USA 2017 World Champs Selection Criteria Refresher

Find links to all of our event-by-event previews here.

2017 U.S. NATIONALS/WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS TRIALS

• Tuesday, June 27th-Saturday, July 1st
• 50-Meter Course
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Meet Info

Like swims fan everywhere, we’re getting pumped for the 2017 USA Swimming Nationals & World Championships Trials that kick off Tuesday in Indianapolis.  We’re sure the swimmers are pumped too — it’s not only glory that’s on the line at the IUPUI Natatorium, the also the chance to make one of several USA international teams for the summer.

Unlike the craziness that ensues with the quadrennial Pan Pacs and 2nd-world-champs-in-the-quad selection process, the process to make the USA’s World Championships Team in the year immediately following an Olympic year is relatively straightforward.

Now, we have to have to emphasize the world “relatively” here, because capping the roster sizes at 26 per gender (two entries per individual Olympic event, traditionally), while adding in four (soon to be three) individual events that are not contested at the Olympics means that a few teams, like the USA, have the potential to bump against that roster limit.

Thus, USA Swimming publishes clear selection criteria guidelines.  Unlike some other countries, the USA’s selection process is almost entirely objective — as long as a swimmer hits the FINA cuts, and there’s room on the roster, the swimmer goes.

Throughout the course of this next week, we’ll be helping you keep track of who has made the US’s team for Budapest, in accordance with the following “priorities” set forth by USA swimming.  Here’s a quick summary:

Priority #1: Top four in the 100/200 free and 1st place finisher in each Olympic event (19 spots, everyone under this category is automatically selected).

Priority #2: 2nd place in each Olympic event (11 potential spots, at least 7 are guaranteed)

Priority #3: Highest finisher in non-Olympic events (4 potential spots)*

Priority #4: 5th place in 100/200 free (2 potential spots)

Priority #5: 6th place in 100/200 free (2 potential spots)

*Keep in mind that the men’s 800 and women’s 1500 are still being considered non-Olympic events for selection purposes, even though they’re being added to the Olympic schedule for 2020.

That leaves a total of 38 potential spots on the team.  Typically there are enough “doubles,” thanks to multi-event swimmers like Katie Ledecky currently, or Michael Phelps back in the day, that the US is able to take everyone who qualifies under each priority.  Should there not be enough room, swimmers in the same priority will be selected on the basis of world rankings from the 2017 calendar year.  So, for instance, if there’s only one spot left on the men’s team by the time we get to priority #5, and neither 6th place finisher in the 100 and 200 freestyles is already on the team, the one who has the highest world ranking will get selected to the team.

One summary from USA Swimming, quoted in part here: