By: Shawn  Wang

The Lucas Oil Stadium, a football stadium that used to be made up of green turf, has been transformed into a shimmering blue Olympic-sized swimming pool. After this grand transformation was complete, elite swimming athletes from across the country came and competed over the course of a week.

The seven-time medalist Katie Ledecky has been the best distance swimmer in the world for a decade. This year, she didn’t break any of her own records, but she still crushed the competition against her other fellow Americans. In her prime, she was able to win for all distances, from 200 to a mile. Right now, she is still the best in her country, as proven by the trials. This year, she will be swimming the 400 meters, but since she is no longer in her prime, so she may lose to formidable opponents such as Ariarne Titmus and Summer McIntosh.

Seven-time Olympic medalist Caleb Dressel is also back. In mid-2022, he took a sudden break and disappeared from the spotlight. Dressel also failed to make the World Championship team in 2023. However, he is back this year and will be swimming the 100-meter butterfly and the 50-meter freestyle.

There will also be a lot of pressure on 17-year-old Thomas Heilman. He is particularly good at the butterfly stroke and will be swimming the 200-meter as well as the 100-meter butterfly. He will be the youngest to swim in multiple individual events at one of the Games since Brian Goodell did it in 1976.

Last summer, Australia topped the U.S. swim team in medal counts. Australia has 13 gold medals, while the U.S. earned 7. Although the U.S. had more overall medals compared to them, there is still pressure this year between the two countries on who can get the most medals for swimming. The Aussies have a very formidable swim team, especially the women’s side, where the team’s leader, Ariarne Titmus, will be squaring off against Ledecky in the 400.

This rivalry will set the stage for very high-spirited and competitive races between the two countries. “Well, the good news is the Olympics will be here shortly, and we’ll be able to see what the results are,” NBC filmed 23-time gold medalist Michael Phelps.

Scources:
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5585954/2024/06/24/us-olympic-swimming-trials-caeleb-dressel-katie-ledecky/