The Magical Moments of Olympic Trials — Plus Bulldogs Rolling and Phelps Biding His Time

kelsi-worrell-
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Editorial Coverage provided by Suit-extractor-logo

Left Sidebar

By David Rieder

For those at the top, the ones who come into Olympic Trials with substantial résumés of Olympic medals and World titles, this week’s trip to Omaha, Neb., is pure business. Get it done and finish top-two, or all the work you’ve done with the Olympic Games in mind goes for naught. Such is the cruel nature of this meet.

But for those who have yet to earn the title of “Olympian,” these finals sessions inside the CenturyLink Center represent the biggest moments of their swimming career. Think about Chase Kalisz, standing behind lane four for the very first final of the Olympic Trials, knowing very well that the 400 IM is his best shot—perhaps his only shot—at making the team. Ditto Kelsi Worrell a night later in the 100 fly.

Both responded. Kalisz overcame a huge first-half deficit to win the 400 IM comfortably in 4:09.48, and Worrell uncorked the swim of a lifetime, passing Dana Vollmer off the turn and then pulling away. Worrell touched in 56.48 Monday night for the second-fastest time in the world.

Then she broke into tears.

Observers around the country can see the emotional moments that take place in the pool during the seconds after the race ends. It’s hard to forget how Kalisz’s eyes lit up when he saw that going with him in the 400 IM to Rio would be Georgia teammate Jay Litherland, who had stormed past Ryan Lochte on the last 50 to move into Olympic position.

Maybe the moment that sticks with you is Leah Smith repeatedly mouthing “Oh my god!” to Katie Ledecky after the pair booked their Olympic spots in the 400 free—while Ledecky looked elated that a second American would be a medal contender in Rio.

How about last night, when Olivia Smoliga and Kathleen Baker made the team in the 100 back, and Baker proceeded to bulrush the lane line as she embraced her new teammate. These are the feel-great moments that NBC loves publicizing in their Olympic content.

And then there’s what happens behind the scenes, when the Olympians reunite with their teammates, coaches and friends. From my position in the mixed zone, I spend each night watching teammates line up for bear hugs.

The entire Louisville team awaited a bawling Worrell after her 100 fly victory Monday night, but one greeting was quick. Andrea Cottrell, Worrell’s roommate and her co-captain on the Louisville team, got in one quick hug before heading to the ready room for the 100 breast semis—and then proceeding to qualify sixth for the final.

Tuesday night was a massive night for the athletes of SwimMAC Carolina as both Baker and Katie Meili made the team in their signature events. Baker got through the mixed zone, shared a quick moment with Cal teammate Katie McLaughlin—who had herself just snuck into the 200 free final—before heading to the warm-down pool.

But with Meili up in just minutes, Baker got out quickly and went to watch the 100 breast. When she saw the result, she joined Madison Kennedy, Alyssa Marsh and others in greeting the second-place finisher.

There are five days of finals left here at Olympic Trials, with more than half the team still to fill out, but I bet that nothing beats the moment we witnessed last night after the women’s 100 back final.

After watching Smoliga qualify for Rio, Georgia senior Emily Cameron stood at the entrance to the mixed zone, her eyes welling and reddening. Cameron had watched everything Smoliga had been through, including the bout with mono that derailed her sophomore campaign at UGA. After the biggest accomplishment of her teammate’s career, every bit of Cameron’s raw emotion poured out.

But Cameron, of course, still had business to attend to with the 200 IM semifinals on tap. She proceeded to cut more than a second from her prelims time to sneak into tonight’s championship final. Pretty nice day at the office.

*During eight days of bold predictions, I predicted one swimmer from the University of Georgia to qualify for the Olympic team. That was Kalisz, who actually redshirted this past season to train with longtime club coach Bob Bowman in Tempe, Ariz.

But then Litherland stunned Lochte with a sensational closing split in the 400 IM to make the team on night one, and the Bulldog train kept on rolling. Seeing Smoliga make the team in the 100 back isn’t a surprise after she swam a 59.41 earlier this month in Indianapolis and then led the way through each round of the 100 back. But the fourth Bulldog Olympian? Few would have picked him.

It was not all that surprising to see Gunnar Bentz finish fourth in the 400 IM Sunday night. After all, he got third in the event at NCAAs a year ago and won a bronze medal in the 200 IM at Pan Ams. But in freestyle? He entered the meet seeded 32nd in the 200 free in 1:49.85. Hardly on anyone’s Olympic radar.

But Bentz is an Olympian after doing what he needed to do in the 200 free final—beat two guys. Actually, he beat three, coming in fifth in 1:47.33. Bentz has traditionally been an IMer and a butterflyer, but he knew that there were six open slots on the Olympic team in that event, compared to just two spots in his signature IM races. Many versatile swimmers shift their focus towards the 200 free in an Olympic year with dreams of a top-six finish, and that’s the dream Bentz just converted into reality.

So four Bulldogs on the team—that’s got to be all right? Well, don’t look now, but Pace Clark has looked really, really good in the 200 fly thus far. He’s the second seed heading into the final with a 1:56.27. Jack Conger is still widely considered the favorite for that second spot—he qualified seventh for the final less than an hour after finishing third in the 200 free—but if we’ve learned anything this week, it’s to not count out anyone with a “G” on their cap.

Speaking of the 200 fly…

*Yes, I’ll talk about Michael Phelps right now. For all of the sport’s favorite darlings struggling right now—particularly Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin—Phelps has been solid as can be through his first two races in Omaha. His 1:55.17 from the semifinals ranks him sixth in the world, but there was no reason for him to have gone any faster than that as no one has yet challenged him for the top seed in either prelims or semis.

Phelps has looked especially smooth so far, and he clearly let up the last 50 of his semifinal swim last night. He told the press yesterday that his legs felt sore during his prelims swim, and then his arms were off in the evening. He chopped two turns in the semifinal, which the always-self-critiquing Phelps will surely be set on improving in tonight’s finals race.

The race will be for second and then between Phelps and the clock. The top time in the world this year is Laszlo Cseh’s 1:52.91 from the European Championships last month. Will Phelps better that tonight? Perhaps it’s unlikely, given that he has no need to swim all that fast to finish first, but you can bet Phelps wants to send a message to Cseh that this is still his event.

Cseh has been the ultimate bridesmaid to Phelps over the years, even more so than Ryan Lochte. Cseh has won five Olympic medals, none of them gold, and in each of those medal races Phelps won gold. The two have been racing in major finals since the 2003 World Championships—Cseh is just five months younger than Phelps—and in all of those matchups, Cseh has never won.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Billy Buck
Billy Buck
8 years ago

Another nice job David !

0
Reply
1
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x