Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr
COLORADO SPRINGS – USA Swimming’s roster for next year’s long course world championships does not include Michael Phelps in the wake of his DUI troubles earlier this month, as well as his subsequent decision to withdraw from the team.
Phelps was set to swim the 100 free, 100 fly and 200 IM in Kazan next year. He would have also been a strong choice for all three relay events. He and Tom Shields are tied as the fastest Americans in the 100 fly (51.29) and Phelps is second behind Nathan Adrian in the 100 free with a 48.45. He’s just a couple of hundredths of a second behind Ryan Lochte in the 200 IM with a 1:56.04 from the Pan American Games.
Tim Phillips is the only new addition to the team after Phelps’ withdrawal. Phillips is the third-fastest American this year in the 100 butterfly and will be headed to his first long course world championships.
Ryan Lochte moves into the 100 free individual event. Not only is he the third-fastest American in the event this year, but he’s already on the team in the 200 IM and 200 freestyle. USA Swimming has special procedures for replacing athletes in the 100 and 200 freestyle events, noting that the replacement must be “the next highest Available Swimmer already on the team.” That’s logical, since that swimmer would already be swimming in the freestyle relay.
Tyler Clary, already on the team in the 200 fly, 200 back and 400 IM, has added the 200 IM to his schedule. With the shift in the 100 freestyle, a sixth person was needed for 400 free relay purposes. That puts Matt Grevers in an alternate spot for the relay. Grevers was already set to swim the 50 fly and 100 back at world championships.
Grevers is one of four Americans on the list who will be defending their 2013 individual world titles. Grevers, Lochte, Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky won a combined nine gold medals in individual events at the world championships. Franklin will be looking to replicate her six wins from last year in the 200 free, 100 back and 200 back as well as all three relays. Ledecky, who was awarded the Female Swimmer of the Meet in Barcelona last year, set world records in the 800 and 1500 freestyles and won the 400 free and was part of the winning 800 free relay for four gold medals.
Grevers won the 100 back for his first individual world title, while Lochte took his third-straight long course world title in the 200 IM and captured his second 200 back win.
Next year’s meet would have been Phelps’ seventh trip to the long course world championships. He attended every edition from 2001 to 2011, skipping the 2013 event during his brief time away from competition. He’s won 33 medals at the world championships, including 26 gold.
The world championship team was picked from times swum at the summer nationals and the Pan Pacific championships. The two fastest times in the events swum at the Olympics were used, as well as the winning time in the non-Olympic events (50s of the strokes, men’s 800 free and women’s 1500 free) from nationals. The second swimmer for the non-Olympic events was selected from the top performer already selected for the team.
Swimming World’s Jeff Commings spoke with USA Swimming National Team Director Frank Busch in Colorado Springs about the selection process and the rosters.
2015 FINA World Championships Team:
Men (22 athletes):
50 freestyle: Anthony Ervin, Nathan Adrian
100 freestyle: Nathan Adrian, Ryan Lochte
200 freestyle: Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte
400 freestyle: Connor Jaeger, Michael McBroom
800 freestyle: Michael McBroom, Connor Jaeger
1500 freestyle: Connor Jaeger, Michael McBroom
50 backstroke: David Plummer, Matt Grevers
100 backstroke: Matt Grevers, David Plummer
200 backstroke: Tyler Clary, Ryan Murphy
50 breaststroke: Brendan McHugh, Kevin Cordes
100 breaststroke: Cody Miller, Nic Fink
200 breaststroke: Nic Fink, Kevin Cordes
50 butterfly: Matt Grevers, Tom Shields
100 butterfly: Tom Shields, Tim Phillips
200 butterfly: Tom Shields, Tyler Clary
200 individual medley: Ryan Lochte, Tyler Clary
400 individual medley: Tyler Clary, Chase Kalisz
400 free relay: Jimmy Feigen, Conor Dwyer, Anthony Ervin (alternate), Matt Grevers (alternate)
800 free relay: Matt McLean, Reed Malone, Michael Weiss (alternate), Clay Youngquist (alternate)
Women (25 athletes):
50 freestyle: Simone Manuel, Ivy Martin
100 freestyle: Missy Franklin, Simone Manuel
200 freestyle: Katie Ledecky, Missy Franklin
400 freestyle: Katie Ledecky, Cierra Runge
800 freestyle: Katie Ledecky, Becca Mann
1500 freestyle: Katy Campbell, Katie Ledecky
50 backstroke: Rachel Bootsma
100 backstroke: Missy Franklin, Kathleen Baker
200 backstroke: Elizabeth Beisel, Missy Franklin
50 breaststroke: Jessica Hardy, Micah Lawrence
100 breaststroke: Jessica Hardy, Micah Lawrence
200 breaststroke: Micah Lawrence, Breeja Larson
50 butterfly: Kendyl Stewart, Claire Donahue
100 butterfly: Kendyl Stewart, Claire Donahue
200 butterfly: Cammile Adams, Katie McLaughlin
200 individual medley: Maya DiRado, Melanie Margalis
400 individual medley: Elizabeth Beisel, Maya DiRado
400 free relay: Shannon Vreeland, Abbey Weitzeil, Lia Neal (alternate), Margo Geer (alternate)
800 free relay: Shannon Vreeland, Leah Smith, Chelsea Chenault (alternate), Cierra Runge (alternate)