2024 U.S. Olympic Trials: Day 8 Finals Live Recap

By Sophie Kaufman 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
SwimSwam’s Definitive Guide to Trials
Psych Sheets
Live Results
SwimSwam Preview Index
SwimSwam Pick ’em Contest
Prelims Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7
Finals Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7
Final Live Stream
Day 8 Finals Heat Sheets

Well, everyone we’ve almost reached the end of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. After tonight there’s just one more session taking place in Lucas Oil Stadium. But let’s not waste the time we still have — there’s a full night of fast swimming on deck.

The men’s 100 butterfly final gets the session started. Caeleb Dressel is the top seed there by .32 seconds; he was the only man to break 51 in the semifinals, throwing down a 50.79 after qualifying individually for Paris in the 50 freestyle. Dare Rose, the Fukuoka bronze medalist, sits second (51.11) two-hundredths ahead of Zach Harting who swam two personal bests yesterday and made the final with a personal best 51.16. There’s also Ryan Murphy lurking in 4th, fully committed to the butter-back agenda.

Then, we’ll turn our attention to the women’s 200 IM final. The air got slightly let out of this final when the news that 3rd place qualifier Torri Huske was scratching out of the final in favor of the 50 freestyle. Huske was the main challenger who could’ve disrupted Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh from repeating a Virginia 1-2 finish. And with her out of the final, it would take a major upset for anyone to pass Douglass and Walsh, the #2 and #3 Americans all-time in the event and the Tokyo silver (Walsh) and bronze (Douglass).

The last final of the night is the women’s 800 freestyle. And for one final time this meet, fans will be treated to the Katie Ledecky show. She’s the run away favorite in this event and making things more interested is the fact that she was clearly unhappy with her 1500m freestyle swim. She aim to rebound and end her Trials on a high note tonight. Amid scratches from many big names, the race for second behind Ledecky looks wide open. The 2nd through 5th place qualifiers Jillian Cox, Aurora Roghair, Paige Madden, Kate Hurst, and Rachel Stege are separated by less than a second after prelims.

MEN’S 100 BUTTERFLY — Final

World Record: Caeleb Dressel (USA) – 49.45 (2021) 
American Record: Caeleb Dressel – 49.45 (2021) 
U.S. Open Record: Caeleb Dressel (USA) – 49.76 (2021; semifinals) 
World Junior Record: Kristof Milak (HUN) – 50.62 (2017)
2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Champion: Caeleb Dressel – 49.87
2024 Olympic Qualifying Time: 51.67

Final:

Caeleb Dressel (GSC), 50.19
Thomas Heilman (CA-Y), 50.80
Dare Rose (CAL), 50.84
Zach Harting (CARD), 51.37
Aiden Hayes (WOLF), 51.43
Ryan Murphy (CAL), 51.46
Luke Miller (WOLF), 51.48
Kaii Winkler (EA), 51.51

Caeleb Dressel will defend his 100 butterfly Olympic gold. One day after winning the 50 freestyle and booking his first individual Olympic event, Dressel added another individual even in Paris by taking the win in the 100 butterfly.

Throughout this season, Dressel has shown off his strong back half; often turning at the wall in the back half of the pack and moving through the field on the closing 50 meters. That wasn’t how it went tonight though — by the halfway point, this race was all Dressel’s. He lead at the turn, splitting 23.53 ahead of Ryan Murphy, who was running second after turning in 23.85.

Dressel split 26.66 on the back half of the race and said in his post-race interview that the main thing he was focusing on was his stroke count for each 50. He touched in 50.19, moving up from 6th to 3rd in the world this year behind Josh Liendo and Noe Ponti.

If you watch the replay of this race, it looks like Dare Rose wins the race for second. But Thomas Heilman timed his touch to absolute perfection and got his hands on the wall .04 seconds ahead of Rose. Heilman was 7th at the 50, turning in 24.23. He came home even faster than he did last night, torching a field-best 26.57 second 50 meters. Heilman claimed a second individual event in Paris to the tune of a new 17-18 National Age Group record in 50.80.

Heilman destroyed his previous personal best of 51.19, taking .39 seconds off his best and going sub-51 for the first time. He takes over the NAG from Michael Phelps (51.10), who was on the call for the swim.

Rose finished third in 50.84, four-hundredths from making his first Olympic team.

WOMEN’S 50 FREE — Semifinals

World Record: 23.61 — Sarah Sjostrom (SWE), 2023
American Record: 23.91 – Kate Douglass (USA), 2024
U.S. Open Record: 24.00 – Abbey Weitzeil (USA), 2023
World Junior Record: 24.17 – Claire Curzan (USA), 2021
2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Champion: Simone Manuel, 24.29
2024 Olympic Qualifying Time: 24.70

Final Qualifiers: 

Gretchen Walsh (NAC), 24.06
Torri Huske (AAC), 24.09
Abbey Weitzeil (CAL), 24.48
Simone Manuel (SUN), 24.51
Erika Connolly (TNAQ), 24.54
Catie DeLoof (NYAC) / Rylee Erisman (LAKR), 24.66
—
Maxine Parker (CA-Y), 24.68

The second semifinal of the women’s 50 freestyle came to play. Gretchen Walsh and Torri Huske dominated; they powered their way to a 1-2 finish in the semi and the top two times heading into tomorrow night’s final. Walsh got the better of Huske by three-hundredths, swimming a 24.06 to Huske’s 24.09.

Those are lifetime bests for both of them and rocket them into the top five U.S. swimmers all-time in the event.

Top 6 50 Freestyle U.S. Performers (LCM)

Kate Douglass, 23.91 — 2024
Simone Manuel, 23.97 — 2017
Abbey Weitzel, 24.00 — 2023
Gretchen Walsh, 24.06 — 2024
Torri Huske, 24.09 — 2024
Claire Curzan, 24.17 — 2021

Two of the women ahead of them on this list, Abbey Weitzeil (24.48) and Simone Manuel (24.51) both moved through to the final. They’re sitting 3rd and 4th respectively, and will try to defend their top two finishes from 2021 Olympic Trials in tomorrow night’s final.

WOMEN’S 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY— Final

World Record: 2:06.12 – Katinka Hosszu, Hungary (2015)
World Junior Record: 2:06.89 – Summer McIntosh, Canada (2023)
American Record: 2:06.15 – Ariana Kukors (2009)
U.S. Open Record: 2:07.09 – Kate Douglass, USA (2023)
2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Champion: Alex Walsh – 2:09.30
2024 Olympic Qualifying Time: 2:11.47

Final: 

Kate Douglass (NYAC), 2:06.79 U.S. Open Record, CR
Alex Walsh (NAC), 2:07.86
Isabel Ivey (GSC), 2:10.09
Beata Nelson (UN), 2:10.38
Leah Hayes (TIDE), 2:11.81
Zoe Dixon (FLOR), 2:12.01
Lilla Bognar (TG), 2:12.48
Lucy Bell (ALTO), 2:13.67

Kate Douglass has done it — she smashes her U.S. Open Record from 2023 and becomes the 4th fastest performer in history with a blistering 2:06.79. She’s just the 6th woman in history to get under the 2:07 barrier in this event. She and her Virginia teammate Alex Walsh went 1-2 in the event, with Walsh punching her ticket to Paris and joining G. Walsh on an Olympic team together.

Douglass jumped on the race from the start; she opened the race in 26.78, about five-tenths under world record pace. She was the only one who opened their race sub-27 as Beata Nelson turned 2nd in 27.23. By the 100 though, A. Walsh had inched up on Douglass. Douglass split 33.27 on backstroke to A. Walsh’s 32.74, maintaining just a .13 lead.

A. Walsh continued to push on the breaststroke leg but Douglass gained a little more room with a 36.57 split, widening the gap to two-tenths at the final turn. Douglass brought her race home in 30.17, shaking off Walsh and speeding to her final time of 2:06.79. This is her third event win at these Trials, adding to her 100 free and 200 breast wins earlier in the week. She’s now second in the world this season behind Kaylee McKeown.

A. Walsh split 31.04 in the freestyle leg. It’s the third slowest freestyle split in this final, but Walsh had built up more than enough of a gap during the rest of the race that she touched second without any challengers around her. She clocked 2:07.86, a time she described herself as “happy with for now,” but continued that she was “excited to see what we can do in Paris” as the pair look to make a second-straight Olympic podium. Walsh maintains her place as 4th fastest in the world this season with the 2:07.63 she posted at the Knoxville PSS.

Isabel Ivey, meanwhile, charged in lane 1 on the freestyle leg. She closed in 29.92, moving from 5th at the last turn all the way into third. Ivey posted 2:10.09, a second personal best in this event at this meet.

WOMEN’S 800 FREESTYLE – Final

World Record: 8:04.79, Katie Ledecky (USA) – 2016 Olympic Games
American Record:  8:04.79, Katie Ledecky (USA) – 2016 Olympic Games
U.S. Open Record: 8:06.68, Katie Ledecky (USA) – 2016 Pro Swim Series, Austin
World Junior Record: 8:11.00, Katie Ledecky (USA)
2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Champion: Katie Ledecky, 8:14.62
2024 Olympic Qualifying Time: 8:26.71

Final:

Katie Ledecky (GSC), 8:14.12
Paige Madden (NYAC), 8:20.71
Jillian Cox (TXLA), 8:22.97
Aurora Roghair (ALTO), 8:28.59
Rachel Stege (ABSC), 8:28.77
Kate Hurst (SCAR), 8:28.92
Claire Weinstein (SAND), 8:29.80
Ashley Twichell (TAC), 8:32.75

And with that commanding win in the 800 freestyle, Katie Ledecky joins Michael Phelps as the only swimmers who have won an event four times at U.S. Olympic Trials. Ledecky posted an 8:14.12 en route to her four-peat and won the race by over six seconds.

While the second through sixth place qualifiers for this final were separated by less than a second going to race, this did not turn out to be a particularly close race. Paige Madden settled into second at the first turn and stayed there for the entire race. She’s had an excellent Trials after having a tough couple years after the Tokyo Olympics. But now she’s confirmed for a second individual race in Paris after finishing second in the 400 free and earning a spot on the 4×200 freestyle relay.

Madden clocked a huge personal best for second, swimming 8:20.71. That performance cut 6.93 seconds off the lifetime best she swam earlier this year at January’s Knoxville PSS.

2023 Worlds finalist Jillian Cox touched 3rd in 8:22.97, 2.26 seconds behind Madden.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials: Day 8 Finals Live Recap