2021 U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMING TRIALS
- When:
- Wave I Dates: June 4-7, 2021
- Wave II Dates: June 13-20, 2021
- Prelims: 10am CDT | Finals: 7pm CDT
- Where: CHI Health Center / Omaha, Nebraska
- 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials Qualifying Cuts
- Wave I & II Event Order
- LCM (50m)
- Day 5 Finals Live Stream
- Psych Sheets
- Wave II Live Results
- Day 5 Finals Heat Sheet
Before this morning, 18-year-old Jack Aikins from SwimAtlanta had not yet broken 2:00.00 in the 200 back. After crushing his lifetime best in prelims with a time of 1:57.57, Aikins shaved .07 off that to become the 7th all-time fastest 200 backstroker in the 17-18 age group.
UVA commit Aikins had the fastest 100 meter spit (56.18) and he brought home the race in 1:01.39 for a final time of 1:57.50. After prelims, he was tied with 2016 Olympic finalist Jacob Pebley for #7 out of the all-time fastest 200 backstrokers in his age group, and this shattered that tie.
Pebley’s 2012 age group time now ranks him #8. The names ahead of Aikins include current World Record holder Aaron Peirsol, five-time Olympian Michael Phelps, 2016 Olympian Jack Conger, and 2016 gold medalist Ryan Murphy.
The current list of that all-time fastest 17-18 year-olds in the event shows:
All-Time Boys’ 17-18 200 Backstroke Rankings (LCM)
- Aaron Peirsol, 1:55.15 – 2002
- Michael Phelps, 1:55.30 – 2004
- Jack Conger, 1:55.47 – 2013
- Ryan Murphy, 1:55.87 – 2013
- Austin Katz, 1:56.70 – 2017
- Michael Taylor, 1:56.78 – 2016
- Jack Aikins, 1:57.50 – 2021
- Jacob Pebley – 1:57.57 (2012)
- Connor Green, 1:57.60 – 2014
- Wyatt Davis, 1:58.18 – 2019
Aikins finished in 5th place overall to qualify for the final. His lifetime best time going into this meet was 2:00.77 from the April Pro Swim Series in Mission Viejo.
Cal’s Ryan Murphy, who won gold in both the 100 and 200 back at the 2016 Olympics, won the race with a time of 1:55.60 and a .66 lead over the field.