G. Walsh, R. Smith Set WRs

Top 8 U.S. Olympic Trials Performances: Gretchen Walsh, Regan Smith lead the way with world records

Nine nights of swimming at Lucas Oil Stadium produced record-breaking races in front of record-sized crowds, and by the end the United States had assembled a team of 46 pool swimmers (20 women, 26 men) to send to the Olympics. Paris next month, where the Australians will await a showdown after topping the medal list at last year’s World Championships. The Americans will need better performances in some events to reach the target number of gold medals for the team, but many are already in pole position after great swimming performances in Indianapolis.

Among those who now stand as favorites for the gold medal are the two women who broke world records at the Trials, Gretchen Walsh in the 100 butterfly and Regan Smith in the 100 backstroke. Those two top the list of best spots of the entire week.

The world record had stood for eight years, with by Sarah Sjostrom score of 55.48 which survived numerous attempts by the Olympic gold medalist Maggie MacNeil plus world champions Torri Huske And Zhang YufeiBut that record is gone after Walsh announced to the world that she can dominate in the long distance almost as well as she can in the 25-yard college format.

In the first event of the Trials’ first final session, Walsh was half a second off world record pace and came back fast enough to beat Sjostrom’s record by three-tenths, putting herself on the brink of the first 54-second swim in the history. . Walsh went on to win the event in the finals and also qualified for Paris in the 50 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay.

If Walsh earns the top spot for Trials performances, Smith is an easy choice for second after reclaiming the 100 record she first broke five years earlier when she became the first woman under 58 ever. This wasn’t a surprise after Smith broke her. own American record in a Trials tune-up meet and then again in the semifinals. But the final race was her best ever, in a career that has seen many record-breaking and medal-winning swims.

With a speed two tenths under the world record, Smith then came home in 29.19, by far her best final time ever and almost equal to what Kaylee McKeownthe former world record holder who was specifically known for her closing speed, has ever achieved.

The best performance on the men’s side came from Matt Fallon, who was widely considered the favorite in the 200 breast given his performances over the past two years. Fallon won bronze in the event at last year’s World Championships, but he shaved more than a second off his best time at Trials as he became the fastest swimmer in the world this year and an American record holder by knocking down by Josh Prenot 2016 figure of 2:07.17.

Fallon typically explodes on the third 50 of a race to run down the field, but this time he kept something in reserve for the final length, where he used a 32.54 split to seal the win and the record. Fallon moved up to No. 5 all-time in the event as he prepared to race like Qin Haiyang, Zac Stubblety-Cook And Leon Marchand in Paris.

She didn’t come away with a Trials win, though Torri Huske swam a personal best in the 100 butterfly as she qualified for her second Olympic team. Not bad, considering her previous best was an American record of 55.64, which earned her a world title in 2022. This time, Huske had to contend with losing her national record to Walsh in the semifinals and a huge push from Smith, who was under 55 for the first time in the semifinals, for second spot.

Huske’s response was enough to land her on the Olympic team in her best event and earn a chance to chase an Olympic podium three years after missing out by one-hundredth. In the final, her final time of 29.59 was the fastest of her career, and she needed everything she had to hold off Smith by a tenth for second place. Huske’s time moved her to third all-time in the event behind Walsh and Sjostrom.

With victories in the 50 meter freestyle and the 100 meter butterfly in the final days of the Olympic Trials, Caeleb Dressel announced his return not only to the Olympic team, but also to gold medal winner status. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Dressel topped the podium at one of his individual swims in Paris, especially in the 100m, after swimming a score of 50.19 to pull away from his domestic rivals.

Dressel’s time of 50.19 was the world’s third best for 2024, narrowly behind Canada’s Josh Liendo and that of Switzerland No Pontiand he was only five hundredths behind the time Maxime Grousset swam to the world title at the event last year.

Out of three wins Kate Douglass posted on Trials, her individual medley victory was the most impressive as she became the third swimmer to dip under 2:07 in recent years, joining the Australian Kaylee McKeown and Canada Summer McIntosh. Douglass, the world champion at the event in 2023 and earlier this year, is world-class in three of the four strokes, and she was able to mask her weakness in the backstroke in this as she became the fastest American since the era of polyurethane suits. and the fourth fastest performer in history.

Douglass was under the world record pace after the butterfly and did not allow the University of Virginia teammate to Alex Walsh continue on the backstroke. At that point it was game over, with Douglass going 36.57 in breaststroke to beat Walsh and crush everyone in the field, and then she walked away with a 30.17 split when she got home.

Despite winning four events at Olympic Trials, Katie Ledecky was mostly ambivalent about her performance, even going so far as to express clear displeasure with her time after her 1500 meters victory. But in the 400 free on the opening day of the meet, Ledecky was brilliant, clocking the fifth-fastest time of her career and the fastest in two years as she officially secured her spot on her second Olympic team.

The time of 3:58.30 will certainly not be fast enough to beat Ariarne Titmus or Summer McIntosh in Paris, and indeed, Titmus has already gone almost three seconds faster this year. But this was the fastest swim Ledecky has ever posted in a selection meet, and only the aforementioned big three – Titmus, McIntosh and Ledecky – have ever been faster.

The present and future of American men’s sprinting first emerged in Indianapolis Jack Alexey improving his status as the No. 2 American ever in the preliminary rounds and then with Chris Guiliano on its way to number 3 on the domestic charts with a 47.25 in the semi-finals. In the final, the two would eventually defeat Dressel to secure places in the individual event in Paris.

Both will be major medal contenders at the Games, with Alexy already trailing onto the podium by a silver margin Kyle Chalmers at last year’s World Championships. A 46-second dive may be necessary to get on the podium, given Chalmers’ abilities. Pan Zhanle And David Popovicibut the improvement course for these two swimmers will put them in the mix.