After five long, LONG years, we are finally on the verge of naming the next U.S. Olympic Team. 

More than 450 athletes are entered to compete at Wave II of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming from June 13-20. The competition field will showcase the nation’s fastest swimmers, including 30 Olympians, 23 athletes who have broken a long course meter American record and 73 athletes who currently hold a top-10 time in the world this year.

The eight-day meet will send a maximum of 52 athletes (26 male and 26 female) to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Here are some notable storylines to follow during the eight days of action in Omaha:

Sunday, June 13
Finals: Men’s 400-meter individual medley, men’s 400m freestyle, women’s 400m individual medley
Storylines:

• Nineteen-year-old Carson Foster, of Mason Manta Rays and the University of Texas, has seen tremendous growth through the USA Swimming National Junior Team system over the years has now entered the senior-level stage. In May, Foster went 4:11.13 in the men's 400m IM, good for the third-fastest swim in the world this year. 
• Kieran Smith of the University of Florida has finished first or second in each of his 400m freestyle national-event performances since 2019.
• Melanie Margalis, a gold medal winner as part of the U.S.’ 4x200m freestyle relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics, enters as one of the favorites in the women's 400m IM.
• Trials marks the last meet for U.S. National Team member Madisyn Cox, who will be attending med school next year. She finished fourth in both the 200- and 400m IM at 2016 Trials and will use the 400m IM as her first shot at Olympic qualification this week.

Monday, June 14
Finals: Women’s 100m butterfly, men’s 100m breaststroke, women’s 400m freestyle
Storylines:

• Four of the top five U.S. swimmers this year in the women’s 100m butterfly are teenagers: Claire Curzan (16); Torri Huske (18); Gretchen Walsh (18); Regan Smith (19)
• Curzan and Huske had an incredible head-to-head in the 100m butterfly at the 2021 NC TAC Titans Long Course Premier meet in April, where Curzan’s 56.20 edged out Huske’s 56.69. The two swims are the only U.S. performances under :57 since 2019.
• Michael Andrew will take a swing at his first Olympic team, and potentially the 100m breaststroke American record, after posting a blazing 58:67 this past May.
• Katie Ledecky, who holds nine of the top-10 swims of all time in the 400m freestyle, will make her 2020 Trials debut in the 400m freestyle.

Tuesday, June 15
Finals: Men’s 200m freestyle, women’s 100m backstroke, men’s 100m backstroke, women’s 100m breaststroke
Storylines:

• The men’s 4x200m freestyle medley team will take its shape, with the top six finishers being eligible for relay spots. The U.S. 4x200m freestyle relay team has won gold at four-consecutive Olympics
• The women’s 100m backstroke is shaping up to be one of the all-time great races on a Trials stage, with six of the top seven Americans in history expected to compete against each other.
• World-record holders Ryan Murphy and Lilly King will make their 2020 Olympic Trials debuts
  
  

Wednesday, June 16
Finals: Women’s 200m freestyle, Men’s 200m butterfly, Women’s 200m individual medley, women’s 1500m freestyle
Storylines:

• If Allison Schmitt qualifies in the 200m freestyle, it would be her fourth Olympic Games. Going into Trials, only five U.S. female swimmers have reached that mark.
• Luca Urlando’s 1:53.84 in the 200m butterfly from 2019 is nearly a second-and-a-half faster than any other American since that year.
• Melanie Margalis and Madisyn Cox are expected to have another strong IM matchup in the 200m event. The duo, as well as fellow U.S. National Team member Kathleen Baker, have personal bests (since 2019) separated by just more than three tenths.
• The women’s 1500m freestyle makes its Olympic Trials debut.

Thursday, June 17
Finals: Men’s 800m freestyle, men’s 200m breaststroke, women’s 200m butterfly, men’s 100m freestyle
Storylines: 

• Men’s 800m freestyle makes its Olympic debut
• Athens Bulldog Swim Club’s Nic Fink will be vying for his first Olympic team and has won all four of his TYR Pro Swim Series 200m breaststroke races he has swum since March 2020.
• Hali Flickinger is the only American under 2:06 since 2019.
• Nathan Adrian will make an attempt for his fourth Olympic team following a cancer diagnosis and becoming a father in the past two-and-a-half years. Heading into Trials, only four male U.S. swimmers have made four Olympic teams.

Friday, June 18
Finals: Women’s 200m breaststroke, men’s 200m backstroke, men’s 200m individual medley, women’s 100m freestyle
Storylines:

• Lilly King will look to defend her 2016 Trials title in the 200m breaststroke and will have a good matchup against fellow Indiana Swim Club teammate Annie Lazor, who is the only American under 2:21 since 2019.
• This year marks the first Trials appearance for Texas A&M’s Shaine Casas, who has emerged as one of the nation’s fastest 200m backstroke swimmers following his 1:55.79 at the 2019 Phillips 66 National Championships.
• Ryan Lochte is searching for his fifth Olympic team and will look to qualify in the 200m IM. Heading into Trials, Michael Phelps and Dara Torres are the only U.S. swimmers to accomplish such feat.
• The 2016 Olympic-qualifying duo of Abbey Weitzeil and Simone Manuel will again enter Omaha as two of the favorites in the 100m freestyle. 
• Only twice since 1988 has the U.S. had multiple 18&Under women qualify for 4x100 freestyle relay spots. Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh, both 18, rank in the top six in the U.S. since 2019

Saturday, June 19
Finals: Men’s 100m butterfly, women’s 200m backstroke, women’s 800m freestyle
Storylines:

• World-record holder Caeleb Dressel enters as the favorite in one of his marquee events, the 100m butterfly
• World-record holder Regan Smith enters as the favorite in one of her marquee events, the 200m backstroke
• Three of the top five 200m backstrokers in the U.S. since 2019 are teenagers (Smith, 18; Phoebe Bacon, 19; Isabelle Stadden, 18)
• If Katie Ledecky wins the 800m freestyle, she would become the third U.S. female to ever three-peat at Olympic Trials, joining Janet Evans (400m freestyle) and Mary T. Meagher (200m butterfly).

Sunday, June 20
Finals: men’s 50m freestyle, women’s 50m freestyle, men’s 1500m freestyle
Storylines:

• Anthony Ervin, the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist in the 50m freestyle, enters Trials at age 40, making him the oldest qualifier in the field.
• Simone Manuel is the reigning world champion in the women’s 50m freestyle and enters Omaha with the fastest seed time on the psych sheet. Sixteen-year-old Claire Curzan threw down a 24:17 in May and is expected to give Manuel a good race.
• Heading into this year’s Trials, Jordan Wilimovsky is the only swimmer in American history to have qualified for the same Olympics in a pool and open water event after having done so in 2016. Having already qualified for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in the 10K, he will be looking to accomplish the feat again this year. 

All additional information on the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming can be found at www.usaswimming.org/Trials.