2024 Olympic Trials Day 5 Update: Veteran Women and (Mostly) Rookie Men Punch Olympic Tickets

By Robert Gibbs on SwimSwam

2024 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS

June 15-23, 2024
Lucas Oil Stadium — Indianapolis, IN
LCM (50 Meters)
Session Start Times (ET):

11 a.m. Prelims
7:45 p.m. Finals (varying based on broadcast needs)

Meet Central
Broadcast Info
SwimSwam’s Definitive Guide to Trials
Psych Sheets
Live Results
SwimSwam Preview Index
SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest
Prelims Live Recap: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
Finals Live Recap: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

After a slow night yesterday, tonight’s final session had plenty of Olympic roster spots on the line, and we seem to have some roster mayhem cooking for both the men and the women.

We can’t even fully project the women’s roster right now, as Catie DeLoof and Erika Connolly tied for 6th in the women’s 100 free. It looks like there should be a swim-off for that spot, although we haven’t seen any details yet.

What we do know is that one of the most versatile elite swimmers we’ve ever seen, Kate Douglass, punched her ticket for Paris in…the 100 free. Douglass is the reigning Olympic bronze medalist in the 200 IM, and she owns the American Record in the 200 breast, in which she’ll swim finals tomorrow.

Fellow Olympic veterans Torri Huske and Simone Manuel also secured roster spots tonight. Huske was already incredibly likely to get a spot on the basis of her runner-up finish in the 100 fly, but she put any doubt to rest by placing 2nd in the 100 free. Manuel, who finished 7th in the 200 free, finished 4th in the 100 free tonight. Gretchen Walsh, the 100 fly winner, added anther event to her lineup with a 3rd place finish in the 100 free. Abbey Weitzeil will almost certainly make the team as as relay-only swimmer after placing 5th in the 100 free.

On the men’s side, Thomas Heilman (200 Fly), Matt Fallon (200 Breast), Chris Guiliano (100 Free), and Jack Alexy (100 Free) all secured their first Olympic team berths. Caeleb Dressel (4×100 Free) qualified for his third team, and Hunter Armstrong (4×100 Free) qualified for his second.

Ryan Held (4×100 Free) will make his second Olympic team if the roster math works out, while Luca Urlando (200 Fly), Josh Matheny (200 Breast), and Matt King (4×100 Free) are all in line to make their first teams.

The Magic Numbers:

6 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side mean all priority 2 athletes (2nd-place finishers) can be added for that gender
8 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side mean all priority 3 athletes (5th-place in 100/200 free) can be added for that gender
10 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side mean all priority 4 athletes (6th-place in 100/200 free) can be added for that gender

So far, the Doubles are as follows:

Women
Men

Katie Ledecky – 400 Free, 200 Free, 1500 Free
Kieran Smith – 400 Free, 4×200 Free Relay

Paige Madden – 400 Free, 4×200 Free Relay
Hunter Armstrong – 4×100 Free Relay, 100 Back

Gretchen Walsh – 100 Fly, 4×100 Free
Chris Guiliano – 100 Free, 200 Free

Katie Grimes – 400 IM, 1500 Free

Torri Huske – 100 free, 100 fly

When we use the term “Doubles” to refer to a swimmer qualifying in more than one event, i.e., doubling up on a roster spot. If a swimmer qualifies in three events, for the purposes of the article, it would be considered two doubles. We track ‘doubles’ to determine when the swimmers’ next priority can be officially added to the team.

Besides Walsh and Huske, Katie Ledecky and Katie Grimes also added doubles by going 1-2 in the 1500. That’s big, because the US women now have six doubles, meaning that all priority 2 athletes (2nd-place finishers) will make the roster.

So, Emma Weyant (400 IM), Emma Weber (100 Breast), and Katharine Berkoff (100 Back) are now locks to make the roster.

The men added two doubles, thanks to Hunter Armstrong, who has now qualified in the 4×100 Free Relay and the 100 back, and Chris Guiliano, who’s qualified in the 100 and 200 Freestyles. The men only have three doubles so far. They’ve got 23 men in line for roster spots so far, and still have ten more potential slots to fill. That means it’ll looking increasingly likely that one or more men will get left home due to the 26-person roster limit, although there’s certainly a both forward.

Here’s the finals event left for the men:

200 Back
50 Free
200 IM
100 Fly
1500 Free

Some notes on the charts

Colors delineate priorities for ease of viewing
If there is a strikethrough, that means said athlete qualified in a higher priority
Bolded events were events added this evening



As a reminder, the selection procedures for the US Olympic Team are as follows.  The US is limited to 26 swimmers per gender and only 12 relay-only swimmers (which is shared between both teams).

Priority #1. The first priority will be comprised of both (i) the four best finishing
Available Swimmers based on finish order during the Finals of the Qualifying
Competition in each of the 100-meter and 200-meter Freestyles, and (ii) the best
finishing Available Swimmer based on finish order during the Finals of the
Qualifying Competition in each of the Events other than the 100-meter and 200
meter Freestyle.

Limitation: If an Available Swimmer Nominated to the Team under Priority #1 in
the 100-meter or 200-meter Freestyle declines to swim the 100-meter Freestyle
or 200-meter Freestyle Events at the Olympic Games (pursuant to the
opportunity given to that athlete under Section 1.3.9) at any time prior to the
announcement of the Team on June 23, but remains on the Team pursuant to
Selection in another Individual Olympic Event, no additional swimmer will be
added to the Team in the 100-meter or 200-meter Freestyle. This limitation will
not apply if the Available Swimmer is removed from the Team pursuant to
Section 3.

Priority #2. The second priority will be comprised of the second best finishing
Available Swimmer based on finish order during the Finals of the Qualifying
Competition in each of the Events other than the 100-meter and 200-meter
Freestyle.
Priority #3. The third priority will be comprised of the fifth best finishing
Available Swimmer based on finish order during the Finals of the Qualifying
Competition in each of the 100-meter and 200-meter Freestyles.
Priority #4. The fourth priority will be comprised of the sixth best finishing
Available Swimmer based on finish order during the Finals of the Qualifying
Competition in each of the 100-meter and 200-meter Freestyles

You can read more about the Junior Pan Pacs roster selection process here. There is a cap of 20 swimmers per gender.

Note: there were a lot of 2nd and 3rd order effects on the Junior Pan Pac roster based on tonight’s events. We wanted to get the Olympic roster update up, and we’ll try to update this article later tonight or first thing in the morning with Junior Pan Pac updates.

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