U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 3 Prelims: Luke Whitlock Earns Second Top Seed of Meet in 800 Free

Luke Whitlock -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 3 Prelims: Luke Whitlock Earns Second Top Seed of Week in 800 Free

On the first day of Olympic Trials, Indiana-native Luke Whitlock cut almost three seconds from his best time to claim the top seed in the men’s 400 freestyle final. Whitlock ended up fifth, but he almost repeated the time when his veteran competitors turned it on with Olympic berths on the line. Just as crucially, Whitlock set himself up for a big swim in his best event, the 800 freestyle.

Indeed, Whitlock is now the top seed once again, having captured first place in heat seven of the 16-lap race in 7:51.22, and that mark was a half-second quicker than what defending Olympic gold medalist Bobby Finke managed in the following heat. Whitlock was just shy of his best time of 7:50.20. While Finke, whose ability to rise to the level of his competition is nearly unmatched, remains the big favorite, Whitlock could very well capture the second spot in the event.

Finke recorded a time of 7:51.71, and behind him came the men who will be the biggest threats to Whitlock to earn the other place in Paris: David Johnston and Ross Dant.

Johnston is coming off a crushing third-place finish in the 400 free, an event where he was in second place for much of the race before a late surge by Kieran Smith, and he scratched the 400 IM Sunday to prepare for the 800 free. Dant, meanwhile, was third in both the 400 and 800 at the 2021 Trials, and he finally broke through to the World Championships team last year when he joined Finke as U.S. representatives in the event.

Three teenagers got into the final: Whitlock, Luke Ellis and Sean Green. Ellis was fifth in 7:54.26 while Green clocked 7:56.47 for eighth place, edging out two-time World Championships team member Charlie Clark (7:56.63) for the last spot in the championship heat. Ellis took two seconds off his best time while Green, a swimmer from the Long Island Aquatic Club, took off almost 11 seconds as he qualified for the final from the second of seven heats.

Daniel Matheson (7:54.97) and Will Gallant (7:56.03) were the other swimmers to make the final.

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