Depth of talent at U.S. Olympic trials means heartbreak may be just a swim away (2024)

Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Regan Smith entered the race ranked first, second and third in the world — the only women on the planet to have been under 56 seconds this season. Put them on the starting blocks in any major international meet, and they would be a decent bet to sweep the medals.

But in the cold and unrelenting math governing Olympic qualifying, only two of them could make the Team USA roster for the Paris Olympics in this event, and the two who reached the final wall first were Walsh and Huske — the former (55.31) finishing just off the world record time of 55.18 she posted the night before in the semifinals, the latter an arm’s length behind (55.52).

“The fact it took a 55-mid to make the Olympic team this year in that event is absolutely unheard of,” Walsh said, “and I’m so excited for America’s success in that event come Paris.”

The hard-luck third-place finisher was Smith in 55.62, a time that makes her the fifth-fastest woman in history in this event. That designation, however, provides little consolation: It does not put her on the team heading to Paris. As Walsh and Huske hugged on the pool deck and waved to the crowd, Smith quietly slinked down the athletes’ tunnel and out of sight. The 22-year-old will have three more chances at this meet — in the 200 butterfly and in the 100 and 200 backstrokes — and will be the clear favorite in all three.

Walsh, 21, is coming off one of the most dominant college seasons in history, capped by seven gold medals at the NCAA championships, where she set NCAA records in the 50 freestyle, 100 free and 100 fly and propelled Virginia to its fourth straight national championship. But her brilliant collegiate career, coupled with her falling short of the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, led to a perception that she was better suited for the 25-yard pool of NCAA swimming than the 50-meter version of international competition.

If that reputation wasn’t put to rest for good Sunday night, it might be by the end of next week, with Walsh still poised to swim the 100 free, the 50 free and perhaps the 100 back.

“This whole journey has been full of ups and downs,” she said, “but I’m so happy to be on such a high right now.”

If there is anyone who understands the brutal, unforgiving nature of the U.S. Olympic trials, it is Carson Foster. Three years ago at the 2021 trials, Foster let a lead get away in the final 50 meters of the 400 individual medley and finished third, a half-second short of making the team.

This time, he went wire to wire and no one, not even veteran Chase Kalisz one lane over, could catch him. Foster (4:07.64) and Kalisz (4:09.39) earned spots on the Paris roster. Jay Litherland (4:12.34), who edged out Foster in 2021 and went on to win silver in Tokyo, was Sunday’s dreaded third-place finisher.

“It’s a full-circle moment for me,” Foster said.

Walsh and Foster credited the mental performance coaches they started working with following their 2021 disappointments for giving them the tools to get past the heartbreak and into position to thrive this summer. They even quantified it in the exact same way: “It’s totally changed my career.”

“A few years ago, when I was approached about working with a performance coach, I was almost a little bit offended,” Foster added. “Deep down, I knew I needed it, but I was like, ‘I don’t need that’ — just the stigma towards it. But I can 100 percent guarantee I would not be sitting up here without it.”

One night after clinching a spot on her fourth Olympic team by winning the women’s 400 freestyle, legendary distance swimmer Katie Ledecky was back in the water for the semifinals of the 200 free, a race she no longer dominates internationally and sometimes doesn’t even contest. But at least in America, she remains the one to beat, a point she drove home by swimming a 1:55.25 in her semi, leading the qualifiers for Monday night’s final.

It remains unclear whether Ledecky intends to swim the individual 200, either in Monday night’s final or in Paris, or whether she merely intends to use her time here to secure a spot on the 800 freestyle relay at the Olympics.

That final will be one of five contested on an action-packed schedule Monday night. Including relay spots, as many as 18 could earn berths on Team USA’s roster for Paris — although because of roster limitations, some spots, particularly for the relays, won’t be made official until the end of the meet.

As delightful as it is to witness a swimmer newly becoming an Olympian, the flip side of the equation is equally crushing: Five finals means five third-place finishers, the gantlet of the Olympic trials claiming more victims each night.