U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 4 Prelims: Mason Laur Leads Luca Urlando in 200 Fly; Carson Foster Scratches

Mason Laur --Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 4 Prelims: Mason Laur Leads Luca Urlando in 200 Fly; Carson Foster Scratches

The morning heats of the men’s 200 butterfly at Olympic Trials did not produce any especially swift times, but a fascinating race to secure the top-two spots heading to Paris is imminent. Entering the meet, Carson Foster and teenager Thomas Heilman were the clear favorites, but Heilman struggled in the morning while Foster, already on the Olympic team in the 400 IM, made the surprise decision to skip the event.

The top swimmer to come out of the heats was Florida’s Mason Laur, who swam a controlled first half of the race (at least compared to his closest rivals) before closing with splits of 29.94 and 30.36. He got to the wall in 1:55.09, knocking almost six tenths off his previous lifetime best of 1:55.67. Laur was a wild card swimmer entering the meet after a strong season for the University of Florida, but now he is very much in the mix.

The second spot went to Luca Urlando, who bounced back after missing the semifinals of the 200 free. Urlando, a 2022 World Championships finalist in the event, is on the comeback trail after shoulder surgery, and he is hoping to claim an Olympic berth after missing the team by less than a tenth in this event three years ago.

A pair of Cal swimmers came in next with Dare Rose (1:55.94) and Colby Mefford (1:56.36). Rose, last year’s World Championships bronze medalist in the 100 fly, was only one hundredth off his personal best while Mefford dropped one-and-a-half seconds. Jack Dahlgren had a strong swim to place sixth (1:56.45), with veteran Trenton Julian seventh (1:56.53). Chase Kalisz, quo qualified for his third Olympic team with a second-place finish in the 400 IM, took seventh in 1:56.71.

Heilman, meanwhile, was behind Julian and Urlando for the entirety of his race while Mefford also went ahead on the last 50. A year after swimming a time of 1:53.82 and tying for fourth at the World Championships, narrowly missing the world junior record in the process, Heilman was almost three seconds off that time in prelims at 1:56.77. We’ll see if he can get back to his top form by the semifinal round.

Zach Harting, the Olympic Trials winner in this event three years ago, took ninth in 1:57.30. Kaiser Neverman (1:57.31), Stephen Hitchcock (1:57.41), Tommy Bried (1:57.60), Alex Colson (1:57.62), Mitchell Schott (1:57.90) and David Schmitt (1:58.32) secured their spots in the semifinals, while Carl Bloebaum and Logan Robinson tied for 16th in 1:58.37, setting a potential swim-off for the last spot in the semifinals.

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