[ PHOTO BY PETER H. BICK ]
>> Lilly King & Annie Lazor
After Olympic Trials, A Breakdown of the U.S. Women’s Team Bound For Tokyo BY DAVID RIEDER
T
wo days before the U.S. Olympic Trials began, breaststroker Lilly King declared in a press conference that the American women could win every single gold medal in swimming in Tokyo. Right away, that sounded like wishful, overly-optimistic thinking, but it already looked like that the American women could have medal contenders in each race for the Olympics. Over the course of the eight days in Omaha, the meet ended up being extremely competitive as swimmers sought to earn spots in Tokyo, but plenty of the events were not as lightningquick as expected, leaving some doubt as to the American potential for the Olympics. Some swims from the concurrent Australian Trials (including one world record and multiple other near-world records) exacerbated the thought that the Americans might be in trouble. However, now that the dust has settled and the pre-Tokyo world rankings are taking shape, it looks like the Americans do have medal favorites in most—although not all—events. Freestyle Katie Ledecky was by no means perfect this week in Omaha, and but it would be a stunner if she did not win medals in all four of her individual events in Tokyo. In the current world ranking list of Tokyo qualifiers, Ledecky is first in the 800 and 1500 free and second behind Australian rival Ariarne Titmus in the 200 and 400 free after Titmus swam the second-fastest time ever in both events. No one is beating Ledecky in the 800 or 1500 in Tokyo (and Erica Sullivan could be a medal threat in the 1500), and no one besides Titmus could beat her in the 400. The 200 is a little more tricky, with China’s
20
BIWEEKLY
SWIMMINGWORLD.COM
Yang Junxuan, Australia’s Emma McKeon and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey having all swum 1:54s this year and Italy’s Federica Pellegrini always lurking, but expect a podium finish for Ledecky here. The sprint freestyles, however, could be trouble for the Americans. After defending gold medalist and world champion Simone Manuel did not make the team in the 100 free, the top American in the world rankings is Abbey Weitzeil at 53.52, good for 10th among Olympic qualifiers. She and fellow qualifier Erika Brown will need big improvements in order to make the final, let alone the podium. Same story in the 50 free, where reigning world champion Manuel did qualify alongside Weitzeil, but 24.2s won’t get the job done when three swimmers have already been sub-24 this year. Backstroke The Americans have medal contenders in backstroke, even with world record-holder Regan Smith missing the team in the 200 back. Smith has been as fast as 57.92 in the 100 back this year, so she is squarely in the medal mix, although challenging Australia’s Kaylee McKeown (the new world record-holder) for gold will be a challenge. Rhyan White is an outside medal chance in the 100 back but definitely in the mix in the 200 back, where her 2:05.73 winning time from Olympic Trials ranks her third in the world, and fellow qualifier Phoebe Bacon ranks fifth in the world at 2:06.46. At least two medals in women’s backstroke is a reasonable expectation Breaststroke Lilly King will be the huge favorite to defend her Olympic
