Swimming In a Football Stadium

The Men's Final Four is always in a football stadium, and NHL games in football or baseball stadiums have also become a regular thing.  This year, though, for the first time, we'll see something new in the middle of a football stadium.  An Olympic-sized swimming pool.  After the past two editions were held in Omaha, this time, the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials are taking place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.  They're expecting crowds of around 30,000 for all nine nights of competition.

One of the things I like most about the Swimming Trials (something I wish track & field would emulate) is how they follow the Olympic schedule exactly, minus the relays.  So, the athletes who are planning to double (or triple or do four events) in Paris will be able to swim the exact same program in the exact same order at Trials, with only relays being added at the Olympics.  That, I think, is one of the biggest reasons for the Americans' success at recent Olympics.  Because they set themselves up for it at Trials.

Then there's the oft-repeated reason, which is opt-repeated for a reason.  The U.S. Olympic Team is the hardest team in the world to make.  All the pressure's on at Trials.  Once you make the team, the Olympics themselves are the easy part.  And, make no mistake, some events will be so competitive at Trials that potential Olympic medalists will be left home.

It's gotten slightly harder to make the team since the IOC and World Aquatics added the men's 800 freestyle and women's 1500 freestyle to the Olympics.  While they added those two events for Tokyo, they didn't increase the number of quota places per nation, so the team is still limited to 26 men and 26 women.  There are 14 individual events per gender, plus the extra swimmers needed for the 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relays, so the top two in each event aren't necessarily guaranteed a spot.  They likely will once swimmers qualify in their second or third event, but to start the week, it's only the Trials winners guaranteed to go to Paris.

Second-place finishers really shouldn't have to worry about that, though.  Because there are plenty of Americans who'll make the Olympic team in multiple events--and likely take home multiple medals from Paris.  The U.S. won 30 medals in Tokyo, 38 at last year's World Championships and 20 at this year's World Championships (why they had two World Championships seven months apart, with the second of those in February of the Olympic year is beyond me).  All of those totals were the highest.  Expect a similar haul in Paris.

But first, they have to make the team.  While there will probably be a few surprises along the way, those stars who we're expecting to shine next month in France should shine just as brightly in Indy.  Stars like...

Katie Ledecky: A 10-time Olympic medalist (seven gold), Ledecky has a chance to become the most decorated female U.S. Olympian in history.  She's entered in four events at Trials and is a lock to make the team in three of them (400 freestyle, 800 freestyle, 1500 freestyle).  Ledecky's also favored in the 200 freestyle, and I can see her swimming the 100 freestyle just so she can qualify for the relay.

Kate Douglass: Sprinter Kate Douglass should be just as busy in Paris as Ledecky.  She won six medals at the 2023 World Championships and five at the 2024 Worlds.  Douglass is the No. 1 seed at Trials in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 breast and 200 IM.  Throw in possible appearances in three relays and she could end up swimming seven different events in Paris.

Torri Huske: In 2021, Torri Huske made the Olympic team at 18 and won a silver in the medley relay.  The following year, she won six medals, including four golds at the World Championships.  She followed that up with four medals at the 2023 Worlds.  Huske could equal or better that in Paris if she makes the team in each of the four different events she's entered (50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 200 IM).

Regan Smith & Claire Curzan: I'm putting them together because they swim the same events, and I can see them going 1-2 in either order both in Indianapolis and Paris.  I can even see them flipping places between Trials and the Olympics.  Smith won silver in both backstrokes at last year's Worlds, while Curzan was the Swimmer of the Meet at this year's Worlds, where she swept the backstrokes as part of a four-gold medal haul (and six-medal overall haul).

On the men's side, Caeleb Dressel was the undisputed star of the Tokyo Games.  He won five gold medals and set a world or Olympic record in four of those events.  That came after winning eight medals at the 2019 Worlds.  But at the 2022 Worlds, he withdrew in the middle of the meet and went on an extended mental break.  Dressel has been back competing all year and could easily make the team in three different events...or none.

Carson Foster: Foster, who just graduated from the University of Texas, has never made an Olympic team.  That should change this year.  He has the top time among Americans in both IMs this year and has won eight World Championships medals in the last three years (including three earlier this year in Doha).

Chase Kalisz: Kalisz, meanwhile, is the defending Olympic champion in the 400 IM, so I can't envision him letting Foster take his crown that easily.  He also won silver in the 400 IM eight years ago in Rio.  Kalisz also has the second-fastest time in the 200 butterfly, but I'm not sure I see him making the team in three events.  Frankly, I wouldn't be shocked if he doesn't make it in both IMs (or if he didn't make it in either).

Ryan Murphy: Another Olympic veteran back for another go-round is Ryan Murphy.  After winning double gold in the backstrokes in Rio, he took silver and bronze in Tokyo (behind a Russian who may or may not be allowed to swim in Paris), along with a gold in the medley relay at both Games.  If he makes the team in both, another double backstroke gold isn't out of the question.  

Bobby Finke: Finke is another interesting case.  He won gold in both of the distance events in Tokyo, but isn't the fastest American in either this year.  His top times from 2022 and 2023 blow the rest of the field out of the water, though, so it's probably not too much of a stretch to think that Finke has been pacing himself for Trials and another run at double distance gold in Paris.

Those are just some of the names who'll be in the spotlight this week in Indianapolis.  I'm sure there will be others who emerge, too.  Just like there were a century ago, when Indianapolis hosted the Olympic Trials before the Olympic Games in Paris.  In 1924, you had to get the job done in Indianapolis in order to go to Paris.  It's the same deal in 2024...only this time, they'll be doing it in front of 30,000 fans in a football stadium each night.