Topicmaster1010

KNOX!!!

It's Summer time!

21.72 for Liendo!

A while ago, I mentioned how there were a concerning number of qualifiers in the men's 400m IM. Today, based on the results that happened at Canadian Olympic Trials today, I would like to talk about another event with a concerning amount of qualifiers. That would be the Women's 100m Freestyle. Here's roughly where things stand today. In 2016, the OQT was 54.43. Then despite the reduction of quotas in 2020, the OQT still stood relatively constant only decreasing by 0.05 seconds to 54.38. This cycle, it's decreased by a whopping 0.77 SECONDS TO 53.61. Now why such the large drop, you ask? Well you have to remember that World Aquatics has a method they use to derive each OQT. For the Olympics, they use the faster of the 14th place time in the heats of the last Olympics, or the OQT of the Olympics before. It just so happened that the 14th place finisher at Tokyo had a time of 53.61 and that's how we have the standard we have today. Now let's see how many qualifiers we have as of today: NOC ATHLETE 1 QUALIFICATION EVENT RESULT ATHLETE 2 QUALIFICATION EVENT RESULT Australia 2 Maximum Quota exceeded, Athlete 1 TBD OQT X Maximum Quota exceeded, Athlete 2 TBD OQT X Canada 0 OLEKSIAK Penny Bell Canadian Olympic & Paralympic Trials 2024 OCT 53.66 Czechia 0 SEEMANOVÁ Barbora World Aquatics Championships 2024 OCT 53.76 France 2 GASTALDELLO Béryl Giant Open Final 2023 OQT 53.60 WATTEL Marie World Aquatics Championships 2023 OQT 53.59 Great Britain 2 ANDERSON Freya British National Championships 2023 OQT 53.48 HOPKIN Anna World Aquatics Championships 2024 OQT 53.09 Hong Kong 1 HAUGHEY Siobhán World Aquatics Swimming World Cup Berlin 2023 OQT 52.02 Netherlands 1 STEENBERGEN Marrit World Aquatics Championships 2024 OQT 52.26 People's Republic of China 2 WU Qingfeng Chinese National Championships 2024 OQT 53.25 YANG Junxuan Chinese National Championships 2024 OQT 52.68 Sweden 1 COLEMAN Michelle World Aquatics Championships 2023 OQT 53.41 United States of America 2 Maximum Quota exceeded, Athlete 1 TBD OQT X Maximum Quota exceeded, Athlete 2 TBD OQT X As you can see, there are currently 13 projected qualifiers and to be honest, it's hard to see who else could reach that time. Sarah Sjoestroem has also gone under the OQT of 53.61 but she's already said she's not swimming this event so I've removed her. And of these swimmers, there's a chance they all won't be picked by their National Federations to swim it. Gastaldello and Wattel have both only reached the OQT once during the qualification period. There's a good chance they don't swim the time at French Trials so I'm not sure what the French Swimming Federation do about that. Freya Anderson was sick during British Trials so she didn't swim the time required at Trials. Not sure if British Swimming will let her swim this event either. Everyone else with an OQT should be fine. Most events have over 20 qualifiers or at least in the high teens. So why so few qualifiers in this event (especially when both the 50m and 200m freestyle events have 20 qualifiers)? Well let's take a look at who the top 14 athletes were at the 2020 Olympic heats and what their qualification status is today. 1. Emma McKeon (52.13) - Achieved OQT 2. Siobhan Haughey (52.70) - Achieved OQT 3. Anna Hopkin (52.75) - Achieved OQT 4. Cate Campbell (52.80) - Achieved OQT 5. Sarah Sjoestroem (52.91) - Achieved OQT, wont swim this event 6. Penny Oleksiak (52.95) - Injured in late 2022, didn't get back to form until Canadian Trials, missed OQT by 0.05 seconds 7. Pernille Blume (52.96)- Retired 8. Yang Junxuan (53.02) - Achieved OQT 9. Femke Heemskerk (53.10) - Retired 10. Kayla Sanchez (53.12) - Started representing the Philippines last year. Hasn't come close to breaking 54 second since, let alone 53.61 11. Abbey Weitzeil (53.21) - Achieved OQT 12. Michelle Coleman (53.53) - Achieved OQT 13. Signe Bro (53.54) - Times peaked in Tokyo. Has only been under 54 seconds once since then. Failed to reach OQT. 14. Freya Anderson (53.61) - Achieved OQT So of the 14, 9 have reached the OQT (of which one won't swim this event), two have retired, and 3 have declined in performance. If we go further down the heat list, Charlotte Bonnet (53.67) isn't focusing on freestyle anymore, Marie Wattel (53.71) does have the OQT but has only reached it once this qualification period, Ranomi Kromowidjojo (53.71) retired, Erika Brown (now Connolly) (53.87) doesn't have the OQT, Wu Qingfeng (53.87) does have the OQT, Maria Kameneva (53.92) is banned, Barbora Seemanova (53.98) has the consideration time so she could swim it, and I'm not sure what happened with Andrea Murez (54.01) but she doesn't have the OQT either. Then there was a huge gap in times after Murez with the next fastest being 54.69. So of the top 22 swimmers from the Tokyo Olympic heats, only 11 swimmers have achieved the OQT. Another problem is that hardly any swimmers have emerged or broken out in this event over the last 3 years. If we don't include athletes from the US, Australia or China, only Marrit Steenbergen has had a breakthrough. So let's take a look at the 2023 World Championships to see what kind of field we were dealing with. Haughey, Weitzeil, McKeon, Wattel, Coleman, Steenbergen, O'Callaghan, Cheng Yujie were 1-8 in heats and all have the OQT. #9 was Stephanie Balduccini. Her PB is 54.05 set this year. She's still young though (19 years old) so if anyone not qualified yet could have a drop in time, it would be her. Then #10,11, and 12 are Gastaldello, Kate Douglass, and Yang who all have the time. #13 was Sofia Morini. Her PB is 54.21 (0.8 seconds off the OQT). #14 was Aimee Canny. Her PB is 54.60 (almost a full second off the OQT). She is qualified in the 200m freestyle though. #15 was Signe Bro. Already talked about her. #16 was Rikako Ikee. Has been as fast as 52.79 before but hasn't swam the same since her leukemia diagnosis in 2019. So as you can see, the field today is a lot less competitive than it was in Tokyo. At least most of these swimmers qualified in the relay events though. As a fan of swimming, it's just really frustrating to see athletes being unable to qualify because of insane qualification times compared to other events that have easier qualification times. Here's some other facts to show how absurd the OQT is: Summer McIntosh (who's best stroke is freestyle) has the OQT in the 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly and yet her PB is still 0.29 seconds off the 100m freestyle OQT Barbora Seemanova (primarily a 100 and 200m freestyler) has the 200m freestyle OQT, even has the 400m freestyle and 100m butterfly OQTs (two events she doesn't specialize in) and yet is still 0.15 seconds off the 100m freestyle OQT Kornelia Fiedkiewicz is ranked 22nd this year in both the 50 and 100m freestyle events. She has the OQT in the 50m freestyle but yet is still 0.4 seconds off the 100m freestyle OQT Alex Shackell (freestyler and butterflyer) has the OQT's in the 200m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 200m butterfly and is still off the 100m freestyle OQT by 0.5 seconds Mary-Sophie Harvey has had a breakout meet at Canadian Trials this year. She beat the 100m butterfly OQT by 0.6 seconds, beat the 200m freestyle OQT by 1.8 seconds but was still off the 100m freestyle OQT by 0.1 seconds. Maggie MacNeil (who's second best stroke is freestyle) was also off the 100m freestyle OQT by 0.03 seconds. Yet she has the OQT in the 100m backstroke (her 3rd best stroke) during an event she wasn't tapered in. So in conclusion, there will be very few qualifiers through the OQT, the heats will be uneventful, and there's a good chance we'll see multiple universality athletes reach the semifinals. The other events that have a concerning number of qualifiers are the women's distance events but at least they go directly to finals after heats. I could do another post about those events if you guys are interested.

Just realized that if Oleksiak can't swim the individual 100 free, then one of Mac Neil or MSH should be able to since they've both gone under the consideration time and they both have an OQT in another event already. That is of course if they are willing.

Canadian Olympic Trials: Day 5 Women's 100m Freestyle (OQT: 53.61) 1. Penny Oleksiak - 53.66 Q 2. Mary-Sophie Harvey - 53.71 Q 3. Brooklyn Douthwright - 54.33 Q 4. Taylor Ruck - 54.47 Q 5. Rebecca Smith - 54.70 6. Sienna Angove - 54.89 Fastest time for Penny since 2022. Unfortunately just missed the OQT by 0.05 seconds. There's a whole debate on swimswam right now trying to figure out whether or not she can still swim the individual 100 free since she still has the B cut. Also continuing her great week was Mary-Sophie Harvey in a big PB. Notably, both Maggie Mac Neil and Summer McIntosh scratched this race. Men's 200m Backstroke (OQT: 1:57.50) 1. Blake Tierney - 1:56.74 Q (Canadian Record) 2. Hugh McNeill - 1:58.49 3. Aiden Norman/Ethan Ekk - 1:58.92 Blake Tierney continues his great week dropping his PB by over two seconds. He adds a 2nd individual event for Paris alongside the 100m backstroke. Women's 200m Breaststroke (OQT: 2:23.91) 1. Sydney Pickrem - 2:23.79 Q 2. Kelsey Wog - 2:23.80 Q 3. Alexanne Lepage - 2:25.67 Men's 200m Butterfly (OQT: 1:55.78) 1. Ilya Kharun - 1:54.41 Q 2. Kevin Zhang - 1:59.14 3. Max Malakhovets - 1:59.17 Qualifiers after Day 5: 26 Swimmers (11 men + 15 women) Priority 1: Swimmers finishing in the top 2 in an event at Olympic Trials with OQT (14 swimmers) Javier Acevedo - Men's 100m Backstroke, 4x100m Freestyle Relay Mary-Sophie Harvey - Women's 200m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly, 4x100m Freestyle Relay, 4x200m Freestyle Relay Tristan Jankovics - Men's 400m Individual Medley Ilya Kharun - Men's 200m Butterfly Yuri Kisil - Men's 100m Freestyle, 4x100m Freestyle Relay Josh Liendo - Men's 100m Freestyle, 4x100m Freestyle Relay Maggie Mac Neil - Women's 100m Butterfly Kylie Masse - Women's 100m Backstroke, 200m Backstroke, 4x100m Medley Relay Summer McIntosh - Women's 200m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 400m Individual Medley, 4x200m Freestyle Relay Sydney Pickrem - Women's 200m Breaststroke Regan Rathwell - Women's 200m Backstroke Blake Tierney - Men's 100m Backstroke, 200m Backstroke, 4x100m Medley Relay Ingrid Wilm - Women's 100m Backstroke Kelsey Wog - Women's 200m Breaststroke Priority 2: Relay swimmers (top 4 in 100/200m freestyle + stroke 100 winners not in Priority 1) (11 swimmers) Sophie Angus - Women's 4x100m Medley Relay (Has the W 100m breaststroke OQT outside of trials) Alex Axon - Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Jeremy Bagshaw - Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Julie Brousseau - Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Brooklyn Douthwright - Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay Patrick Hussey - Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Finlay Knox - Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay, 4x100m Medley Relay Emma O'Croinin - Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Penny Oleksiak - Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay, 4x100m Medley Relay Taylor Ruck - Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay Lorne Wigginton - Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Priority 3: Swimmers who place in the top 2 at Trials who have an OQT outside of Olympic Trials (1 swimmer) Ella Jansen - Women's 400m Individual Medley

I sure hope so. She has the b cut and will be going to Paris anyways since she'll be part of the relays so it won't affect the quota limit. Otherwise you're going to have a field with something like 12 OQT swimmers given how insane the OQT is + a bunch of universality swimmers. And that just would not be a good look at all.

Oleksiak just 0.05 away from the a standard but has the b so she'll be the sole representative for Canada in this event most likely

53.61 was 14th place in Tokyo. Those heats were insanely fast. That's how the standard was decided. A lot of those women in Tokyo have since retired or regressed with only one Dutch women really emerging during since. Only 27 women have hit that standard in the qualification period of which 7 are Australians, 7 are American, and 5 are Chinese.

In this case, it should be fine because whoever gets a OCT in the 100 free will be going to Paris for the relay anyways. It won't affect the quota limit.

Fingers crossed one of the 100 free women can get under the absurd 53.61 OQT or at least the consideration time of 53.88.

Canadian Olympic Trials: Day 4 Women's 400m Individual Medley (OQT: 4:38.53) 1. Summer McIntosh - 4:24.38 (WR) Q 2. Ella Jansen - 4:38.88 Q 3. Mabel Zavaros - 4:40.46 Insane swim by Summer who's breaststroke has clearly improved tremendously since the last time she swum this event. That made all the difference to breaking her World Record. Was expecting some more times under the OQT to be honest given our depth in this event. Nice bounceback swim by Jansen after struggling with the 400m freestyle earlier in the meet. Despite falling just short of the OQT here, she earned her spot on the Olympic team by placing top 2 here and already getting the OQT at the World Junior Championships. Men's 100m Freestyle (OQT: 48.34) 1. Josh Liendo - 47.55 Q 2. Yuri Kisil - 48.19 Q 3. Finlay Knox - 48.29 Q 4. Javier Acevedo - 48.58 Q 5. Edouard Fullum-Huot - 49.06 6. Filip Senc-Samardzic - 49.18 Liendo has arrived! Best time for Kisil since Tokyo and he's returned to form nicely. He'll also get an individual swim here. Finlay Knox had a massive drop to place 3rd. His best time coming into trials was 49.23 and now he's gone under the OQT. Overall, chances of a relay medal (although small) are a lot higher than they were before the meet. Women's 200m Backstroke (OQT: 2:10.39) 1. Kylie Masse - 2:06.24 Q 2. Regan Rathwell - 2:09.38 Q 3. Madison Kryger - 2:12.00 Masse continues her good form. Great story here as Regan Rathwell qualifies for her first Olympics after having to deal with multiple injuries (labrum and broken foot) over the last two years. Men's 800m Freestyle (OQT: 7:51.65) 1. Timothe Barbeau - 8:00.61 2. Eric Brown - 8:03.04 3. Kieran Watson - 8:06.73 Qualifiers after Day 4: 20 Swimmers (10 men + 10 women) Priority 1: Swimmers finishing in the top 2 in an event at Olympic Trials with OQT (11 swimmers) Javier Acevedo - Men's 100m Backstroke, 4x100m Freestyle Relay Mary-Sophie Harvey - Women's 200m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly, 4x200m Freestyle Relay Tristan Jankovics - Men's 400m Individual Medley Yuri Kisil - Men's 100m Freestyle, 4x100m Freestyle Relay Josh Liendo - Men's 100m Freestyle, 4x100m Freestyle Relay Maggie Mac Neil - Women's 100m Butterfly Kylie Masse - Women's 100m Backstroke, 200m Backstroke, 4x100m Medley Relay Summer McIntosh - Women's 200m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 400m Individual Medley, 4x200m Freestyle Relay Regan Rathwell - Women's 200m Backstroke Blake Tierney - Men's 100m Backstroke, 4x100m Medley Relay Ingrid Wilm - Women's 100m Backstroke Priority 2: Relay swimmers (top 4 in 100/200m freestyle + stroke 100 winners not in Priority 1) (8 swimmers) Sophie Angus - Women's 4x100m Medley Relay (Has the W 100m breaststroke OQT outside of trials) Alex Axon - Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Jeremy Bagshaw - Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Julie Brousseau - Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Patrick Hussey - Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Finlay Knox - Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay, 4x100m Medley Relay Emma O'Croinin - Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Lorne Wigginton - Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Priority 3: Swimmers who place in the top 2 at Trials who have an OQT outside of Olympic Trials (1 swimmer) Ella Jansen - Women's 400m Individual Medley

2024 German National Championships - Berlin (GER) April 25th - April 28th 2024 Meet Results The following new OQTs were achieved Men's 50m Freestyle Artem Selin Men's 100m Backstroke Marek Ulrich Women's 200m Freestyle Julia Mrozinski The following 24 swimmers have been nominated for Olympic Selection Men (15): Luca Armbruster - 4x100m Medley Relay Ole Braunschweig - Men's 100m Backstroke, 4x100m Medley Relay, Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay Cedric Büssing - Men's 400m Individual Medley Melvin Imoudu - Men's 100m Breaststroke, 4x100m Medley Relay, Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay Oliver Klemet - Men's 400m Freestyle, 800m Freestyle Lukas Märtens - Men's 200m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 200m Backstroke, 4x100m Freestyle Relay, 4x200m Freestyle Relay Lucas Matzerath - Men's 100m Breaststroke Rafael Miroslaw - Men's 200m Freestyle, 4x100m Freestyle Relay, 4x200m Freestyle Relay Josha Salchow - Men's 100m Freestyle, 4x100m Freestyle Relay, 4x200m Freestyle Relay, 4x100m Medley Relay Sven Schwarz - Men's 800m Freestyle, 1500m Freestyle Artem Selin - Men's 50m Freestyle Timo Sorgius - Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Marek Ulrich - Men's 100m Backstroke Peter Varjasi - Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay Florian Wellbrock - Men's 1500m Freestyle Relay Women (9): Anna Elendt - Women's 100m Breaststroke, 4x100m Medley Relay Isabel Gose - Women's 200m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 800m Freestyle, 1500m Freestyle, 4x200m Freestyle Relay Nina Holt - Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay, 4x100m Medley Relay, Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay Angelina Köhler - Women's 100m Butterfly, 4x100m Medley Relay, Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay Nicole Maier - Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay Leonie Märtens - Women's 400m Freestyle, 1500m Freestyle Julia Mrozinski - Women's 200m Freestyle, 4x200m Freestyle Relay Laura Riedemann - Women's 4x100m Medley Relay Nele Schulze - Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay *Events are not official, only projected Source

Not seeing Summer or Maggie on the start list for the 100 free. Good news for the likes of Oleksiak, Smith, Savard, Fournier. No Jankovics in the 200 back. Going all in on the 200 IM I guess. Also no Branton in the 200 breast.

Still got the 800 free to go. Probably no qualifiers but you never know

I believe Canadian records for both Shelby Newkirk and Tess Routliffe in the para 100 free

Happy for Rathwell after being injured last year!

Fantastic times!!! 4 guys at 48.55 or under Knox also with the OQT

Her breaststroke in particular looks so much better compared to her WR from last year

Jansen in second. A bit off the OQT but she has it already from World Juniors

Aoskfkskekckfkffged WORLD RECORD!!!

Some fun races again. Second spots in the 400 IM and 200 back along with relay spots in the 100 free are wide open

Last year, 49.43 was the 3rd place time in the 100 free at Canadian Trials. There were 8 guys who went under that time today just in the heats.

He will likely go to Junior Pan Pacs and get a lot of racing experience.

Looks like both MSH and Pickrem scratched the 400 IM. Big opportunity for one of Jansen or Brousseau to get an individual event!