ngan-flight-delay-swim-trials?xid=si_social

Facility Supervisor
7 years ago

Thanks for the fun and interesting facts during the past two weeks. Has a chart been created showing which state each swimmer hails? I saw the one of each club or university. I think hometown and home state would be fun to read. Thanks

JenJenEconSwim
7 years ago

That’s so surprising that only 50-60% of entrants make their trials cuts at trials! I would have guessed that at least 75% are swimming faster at this meet than one it takes to make it into the meet.

Also surprised that the largest spread was in the Men’s 200 Breast. I guess Prenot and Cordes are so far ahead of the American field!!

SamH
7 years ago

Schiller

bodybyfood
7 years ago

I’m surprised that only roughly 20% of swimmers dropped time. I know that a certain (small) percentage have bigger meets coming up this summer, but in a meet this competitive and important I was expecting more.

mcgillrocks
Reply to  bodybyfood
7 years ago

Let’s just remember that many, if not most swimmers are seeded with their lifetime best time from the best shape of their life. For lots of swimmers that might have come a year of two in advance, and they might not be able to repeat it.

Furthermore, that time likely represents a monumental effort: for a lot of swimmers the best swim of their life. Even if it occurred during the previous season, it’s sometimes a tall order to ask someone to replicate it in one shot at any given meet. Another point is that a lot of swimmers likely came very close, but couldn’t quite get over the hump. Swimming 1:01.1 instead of 1:00.9 is essentially the same–… Read more »

CoachGB
Reply to  mcgillrocks
7 years ago

Some swimmers with 2014 cuts and didn’t train that much are not going to be faster than seed. The cuts from 2014 shouldn’t have been slowed. It should have been Jan. 1 2015. Some swimmers were not really prepared for the meet with decent training.

Just ready
7 years ago

A girl swam 5 races ( qualified for 6) and finished in the top 30 of each race. Just an update. And two best times.

dmswim
Reply to  Just ready
7 years ago

Are you going to tell us who this is or are we supposed to guess? While that is impressive, I don’t understand why you brought this up. Another girl swam 4 finals and won 3 of them (Katie Ledecky).

Patrick
7 years ago

That’s not a current photo, the 2016 pool had lane lines on the outside of lanes 0 and 9. The 2012 pool did not. How many more fun facts can we find?

Patrick
Reply to  Patrick
7 years ago

Well that and the Jumbotron says “Road to London”.

T Hill
7 years ago

Of possible value, is how many swimmers/coaches didn’t fully taper for this meet ? Going for experience and focused a meet later in the summer. In talking with some coaches, heard an array of approaches. Singles for a week, 3 day rest, etc. Survey sent to coaches with a week to reply- simple form

Admin
Reply to  T Hill
7 years ago

T Hill – that’s a great idea in theory. In practice – not a snowball’s chance in a hot place we’d get any kind of reliable output from it.