USA Swimming has released time standards for the 2018 Phillips 66 National Championships.
The meet will take place July 25th-29th in Irvine, CA, and will serve as the qualifier for Pan Pacific Championships, happening in Tokyo in August 2018, as the primary meet for Americans next year. 2018 Nationals will also serve as one of two qualifiers (the second being Pan Pacs) for the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
As could be expected, the times are faster than the 2016 Olympic Trials cuts as well at the 2017 Nationals cuts.
Exact selection criteria for the Pan Pacs team has not been made available yet, but the top three swimmers in almost every event at Nationals usually earn an invite, with the top four in the 100 and 200 free getting invited for relay purposes. Once swimmers are on the team, they can swim extra events – teams aren’t limited in number of entries as they are at the World Championships and Olympics.
Swimmers who are 18 years old & under and possess at least one individual qualifying time can enter up to two additional bonus events, provided that they have achieved the bonus time standard (listed below the main cuts).
2018 National Championships Time Standards:
| Women | Men | |||
| SCY | LCM | Event | SCY | LCM |
| 22.29 | 25.99 | 50 Freestyle | 19.79 | 23.19 |
| 48.89 | 56.39 | 100 Freestyle | 43.09 | 50.49 |
| 1:45.89 | 2:01.79 | 200 Freestyle | 1:35.59 | 1:51.39 |
| 4:43.79 | 4:16.89 | 500/400 Freestyle | 4:19.39 | 3:57.79 |
| 9:48.09 | 8:48.09 | 1000/800 Freestyle | 9:04.99 | 8:12.99 |
| 16:18.09 | 16.49.19 | 1650/1500 Freestyle | 15:10.09 | 15:44.89 |
| 53.29 | 1:02.99 | 100 Backstroke | 46.79 | 56.79 |
| 1:55.39 | 2:15.59 | 200 Backstroke | 1:44.79 | 2:03.29 |
| 1:00.69 | 1:10.99 | 100 Breaststroke | 53.39 | 1:03.29 |
| 2:11.69 | 2:33.79 | 200 Breastroke | 1:58.29 | 2:18.09 |
| 52.99 | 1:00.89 | 100 Butterfly | 47.29 | 54.49 |
| 1:57.79 | 2:14.59 | 200 Butterly | 1:45.09 | 2:01.69 |
| 1:58.29 | 2:17.99 | 200 IM | 1:45.19 | 2:04.69 |
| 4:12.09 | 4:53.19 | 400 IM | 3:46.99 | 4:26.89 |
| x | 3:52.69 | 4×100 Free Relay | x | 3:29.29 |
| x | 8:22.19 | 4×200 Free Relay | x | 7:42.79 |
| x | 4:18.29 | 4×100 Medley Relay | x | 3:50.09 |
18 & Under Bonus Times:
| Women | Men | |||
| SCY | LCM | Event | SCY | LCM |
| 22.79 | 22.79 | 50 Freestyle | 20.49 | 23.99 |
| 49.69 | 57.59 | 100 Freestyle | 44.39 | 51.99 |
| 1:47.39 | 2:04.29 | 200 Freestyle | 1:38.39 | 1:54.29 |
| 4:48.09 | 4:21.39 | 500/400 Freestyle | 4:28.29 | 4:02.79 |
| 9:56.79 | 8:58.69 | 1000/800 Freestyle | 9:13.19 | 8:23.09 |
| 16:32.59 | 17:11.29 | 1650/1500 Freestyle | 15:34.19 | 16:05.09 |
| 54.49 | 1:04.39 | 100 Backstroke | 49.69 | 58.79 |
| 1:57.69 | 2:18.29 | 200 Backstroke | 1:47.99 | 2:06.99 |
| 1:02.89 | 1:13.29 | 100 Breaststroke | 55.79 | 1:06.09 |
| 2:15.49 | 2:38.29 | 200 Breastroke | 2:01.19 | 2:23.29 |
| 53.99 | 1:02.39 | 100 Butterfly | 48.99 | 56.49 |
| 1:59.39 | 2:16.99 | 200 Butterly | 1:47.89 | 2:05.09 |
| 2:00.59 | 2:20.99 | 200 IM | 1:48.89 | 2:08.29 |
| 4:15.19 | 4:57.29 | 400 IM | 3:52.69 | 4:33.09 |
The US is still doing that tragic “2018 Nationals selects the 2019 WC Team” thing? Didn’t they see how poorly that went in 14-15? Seems perplexing to go back to that well. Oh well!
Can someone explain to me why we do this? Seems it would be just as easy to have another selection meet in ’19 as we did this summer. And as noted above, this method seemed to backfire in Kazan as we walked in with a year old 2014 team instead of a new 2015 team.
I think if athletes know that early ahead they’re on the worlds team, theirs a bit less motivation to train as hard as they can the next year. They lose that sense of urgency and knowing they need to be at their best come trials.
hahahahahahahahahahah
Caeleb Dressel should try to qualify in all events.
Any information on open water nationals/juniors? Dates? Location?