U.S. Olympic Trials: Luke Hobson, Chris Guiliano Lead Scintillating 200 Free

Luke Hobson and Drew Kibler; Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Olympic Trials: Luke Hobson, Chris Guiliano Lead Scintillating 200 Free

A crowded field in the men’s 200 free was going to create chaos at U.S. Olympic Trials Monday night.

Sweet, sweet chaos.

In the end, Luke Hobson picked up the win in 1:44.89, while Chris Giuliano brought the outside smoke to get the second spot in 1:45.38.

The first two relay spots go to Drew Kibler in 1:45.61 and Kieran Smith, already on the team in the 400 free, in 1:45.61. Fifth was Brooks Curry in 1:45.89, followed by Blake Pieroni.

Six swimmers have broken 1:45 this year: Lukas Martens, Matthew Richards, David Popovici, Duncan Scott, Sunwoo Hwang and Danas Rapsys. The top American time entering trials was delivered by Hobson at 1:45.26 to win bronze at Worlds in Doha. No one else had broken 1:46.02 – Kibler was 1:46.02 – before three did so in semifinals Sunday. Hobson enters that sub-1:45 club.

Smith won the event in 2021 in 1:45.29, though many of the main players than have since retired, among them relay qualifiers Townley Haas and Andrew Seliskar. Smith finished sixth in Tokyo, Haas 12th.

“Relay is going to be killer,” Smith said. “That’s the main goal of this summer, a 4 x 200 relay gold. … It was super exciting to see some of the traditional sprint guys, 100 guys step up to the 200.”

Hobson has made it “his mission” to rebound from a less than stellar performance on the relays in Fukuoka to a stellar college season at Texas. The Reno native is the two-time reigning NCAA champion in the 200 free.

Kibler was fourth with Smith sixth at Worlds in 2022. Hobson took fifth with Smith seventh in Fukuoka in 2023.

Kibler is on the relay for the fourth major event in the last four years, dating to the Tokyo Olympics. The level of consistency is a point of pride, and the native of Carmel has gotten to relish in the hometown atmosphere this week.

“All of them showing the support and showing the love, it’s really special,” he said. “On top of all of the intent to perform, it’s a reminder that this whole thing we do is really, really cool. Just take it in and enjoy the moment, and it’s been helpful to remind me of that.”

Guiliano, who made his first international teams in the 100 free, showed he could step up to the longer distance. That bodes well for the Americans’ 400 free relay, spots on which are pretty open.

“Coming into this meet, I didn’t really know what to expect in this race,” he said. “But I think the more I swim this event, the more I get used to it. I think we’ve seen this through the course of the year. I wasn’t really going crazy times, but I was finding out different ways to swim it and really execute it.”

Aaron Shackell, who rallied in a swim-off to get into the final, was a distant eighth.

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