Night 6 of the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials was a big night for athletes adding second events, opening the floodgates for the individual 2nd-place finishers and growing the Olympic roster.
Based on our math, all 2nd-place finishers in the women’s events should be added to the Olympic roster. Meanwhile, the men are just 1 double short of all of their 2nd-place finishers being cleared for Tokyo. With two days of racing left and multi-event specialists including Caeleb Dressel, Katie Ledecky, Regan Smith, and Michael Andrew with more races forthcoming, it is likely 5th- and 6th-place finishers in the 100 and 200 freestyles are also likely to get the nod.
Lilly King, already qualified in the 100 breaststroke, finished 2nd in the 200 breast, earning her second individual event for Tokyo. Annie Lazor finished ahead of King, winning the longer discipline and adding her name to the Team USA roster. All of the top-4 finishers in the women’s 100 freestyle are new additions to the Tokyo Olympic team. Led by Abbey Weitzeil, Erika Brown, Olivia Smoliga, and Natalie Hinds will comprise the women’s 4×100 free relay in Tokyo. Catie DeLoof and Allison Schmitt placed 5th and 6th, respectively, to snag relay spots.
Ryan Murphy took the men’s 200 back and will be joined in Tokyo by Cal teammate Bryce Mefford, a first-time Olympian (pending roster finalization). Later, Michael Andrew and Chase Kalisz, both already qualified in one event each, placed 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the 200 IM, each earning their first double. Kalisz’s meet is over, while Andrew has one more chance to add another race with the upcoming 50 freestyle.
2021 U.S. OLYMPIC ROSTER AFTER DAY 4
Tonight’s new qualifiers are noted in bold.
Tentative qualifiers (who need a certain number of multi-event qualifiers to be officially added) are listed in italics.
Women:
- Emma Weyant: 400 IM
- Torri Huske: 100 fly
- Katie Ledecky: 200 free, 400 free, 1500 free, 4×200 free relay
- Regan Smith: 100 back, 200 fly
- Lilly King: 100 breast, 200 breast
- Allison Schmitt: 200 free, 4×200 free relay, 4×100 free relay
- Katie McLaughlin: 4×200 free relay
- Paige Madden: 400 free, 4×200 free relay
- Alex Walsh: 200 IM
- Hali Flickinger: 400 IM, 200 fly
- Annie Lazor: 200 breast
- Abbey Weitzeil: 100 free, 4×100 free relay
- Erika Brown: 100 free, 4×100 free relay
- Olivia Smoliga: 4×100 free relay
- Natalie Hinds: 4×100 free relay
- Claire Curzan: 100 fly
- Rhyan White: 100 back
- Lydia Jacoby: 100 breast
- Kate Douglass: 200 IM
- Erica Sullivan: 1500 free
- Bella Sims: 4×200 free relay
- Brooke Forde: 4×200 free relay
- Catie DeLoof: 4×100 free relay
Men:
- Chase Kalisz: 400 IM, 200 IM
- Kieran Smith: 400 free, 200 free, 4×200 free relay
- Michael Andrew: 100 breast, 200 IM
- Townley Haas: 200 free, 4×200 free relay
- Drew Kibler: 4×200 free relay
- Andrew Seliskar: 4×200 free relay
- Ryan Murphy: 100 back, 200 back
- Zach Harting: 200 fly
- Bobby Finke, 800 free
- Nic Fink, 200 breast
- Caeleb Dressel, 100 free, 4×100 free relay
- Zach Apple: 4×200 free relay, 100 free, 4×100 free relay
- Blake Pieroni: 4×100 free relay
- Brooks Curry: 4×100 free relay
- Jay Litherland: 400 IM
- Jake Mitchell: 400 free
- Andrew Wilson: 100 breast, 200 breast
- Hunter Armstrong: 100 back
- Gunnar Bentz: 200 fly
- Michael Brinegar: 800 free
- Bowe Becker, 4×100 free relay
- Patrick Callan: 4×200 free relay
- Ryan Held: 4×100 free relay
DOUBLES
Here’s an overly-simplified version of the U.S. Olympic selection process: the team can have a maximum of 26 men and 26 women. Swimmers are added to the roster in these priorities until the roster cap is hit:
- Top 4 in 100/200 frees, Winner of all other events
- 2nd-place finisher in all events (besides 100/200 free)
- 5th-place finisher in 100/200 free
- 6th-place finisher in 100/200 free
We track ‘doubles’ as a way of knowing when the next priority of swimmers can be officially added to the team. A ‘double’ is effectively a swimmer qualifying in more than one event. One swimmer qualifying in three events counts as two ‘doubles’ for our purposes.
The Magic Numbers:
- 6 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side means all priority 2 athletes (2nd-place finishers) can be added for that gender
- 8 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side means all priority 3 athletes (5th-place in 100/200 free) can be added for that gender
- 10 doubles on either the men’s or women’s side means all priority 4 athletes (6th-place in 100/200 free) can be added for that gender
After Day 3:
- Women – 6 doubles:
- Men – 6 doubles:
