2016 U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS
- Sunday, June 26 – Sunday, July 3, 2016
- CenturyLink Center, Omaha, Nebraska
- SwimSwam Preview Links & Schedule
- NBC Broadcast Schedule
- Psych Sheets
American SCY record holder Kelsi Worrell is swimming an Olympic Trials schedule that makes a lot of sense– she’s taking on the sprints for freestyle (50 and 100) and both the 100 and 200 butterfly races.
Worrell, who put together two electrifying meets at her last two NCAA Championships for Louisville, is a favorite to represent the USA in the 100m fly along with American LCM record holder Dana Vollmer. She’s the #2 seed in that event.
As for the 200 fly, where she is seeded 6th, Worrell could potentially find herself with another individual event in Rio here. She’s more of a sprinter, but won the 200 fly at NCAAs in 2015 and 2016 over names like Hali Flickinger and Ella Eastin, neither of which specialize in shorter events. Her 2:08.61 seed and best time is from 2015 Summer Nationals, but she swam as fast as 2:09.25 at the Indy stop of the Arena Pro Swim Series earlier in the month. Worrell looks primed for a personal best in this event, and anything under 2:08 could challenge whomever will try to join favorite Cammile Adams.
Worrell won’t go for the 100 back, an event in which she’s shown some promise in. With such a fast butterfly stroke, people tend to overlook the fact that she’s great backstroker. She turned in a very strong time of 1:00.37 at Summer Nationals last summer, which would have put her 10th on the Omaha psych sheets. She also put up two 1:01’s at the French Elite Nationals in March right after the NCAA Champs.
Instead, her non-fly schedule will consist of the 50 and 100 free. With only two spots up for grabs in the 50 as opposed to as many as six in the 100, she could earn a spot on the 400 free relay team with a strong enough 100 free. If she can make it to the 100 free final, she has a great shot at getting on the relay. The only problem could be that the 100 free semis are only 1 event before the 200 fly final, where she’d likely give up her 100 free swim for a chance to make the team in the 200 fly.