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
- Wave I & II Event Order
- LCM (50m)
- Wave II Psych Sheet
- Live Stream Links
- Wave II Live Results
- Day 1 Prelims Heat Sheets
Although there were many strong swims on the first day of the US Olympic trials, there were also several notable swimmers who missed finals in their respective events.
The biggest name to miss finals was distance standout Zane Grothe, who placed 11th overall in the 400 freestyle. Grothe represented the US at the 2018 Pan Pac Championships and the 2017 and 2019 World Championships in the event, making every international roster since the Rio Olympics.
Grothe’s best time in the 400 freestyle stands at 3:44.43, which would’ve qualified for finals in the top spot by 4 seconds had he met it. However, Grothe has struggled in the event this season, only holding a season best of 3:53.07 going into the meet. Grothe still has the 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle on his slate in Omaha.
Townley Haas also missed the final in the 400 freestyle, finishing 12th in a time of 3:50.89. Haas finished 3rd overall in the event at the 2016 Olympic Trials, but hasn’t placed much focus upon it internationally.
Sprint freestylers Erika Brown and Mallory Comerford both missed making semi-finals in the 100 butterfly. Brown touched in 59.82, while Comerford finished in 1:00.11, both missing their best times of 58.79 and 57.95, respectively.
Both Charlie Swanson and Sean Grieshop missed the final of the men’s 400 IM. Swanson, the reigning Pan American Champion in the event, finished in a time of 4:18.82, adding almost 7 seconds on to his best time of 4:11.46 which had him seeded 3rd entering the meet. Grieshop, the former World Junior Record holder in the event, also added a significant chunk of time onto his personal best of 4:12.72. Had each man hit their person best, they both would have made it back to finals.
In the women’s event, 2016 Olympic Trials finalist Madisyn Cox was the most notable miss. Cox finished 10th overall in a time of 4:44.36, just missing the final. Cox was entered with her personal best of 4:36.61, which would have made the final in first overall by a second.
Josh Prenot missed the final in the men’s 100 breaststroke after finishing 3rd overall in 2016. Prenot finished in a time of 1:01.73 for 24th overall. NCAA standout Reece Whitley also missed the final in the event, placing 29th overall with a final time of 1:01.98, after coming into the meet seeded 7th overall.
Notable Declared False Starts/No Shows:
- Trenton Julian a declared false start in the men’s 400 freestyle, as he is conserving his energy for the 200 freestyle and 200 butterfly according to his coach Dave Durden.
- Kay Sargent, the 7th seed in the women’s 400 IM, was a no-show in the final heat this morning.
This is the 1st of 15 sessions. I understand everyone’s really keyed up to see fast swimming but just chill.
Man, we’ve been waiting a long time just LET US HAVE THIS!!! Aarrhhggh
keep it cool nontheless , is that hard ?
Try to keep perspective. For every high roller who surprisingly fails to advance to the next round, we get another 2016 Bethany Galat shocker. There will always be ebbs and flows, and it doesn’t mean Team USA is doomed. Half the fun of these meets is uncovering who the surprise A-Finalists are when they are seeded at 20-something and this is their first time here.
Haas’s swim doesn’t bode well for the 4×200…
Someone will step up.
Dressel for example …
I dont think so, that was his fastest 400 since 2017 by a good margin which can only mean good things.
Oh, glad to hear that!
Anyone know what happened to Kay Sargeant? She’s from my old swim club and was hoping to see her do well.
Time out of the water due to mental struggles amid the pandemic. Back in now and registered for the upcoming ISL season
A lot of pressure on these kids and hard to say if it got to them or there was some other series of factors involved but do agree they can all bounce back from this and fortunately most have other events. Hopefully they’ll have the support of parents, friends, coaches, teammates and the swim community at large.
For strategic reasons, I just have to think Madisyn Cox purposefully eased up on that 400 IM swim to focus on the 200 IM and 200 Free, maybe 200 Breast as well. There’s no way she’d swim that slow when just a month ago — untapered — she posted two PBs in the 200 Free and 200 IM at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite. Evie Pfiefer beat her this morning and they train together and Cox has never been slower than Evie. I think this was the plan, but without someone asking her or her coach, no way to know for certain.
Looking at carol and mitches faces during that race did not scream “this is going to plan”
I’ll take your word for it. If this is true, and this wasn’t planned, then this very concerning for Madisyn and her fans. Because this is a huge miss. She’s a veteran, can’t see her missing her taper this much, and if not then this is just someone who can’t swim through pressure of Trials after heartbreak at this same meet five years ago. We’ll see how off she is if this continues in her other events.
She switched to bottled water a few weeks ago, and is already feeling the effects.
Then why not scratch and focus on those others events. I agree that 200 IM is by far her best event but she didn’t look good in the breaststroke portion of this morning race and that’s her bread and butter. Either she is sick, totally missed her taper, or something else is going on.
I mean, you raise a fair point. I don’t know, other than give her a chance to rid herself of any first “dive-in” jitters by having her knowingly swim a 400 IM prelim only. I’m telling you, being here in Austin, I’ve watched Cox swim for years and she was either very sick, very nervous, or just passing on competing in this event.
Easing up in an event that she had a shot at naming the team in makes absolutely no sense. This may be an indicator that she isn’t on, could be she was very nervous, or it won’t affect her other events at all. We will see how the rest of the meet goes.
Stating that she may have eased up during a 400 IM that she could have scratched make no sense at all.
The concept of a swimmer easing up on an early event isn’t that wild. But there’s no such thing as a 400IM that doesn’t drain you. Peak Phelps probably wasn’t a good enough swimmer to just play around with a 400 IM for no reason.
There’s no way she entered that event without the intent to final. No clue what happened. Maybe she felt a little something in an elbow or hamstring and made a mid-swim decision not to hurt herself day 1. Maybe she slightly missed taper and will be swimming better by Tuesday.
Grothe missing is somewhat surprising but Cox missing was shocking. She went 436 only a few weeks ago
Here are my way too early overreacting takes:
Smith looked very smooth this morning. Expecting him to drop a hammer tonight!
Texas is also looking great
Madisyn Cox?
And IU looks terrible so far. Everyone has added significant time: Grothe, Cavillo, Brinnegar, Looze, Miller. The only one who’s looked decent so far is Backes.
#burntheships
UGA looks good with the exception of Magahey. Really thought he’d be up there competing for a spot