U.S. Olympic Trials: Gretchen Walsh Storms to Personal Best in 50 Freestyle Semifinals; Torri Huske Lurking

U.S. Olympic Trials: Gretchen Walsh Storms to Personal Best in 50 Freestyle Semifinals; Torri Huske Lurking

Will Torri Huske add a third individual event for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris? Can Simone Manuel and Abbey Weitzeil – already tabbed for relay action – lock themselves into solo duty? Will Gretchen Walsh bolster her program for next month’s action in the French capital? Could there be a surprise qualifier?

Plenty of questions surrounded the semifinals of the women’s 50-meter freestyle on Saturday night at the United States Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. But heading into Sunday’s final, clarity is starting to emerge.

En route to winning the second semifinal, Walsh clocked a personal-best time of 24.06 to narrowly edge Huske, who touched the wall in 24.09. Walsh and Huske will be the slight favorites in the final, but veteran danger is lurking behind them. Grabbing the third seed for Sunday night was Weitzeil, who topped the first semifinal on the strength of a 24.48 effort. She’s followed as No. 4 seed by Manuel, who recorded a swim of 24.51.

“Honestly, that was a personal best for me and I was really excited with that time,” said Walsh, who blasted a world record in the 100 butterfly earlier in the meet. “I think I knew I was capable of dropping just based on how I did in the NCAA season. So having that translate over was really important to me. I know I did have something like that in me, but this morning, I wasn’t feeling too great. I’m feeling back on track. I think I can maybe pull out a 23.”

The chase for the two invitations to Paris opened up during the morning session when Kate Douglass skipped preliminaries to focus on the final of the 200 individual medley. Douglass was the top seed at 23.91, a mark which stands as the American record and was posted earlier this year at the World Championships.

Qualifying fifth in what was a 24-mid logjam was Erika Connolly (24.54), who was followed by Rylee Erisman and Catie DeLoof, both in 24.66. Rounding out the final was Maxine Parker (24.68). Erisman is a 15-year-old upstart who sliced .32 off her personal best with her semifinal swim.

Following Walsh’s semifinal triumph, her older sister, Alex, finished second in the 200 individual medley to secure her second straight ticket to the Olympics.

“It means everything,” Walsh said of her sister qualifying. “I’m so happy. It’s such a relief. I knew that she was going to do it. We all knew, my family. But just having it in the books now that me and Alex are going to Paris together, it’s a dream come true for both of us. (It’s) 17 years in the making.”

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