2024 U.S. Olympic Selection
While the morning was lighter today with only three qualifying events, the evening session was packed with five finals and one semi-final. Let's take a look at some of the swims that didn't make the cut.
Sophomore at the University of Florida Zoe Dixon In the women's 400m individual medley preliminaries, Dixon clocked 4:43.30, her best time since 2021, to advance to the final in 6th place. With all eyes on the race in the middle of the pool, Dixon quietly set a new personal best, improving her time by nearly 0.25 seconds (4:42.01). She has qualified for the A final twice this NCAA season, and her swim here should give her confidence not only for the rest of the meet, but for her remaining two years as a collegiate swimmer.
There was a lot of excitement at the top of the women's 100m backstroke, with fences falling down on both sides. Sylvia Roy (Mount Lebanon Aquatic Club) was one of the swimmers who broke the record. She clocked a 1:00.95 in the preliminaries, breaking her previous personal best by .81 seconds and breaking into the 1:00 range for the first time. She plans to attend the University of Virginia in the fall of 2025.
Las Vegas Swim Club Max Carlsen He swam well in the first heat of the men's 800m freestyle. Even though there were only four swimmers in his heat, the 17-year-old still managed to shave six seconds off his entry time (8:02.98). His swim set a precedent for other young men to shave significant times off of as the competition progresses. He has committed to continue swimming at North Carolina State University, but still has his senior year of high school remaining.
Lance NorrisNorris, a current member of the Wolfpack, also had a strong time in the 800 freestyle, shaving another 6.57 seconds off his entry time to go under eight minutes for the first time in his career (7:59.84). The Wolfpack will have a strong distance group in the coming years, with Norris just finishing up his freshman year.
Another athlete who recorded a sub-8 minute time was Carson HickHick, who just finished his freshman season at the University of Kentucky, went head-to-head with Norris in the fourth heat and beat him by more than five and a half seconds (7:59.62).
