U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 6 Finals: Chase Kalisz Dominates Semifinal Field in 200 IM

Chase Kalisz -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 6 Finals: Chase Kalisz Dominates Semifinal Field in 200 IM

Already at these Olympic Trials, Chase Kalisz has become the oldest swimmer to qualify to represent the United States in the 400 IM, with a runnerup finish to Carson Foster in Sunday’s final. Now, Kalisz aims to add the 200 IM to his Paris slate, and he is well-positioned after swimming the top qualifying mark in the semifinal round.

Kalisz was paired with Foster in the second semifinal heat, and the race went down like most showdowns between the duo: Foster had the early advantage, only for Kalisz to scoot ahead on the breaststroke leg. The 30-year-old split 33.33 on breaststroke to take the lead by three tenths. Foster out-split Kalisz on the freestyle leg in the 200 IM, but in the semifinal, Foster had no need to push the pace, allowing Kalisz to pull away and claim the top seed for the final.

Kalisz touched in 1:56.83, making him the fifth-fastest performer in the world this year and the top American, passing the 1:56.97 that Foster posted at the Doha World Championships in February. The only swimmers to swim faster this year are China’s Wang Shun, Great Britain’s Duncan Scott, Canada’s Finlay Knox and Great Britain’s Tom Dean. Wang and Scott have both broken 1:56 this season while Wang and France’s Leon Marchand are the only two active swimmers to ever swim under 1:55, with both recording their best times in 2023.

Meanwhile, the first semifinal went to Shaine Casas, who swam well ahead of the field before falling well back on freestyle with a 29.93 closing split. Still, the overall weakness of the field (no one else broke 1:58) allowed Casas to finish in 1:57.87, good for the second-best time in the field.

Foster ended up qualifying fourth in 1:57.96, with Kieran Smith using a strong finish to get ahead of Foster by two hundredths (1:57.94). Smith is already qualified for Paris in the 400 free and 800 free relay.

Owen McDonald took fifth in 1:58.21, just ahead of Grant House (1:58.24), Arsenio Bustos (1:58.37) and Will Modglin (1:58.44). Modglin blasted his previous personal best by almost two seconds to qualify for his second final of the week after previously making the 100 backstroke top-eight. Modglin placed 17th in prelims (swimming a best time there as well) before moving up when Trenton Julian scratched the semifinals.

Maximus Williamson, the world junior champion last year and second seed after prelims, swam almost one-and-a-half seconds slower than his best time as he ended up ninth in 1:58.59, 15-hundredths outside the final.

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