24 Olympic selection spots decided for the Under-18 Spring Cup

At the recent USA Swimming Under-18 Spring Cup, 24 Olympic selection criteria were reached over three events. That gives some value to the existence of this new program, which aims to provide the country's top juniors with a big long-course race ahead of the Olympic Trials.

Of the 24 games at the Olympic Trials, 21 were played by women. The event in Elkhart, Indiana was the most successful, achieving 15 Olympic selection criteria. Eight swam in Florida, but only one from the Mesa, Arizona venue (partly because California was in the middle of high school championship season).

For some swimmers, this meet was a huge breakthrough. jacob pins For example, the high school senior and Arizona State University athlete for the Iowa Flyers swam the 400 free in Elkhart in 3 minutes, 53.51 seconds. In his first long course race of the year, he shaved 4.4 seconds off his personal best time and missed the Olympic selection cut of 3:55.59.

He also significantly dropped his time in the 800m, dropping an additional 4.4 seconds from his previous best of 8:10.92 to 8:05.53, still well below the Olympic shortening.

He was an Iowa high school state champion in the 200 free and 500 free.

Lauderdale in Ft. kaden hedrick In the men's 200 fly, he swam and landed in a hugely best time of 2:00.38. This beat his previous personal best time of 2:02.09, set at NCSA in July 2023, and slipped into the Olympic Trials cutoff by 0.11 seconds.

In other cases, something like Leah HayesErica Pelaez, piper engineand Maggie Wanezek had already qualified, so it was an opportunity for her to swim with confidence against a good field.

For example, Wanezek, best known as a backstroker, shaved nine-tenths of a second off her best time in the 50 free event, clocking 25.59 seconds.

Pelaez, a national age-group record holder and member of the 2023 World Junior Team, competed in the Spring Cup with the goal of making the U.S. Olympic team, but his 100-meter free time of 54.56 seconds was set in July 2022. This was his best time since 54.65 seconds).

Her 200 free time of 2:00.51 was 0.77 seconds off her personal best time from last summer's race, and improved her previous 50 free, 100 free, 100 back, 200 back, and 200 seconds. In addition, it gave a new option to trial. I.

Olympic Trials to cut back on swimming at Under-18 Spring Cup