Dahlia, Andrew Become First Members of U.S. 2019 World Champs Team

2018 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, July 25 – Sunday, July 29, 2018
• William Woollett Aquatics Center, Irvine, CA
• Prelims 9 AM / Finals 6 PM (U.S. Pacific Time)
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Though USA Swimming will use combined results of Nationals and Pan Pacs to select its team for next year’s World Championships, two swimmers have already (likely) punched their tickets to Gwangju through the 50 flys.

Pan Pacs won’t feature 50s of fly, back and breast, and U.S. selection procedures don’t use time trials or intermediate splits. That means the winners of tonight’s 50 butterfly races have sole claim on the one World Championships qualifying spot in the event. The second U.S. entry should go to the swimmer already on the roster with the next-fastest 100 fly time.

Kelsi Dahlia won the women’s 50 fly with a 25.48, topping the field by four tenths of a second. Meanwhile Michael Andrew upset Caeleb Dressel for the men’s title, punching his ticket to his first-ever World Championships in long course.

The stroke 50 winners are only Priority 3 for making the 2019 World Championships team, so they’re not technically guaranteed spots yet. But it won’t take many doubles for the second and third priority qualifiers to make the team, so both winners are very likely to wind up on the 2019 Worlds roster – our roster projections had all five priorities easily making the 26-member World Championships rosters for both men and women.