By: Serena Li

The USA Olympic Swimming Trials was a nine-day Olympic-qualifiers event from June 15-23rd with around 300,000 spectators. In this event, two world records were made and forty six roster spots (20 women and 26 men) packed. This event was held at the Lucas Oil Stadium Indianapolis, Indiana to select the top performers who will represent U.S.A in the Paris Olympics.

The roster has many young stars including Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Chris Fuiliano and Thomas Heilman. Gretchen Walsh broke a record for 100-meter butterfly with a time of 55.18 seconds, beating Sarah Sjöström’s record of 55.48, which was set in a gold-medal effort at the 2016 Olympics. Regan Smith swam the fastest time in history for 100-meter backstroke with a time of 57.13 seconds, beating Kaylee McKeown’s time of 57.33.

Katie Ledecky, the 10-time Olympic medalist, put in an extraordinary performance by winning all four of her events (200 freestyle, 400 freestyle, 800 freestyle and 1,500 freestyle.) Even though her swimming was extraordinary, she was still a little disappointed. She said, “I would have wanted to swim a little faster but I’ll take it. I’ll be better in a few weeks.” In Paris, she will swim the long distance events and make history.

Swimming might seem easy to some, but the sport can be very hard both physically and mentally. In 2021, Simone Manuel was diagnosed with overtraining syndrome. She had to take a break from physical activity for seven months. This year she came back and got into the relay team by finishing in fourth place in the 100-meter freestyle.

The Olympic Swimming Trials were very exciting, so don’t forget to watch the Paris Olympics for more historic events.