As we begin our preview coverage of the U.S. National Championships, it seems a good time to lay out the selection procedures for the U.S. National Team at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships, which take place just two weeks after Nationals in Gold Coast, Australia.
As we discussed earlier today in our post outlining the 2015 World Championships selection criteria, Pan Pacs offer athletes a chance to improve their standing on the World Champs team in other events. Here’s quick breakdown:
The results of U.S. Nationals will determine the Pan Pacs team. The results of U.S. Nationals and Pan Pacs will combine to determine the World Champs team. The bottom line: swimmers who qualify for Pan Pacs can swim more events than just what they qualified in. That means a versatile swimmer like Michael Phelps or Missy Franklin could enter extra races at Pan Pacs in hopes of qualifying for Worlds in a few more events, particularly any relays they might not already be on.
(Though the U.S. can enter as many athletes as it wants in the heats, only 2 may swim in the finals of any given event. So after prelims, the coaching staff will have to select which two will swim if more than two make the final).
That makes U.S. Nationals even more important, as they will serve as the qualifying meet for Pan Pacs, 2015 Worlds, 2015 World University Games and 2015 Pan American Games – plus a Pan Pacs berth allows a swimmer another shot to improve their standing for 2015 Worlds. That’s what you call an important taper meet.
You can read the full Pan Pacs selection procedures by following this link. As the procedures can be somewhat complex, we’ve tried to boil it down to the basics below.
The biggest news out of all of this: if an athlete qualifies for Pan Pacs by placing in the top 4 of the 100 or 200 frees and then declines their spot on the team, USA Swimming will not go to the next fastest athlete to fill the slot. So if, for example, the 4th place finisher in the 200 free declines a spot on the team for whatever reason, USA Swimming will fill out the relay with an athlete already on the team in another event instead of inviting the 5th place finisher to fill the spot. That means 100/200 freestylers absolutely need to be top 4 to have any chance of making the Pan Pacs team. No one placing 5th or lower in any event will make the Pan Pacs team.
Pan Pacs qualification will only be in Olympic events. Even though the National Championships feature the 50s of fly, back and breast, the women’s 1500 and men’s 800, those events will not be used to qualify for the Pan Pacs team. Instead the non-Olympic events at Pan Pacs will be filled by athletes already on the team in a different event. Typically the qualifiers in the 100s of each stroke are given first priority on filling the 50s for their stroke. Swimmers can qualify for the 2015 Worlds team in non-Olympic races, though (the winners of each of those events at nationals should make the Worlds team).
The winner of each Olympic event will make the Pan Pacs team, plus the top 4 in the 100 and 200 freestyles, for relay purposes. After that, the next-fastest swimmer in each event will be added until the team hits its 26-person cap, all the way down to 4th place in any given event.
That 26-swimmer cap (26 men and 26 women, to be clear) means the top 3 in each event have a solid shot at making Pan Pacs, and 4th-place finishers, while unlikely to make the team, could still conceivably be selected if enough athletes double up, qualifying in more than one event.
Here’s a breakdown of the order USA Swimming will use to select the team:
Selection Procedure Priority Order – 2014 Pan Pacific Championships
- Priority 1: Top 4 in 100/200 freestyles and top 1 in each Olympic event added to team
- Priority 2: 2nd place swimmer in each Olympic event added
- Priority 3: 3rd place swimmer in each Olympic event added
- Priority 4: 4th place swimmer in each Olympic event added
Athletes in each priority are added until the team reaches 26 total swimmers. At that point, the roster is full and the lower priority athletes will not be added. Within a priority group, athletes are selected based on their world rank in the event. So a 3rd-place 100 butterflyer ranked 5th in the world will be selected before a 3rd-place 100 backstroker ranked 8th.
In summary: the top 4 in the 100/200 freestyles and the winner of each Olympic event will make the team. 2nd-4th place finishers in Olympic events will be added after that until the roster reaches 26 swimmers for each gender.
One more piece to note: with the quick turnaround between Nationals and Pan Pacs, the U.S. will send in its entries on Monday, August 11th by midnight Pacific Time. (Nationals end on the night of August 10th). After those entries are sent in, the team will not be adjusted even if members drop out for injuries or any other reason.
The Pan Pacs team will leave for Australia immediately following the conclusion of nationals, spending the next week in a training camp in Brisbane before competing in the Pan Pacific Championships on the Gold Coast of Australia from August 21-24.
I think its a poor decision to select the full team over a year in advance and not to allow some leeway to add either (i) a swimmer like Lochte who may have an injury this year but may be the best in the world next year, or (ii) a young gun – e.g. a Conger, Murphy, Seliskar, Hu, Weitzeil who might not make the Pan Pac team this year, but could be the world’s best in an event by next year. Selection this far out gives the establish superstars the opportunity to train straight thru, but there is no need to fill the entire team – they should leave a few spots open for swimmers who post a world… Read more »
I’m with you, but it’s seemed to work okay the past few times they’ve done it, at least with regard to the Olympics. Off the top of my head, based on previous discussions here, it seems like Missy Franklin missed the chance to swim a few events at Worlds in 2011 where she could have done well, but that was the only major omission. Again, that’s just my recollection of previous discussions on here, without any research.
So they’ve used this approach before where qualifying for a major meet like World Championships happens a year in advance? I guess I’ve been out of the loop. Why do they do that? I get the difficultly of a double taper, which is the reason that in 1996 (way back when), they changed Olympic Trials to several months before the Olympics. But to me, several months is one thing whereas a year out is another thing entirely. What this does is take away a high-level competition (in the form of a selection meet in 2015) from anyone who didn’t make the top teams here and in so doing creates a “haves” (those who made the top teams) and “have nots”… Read more »
Let me get this straight:
MEN’S 200 FREE (results at US Nationals).
1. Phelps
2. Lochte <~~~~ "OWWW! MY KNEE!"
3. Dwyer
4. McLean
5. Houchin
6. Wynalda
7. Conger
8. Klueh
Hypothetically, if Lochte drops out after these results (and assuming there is enough room in the roster), the following swimmers would qualify for Pan Pacs:
200 FREE: Phelps, Dwyer, McLean
4×200 FREE: Phelps, Dwyer, McLean, Houchin, Wynalda.
Conger or Klueh could swim on the 4×200 relay, but ONLY if they qualify in another event.
Am I right?
No prelims at Pan Pacs, so only top 4 in the 100/200 free make the Pan Pacs team.
Also, I just don’t see Conger swimming the 200 free. It’s the same days at Nationals as the 200 back, and I think he has a better shot of making 3rd or 4th in the 200 back than he does picking up a relay spot in the 200 free, unless he’s really been focusing on that. But he didn’t swim it at Nationals last year, and he hasn’t swam a 200 free at all this long course season. Sorry if your list was that just hypothetical. But one or two other people have talked about Conger swimming the 200 free, and while I think he’s perfectly capable of it, I just don’t see it as likely to be in his… Read more »
TheTroubleWithX is correct, the U.S. will only take the top 4 in the 100/200 frees. If Lochte were to scratch in your hypothetical, they would not take another relay swimmer to fill his slot. So the 200 freestylers would be Phelps, Dwyer and McLean. They’d fill the relay with a fourth swimmer already on the team. All three of those guys could swim the event individually, though only two of them could compete in the final.
Makes sense for the individual championship meet selections, but how do all these selections pan out in finals at Nationals (simply put: approximately how many swimmers in each event’s final will make SOME kind of National Team?)?
The rough estimate would be top 6 – top two for worlds, next eligible two for World University Games and next two for Pan Ams. Obviously, there are other factors that can throw those numbers off a bit. For relay events (100/200 free), it appears relay-only swimmers for Worlds could be allowed to make World University Games/Pan Ams individually. So depending on how many athletes choose/are allowed to double up on international meets, the 100/200 free could see anywhere from 6 to 12 make various national teams.
Woops! I read this article about Pan Pacs before reading the one about Worlds, and now I can’t delete my comment above. Sorry! My only question remaining is this: will the top times swum by each athlete at Nationals and Pan Pacs in every event at Worlds (if that time is done in finals, not in heats or relay lead-offs, which I understand are ineligible) be their “qualifying time” for the Worlds team? In other words, does all of this mean that those going to Pan PACs have a second chance to improve their “qualifying time” for Worlds at Pan Pacs relative to those who don’t make the team headed to Australia, but the best time swum by each athlete… Read more »
Woops again! Jared, you answered faster than I could comment again! Thank you very much for your time, attention to detail, and patience for my cluelessness! LOL! Where do I fill out a comment card to let your employer know I’m thrilled with your excellent job performance?!
Hahaha not a problem – it’s a complicated and confusing process! And I’d imagine right here in the comments section works just fine for that 🙂 Thanks for the feedback!
Yes, that’s correct. Makes it very important for athletes to make Pan Pacs, as that allows them a second opportunity to qualify for Worlds that non-Pan Pacs athletes will not have
I have searched everywhere and I’ve been unable to find a breakdown for the selection procedures for Worlds, Jr Pan Pacs, World University Games, Pan American Champ’s, etc. Do documents explaining these criteria exist?
First on my list of questions: If Nationals is the selection meet, and an athlete makes top 2 in an event there but comes in third to a swimmer at Pan PACs whose time is slower than the time the National #2 swimmer went in Irvine, does the #2 Nationals athlete go to Worlds or the #2 Pan Pacs athlete?
Next question: will the top 4 or 6 swimmers in the 100/200 free go to Worlds? And again, will the selection be based upon just… Read more »
Danjohnrob – a lot of good questions. We broke down the 2015 World Championships, World University Games and Pan American Games selection procedures here: http://swimswam.com/u-s-2015-world-championship-team-qualifying-criteria-pan-pacs-second-chance/
A couple rapid-fire answers: Worlds are chosen based on the fastest overall times between Nationals and Pan Pacs. So an athlete who would have earned a spot based on nationals can lose that spot if a swimmer passes him or her at Pan Pacs. The top 4 in 100/200 free get first priority to Worlds, and 5th-6th place have lower priority, but can still make the team if enough athletes double up in event qualification.
You can also find all of the selection procedure documents here for basically every major international meet… Read more »
Just did the math: Based on the results of nationals last year, exactly 26 swimmers would have made the team with 3 people per olympic event and 6 for 100/200 freestyle. I was pretty surprised but it was EXACTLY 26 with swimmers doing multiple events. With the same placing that would mean four extra spots for fourth place finishers if they are only taking top four in the 100/200 free.
Correction: Non Olympic events WILL be swum at Pan Pacs, just won’t be used as qualifying events at Nationals.
You are correct – story has been updated to reflect this.
I would like to see the same breakdown for Jr Pan Pacs!