Later this week, the final Pro Swim Series gets underway in San Antonio, Texas. It’s one of the last major domestic meets before the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, so before the swimmers hit the water, let’s check in on the swimmers across the country who have already earned a trip to Indianapolis in June.
At our last check-in at the end of the Knoxville Pro Swim in January 2024, 743 swimmers–408 men and 335 women–had qualified for U.S. Trials since the qualification period opened on November 30, 2022.
Since that check almost four months ago, there have been 34 new male qualifiers and 19 new female qualifiers, bringing the total number of eligible swimmers to 796, 354 women and 442 men.
We did our first of these checks in September 2023, when 380 men and 304 women had qualified–numbers that have kept rising since. It’s also important to note the shall we say…fluid way that USA Swimming is quantifying Olympic Trials qualifiers.
There are several discrepancies from our previous checks, likely due to USA Swimming deleting international swimmers from their list which make comparisons from January to April challenging.
For example, there are seven fewer qualifiers in the men’s 200 IM now compared to January. If we zero in on the January list, we see names such as:
- Eitan Ben Shitrit (Israel)
- Kaique Alves (Brazil)
- Jared Daigle (retired)
The numbers should be more accurate this time.
The qualifying period closes on May 30, 2024, giving swimmers less than two months to punch their tickets.
2024 US Olympic Trials Standards:
WOMEN | EVENT | MEN |
25.69 | 50m Freestyle | 22.79 |
55.79 | 100m Freestyle | 49.99 |
2:00.89 | 200m Freestyle | 1:49.99 |
4:15.49 | 400m Freestyle | 3:55.59 |
8:45.79 | 800m Freestyle | 8:09.69 |
16:45.69 | 1500m Freestyle | 15:39.89 |
1:01.89 | 100m Backstroke | 55.69 |
2:13.59 | 200m Backstroke | 2:01.69 |
1:10.29 | 100m Breaststroke | 1:02.19 |
2:31.69 | 200m Breaststroke | 2:15.99 |
1:00.19 | 100m Butterfly | 53.59 |
2:13.69 | 200m Butterfly | 2:00.49 |
2:16.09 | 200m Individual Medley | 2:03.49 |
4:49.89 | 400m Individual Medley | 4:25.19 |
Now, let’s learn a bit more about who has qualified for U.S. Trials.
- Note: LSC and club data can be a bit wonky if athletes change clubs during the qualifying period.
- See the 2021 data here to make fun comparisons. Remember there was an extra year on that qualifying period because of the COVID-19 delay.
SWIMMERS WITH THE MOST EVENTS
At the top, the landscape of swimmers with the most events has not changed that much. Bella Sims still leads the way for both women and men with 11 event qualifications. She’s still followed by Regan Smith and her club teammate Katie Grimes, who each have nine.
The number of women with five or more cuts has held strong at 30, but there have been some changes within that list. Torri Huske picked up a 100 back qualification time at the Westmont Pro Swim, Kelly Pash added the 400 IM, and 15-year-old Rylee Erisman jumped from five cuts up to eight courtesy of her strong performances at NCSAs and Southern Zone Sectionals.
As they did in Janaury, Kieran Smith and Carson Foster‘s eight events lead the way for the men. There have been seven new additions to the list of male swimmers with 5+ Trials cuts. Ryan Held, Brett Pinfold, Grant House, Luka Mijatovic, Ryan Erisman, Sean Green, and Michael Hochwalt all added their names to the list.
Mijatovic, who turns 15 on April 22nd, put his name on the list in record-setting fashion. At the California/Nevada Sectionals, he added cuts in the 200 free and 400 IM, breaking both National Age Group records and outpacing a legend of the sport in each event: Ian Thorpe (200 free) and Michael Phelps (400 IM).
Seventeen-year-old Ryan Erisman, Rylee’s older brother, earned his new cuts in the 200 fly and 800 free. In the latter, he dropped almost six seconds to get under the OT cut with an 8:04.82.
SWIMMERS QUALIFIED IN THE MOST EVENTS – WOMEN
FULL NAME | CLUB | LSC | EVENTS |
Sims, Bella | Sandpipers Of Nevada | CA | 11 |
Smith, Regan | Sun Devil Swimming | AZ | 9 |
Grimes, Katie | Sandpipers Of Nevada | CA | 9 |
Smith, Leah | Longhorn Aquatics | ST | 8 |
Erisman, Rylee | Laker Swim | FL | 8 |
Walsh, Alex | University Of Virginia | VA | 7 |
Weinstein, Claire | Sandpipers Of Nevada | CA | 7 |
Bellard, Hannah | Club Wolverine | MI | 7 |
Huske, Torri | Arlington Aquatic Club | PV | 7 |
Pash, Kelly | Longhorn Aquatics | ST | 7 |
Douglass, Kate | New York Athletic Club | MR | 6 |
Shackell, Alex | Carmel Swim Club | IN | 6 |
Pelaez, Erika | Eagle Aquatics | FG | 6 |
Nelson, Beata | Wisconsin Aquatics | WI | 6 |
Ledecky, Katie | Gator Swim Club | FL | 6 |
Bray, Olivia | Longhorn Aquatics | ST | 6 |
O’Dell, Teagan | Mission Viejo Nadadores | CA | 6 |
Kozan, Justina | Trojan Swim Club | CA | 6 |
Smoliga, Olivia | Sun Devil Swimming | AZ | 5 |
Curzan, Claire | TAC Titans | NC | 5 |
Gemmell, Erin | Nation’s Capital Swim Club | PV | 5 |
Hetrick, Paige | University of Louisville | KY | 5 |
Peplowski, Anna | Indiana Swim Club | IN | 5 |
Hayes, Leah | Fox Valley Park District Riptides | IL | 5 |
Hartman, Bailey | Crow Canyon Sharks | PC | 5 |
Gormsen, Cavan | Long Island Aquatic Club | MR | 5 |
Mattes, Michaela | Sarasota Sharks | FL | 5 |
Weyant, Emma | University of Florida | FL | 5 |
McCarville, Kate | Tennessee Aquatics | SE | 5 |
Bricker, Caroline | Pikes Peak Athletics | CO | 5 |
SWIMMERS QUALIFIED IN THE MOST EVENTS – MEN
FULL NAME | CLUB | LSC | EVENTS |
Smith, Kieran | Ridgefield Aquatic Club | CT | 8 |
Foster, Carson | Mason Manta Rays | OH | 8 |
Casas, Shaine | Longhorn Aquatics | ST | 7 |
Diehl, Daniel | YMCA of Cumberland | MD | 6 |
Shackell, Aaron | Carmel Swim Club | IN | 6 |
Julian, Trenton | Mission Viejo Nadadores | CA | 6 |
Maurer, Rex | Rose Bowl Aquatics | CA | 6 |
Litherland, Jay | Sun Devil Swimming | AZ | 6 |
Kalisz, Chase | Sun Devil Swimming | AZ | 6 |
Jett, Gabe | California Aquatics | PC | 6 |
Andrew, Michael | MA Swim Academy | SI | 5 |
Dahlgren, Jack | Team Triumph | MV | 5 |
Urlando, Luca | DART Swimming | SN | 5 |
Heilman, Thomas | Cavalier Aquatics/Piedmont Family YMCA | VA | 5 |
Grothe, Zane | Unattached | SE | 5 |
Nelson, Baylor | Aggie Swim Club | GU | 5 |
Burns, Brendan | Indiana Swim Club | IN | 5 |
Lucas, Cooper | Lakeside Aquatic Club | NT | 5 |
Albiero, Nicolas | Cardinal Aquatics | KY | 5 |
Johnston, David | The Swim Team | CA | 5 |
Whitlock, Luke | Fishers Area Swimming Tigers | IN | 5 |
Finke, Robert | Saint Petersburg Aquatics | FL | 5 |
Ellis, Luke | Sandpipers Of Nevada | CA | 5 |
Held, Ryan | New York Athletic Club | MR | 5 |
Pinfold, Brett | Swim Houston Aquatics Center | GU | 5 |
House, Grant | Sun Devil Swimming | AZ | 5 |
Mijatovic, Luka | Pleasanton Seahawks | PC | 5 |
Erisman, Ryan | Laker Swim | FL | 5 |
Green, Sean | Long Island Aquatic Club | MR | 5 |
Hochwalt, Michael | Spokane Waves Aquatic Team | IE | 5 |
By Event
Between both genders, the most qualified for event is now the men’s 400 IM, which has 87 qualifiers.
For the women, four events now have more than 60 qualifiers, up from two events at our last check. In January, the 50 free and 100 breast were the only events with more than 60 women qualified; now the 100 free and 100 fly have joined them.
This way of understanding the data also reveals one of the discrepancies that we mentioned earlier. At our check in January, there were 83 qualifiers in the men’s 200 IM. Now in April, there are 76. Again, this likely reflects USA Swimming realizing they had some swimmers on their list who compete for other countries internationally.
Women’s Qualifiers | Men’s Qualifiers | |
50 Free | 68 | 62 |
100 Free | 61 | 64 |
200 Free | 55 | 60 |
400 Free | 52 | 65 |
800 Free | 48 | 59 |
1500 Free | 44 | 55 |
100 Back | 62 | 68 |
200 Back | 55 | 68 |
100 Breast | 67 | 69 |
200 Breast | 45 | 67 |
100 Fly | 63 | 66 |
200 Fly | 54 | 62 |
200 IM | 55 | 76 |
400 IM | 53 | 87 |
Numbers of Qualifiers Versus 2021
Relative to the 2021 Olympic Trials (Wave II cuts), the vast majority of events have significantly fewer qualifiers for 2024. There are two events that have more qualifiers than the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials: the women’s 1500 freestyle and men’s 400 IM. While the women’s 1500 freestyle has only two more qualifiers, the men’s 400 IM is actually up by 27 qualifiers.
Women’s Events
2024 Qualifiers* | 2021 Qualifiers | Difference | |
50 Free | 68 | 130 | -62 |
100 Free | 61 | 98 | -37 |
200 Free | 55 | 79 | -24 |
400 Free | 52 | 71 | -19 |
800 Free | 48 | 52 | -4 |
1500 Free | 44 | 42 | +2 |
100 Back | 62 | 114 | -52 |
200 Back | 55 | 75 | -20 |
100 Breast | 67 | 111 | -44 |
200 Breast | 45 | 85 | -40 |
100 Fly | 63 | 100 | -37 |
200 Fly | 54 | 79 | -25 |
200 IM | 55 | 91 | -36 |
400 IM | 53 | 66 | -13 |
*Through April 5, 2024
Men’s Events
2024 Qualifiers* | 2021 Qualifiers | Difference | |
50 Free | 62 | 167 | -105 |
100 Free | 64 | 99 | -35 |
200 Free | 60 | 71 | -11 |
400 Free | 65 | 82 | -17 |
800 Free | 59 | 64 | -5 |
1500 Free | 55 | 57 | -2 |
100 Back | 68 | 125 | -57 |
200 Back | 68 | 91 | -23 |
100 Breast | 69 | 137 | -68 |
200 Breast | 67 | 87 | -20 |
100 Fly | 66 | 109 | -43 |
200 Fly | 62 | 78 | -16 |
200 IM | 76 | 82 | -6 |
400 IM | 87 | 60 | +27 |
*Through April 5, 2024
FULL LIST OF QUALIFIERS
Women
Men
The 2024 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials will take place June 15-23, 2024 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Isn’t Nicholas Albiero switching his sporting citizenship to Brasil?
Time for SwimSwam to make this year’s “bolt from the blue” selection:
2021 – Sims, Bella
2022 – Weinstein, Claire
2023 – Shackell, Alex
2024 – ?
USA-Swimming moved the meet to a bigger facility, for that to have worked out well the number of swimmers would have needed to be closer to what they were in 2016/2021.
I am afraid it will make the seating look half-empty unless they get rid of some seating and bring people closer to the action.
Thank you for putting together this info.
More than 100 fewer qualifiers in the men’s 50 free is crazy, but the total number is in line, more or less, with the other events.
Yay for being two tenths of off a cut and not being able to get into meets. Thanks USAS!
Get good
I don’t understand this. You’re mad because you’re not fast enough to make the cut?
I think they are saying they cannot get into any meet to try before trials to get the time they need.
Swim faster?
Entitled much?
Don’t count me out yet swimswam😤
I don’t think we’re counting you out in the pejorative sense, you announced your retirement on Instagram.
Luka the Bazuka is going to absolutely shatter Larsen Jensen’s AR from 2008 in the next four years just watch him go
Why does the men’s spreadsheet not show their times like the women’s?