U.S. Olympic Trials, Day One Finals Heat Sheets: First Tokyo Tickets Handed Out Tonight

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Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Olympic Trials, Day One Finals Heat Sheets: First Tokyo Tickets Handed Out Tonight

The first night of finals from the 2021 US Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska will feature three finals that will see six swimmers make the Olympic Team for Tokyo, Japan. After a long five-year wait, the first names will be added to the plane as the men’s and women’s 400 IM and the men’s 400 free finals will be held on Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. CST. The meet will be on NBC and on NBCOlympics.com.

Semi-finals of the women’s 100 fly and men’s 100 breast will also be held as Michael Andrew will look to back up his American record from this morning in the 100 breaststroke while 2016 Trials champ Kelsi Dahlia is on top of the stacked field in the 100 butterfly.

2016 Olympians Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland will have their hands full in the finals of the men’s 400 IM to start the night as they are seeded second and third in tonight’s final with 19-year-old Carson Foster holding the top spot after this morning. Florida’s Bobby Finke and Texas’ Jake Foster should also factor into the top two as the US has won a medal in the men’s 400 IM at every Olympics they competed in excluding 1984. Kalisz won the silver medal in Rio in 2016 and was the world champ in 2017.

In the women’s 400 IM, 26-year-old Hali Flickinger has the top time at 4:37.79 as she is ahead of 19-year-old Emma Weyant, who is looking to make her first team while Flickinger is in line to make her second. 2016 Olympians Melanie Margalis and Leah Smith will also be in the final in third and sixth seeds as Margalis came into the meet with the top time on the psych sheet and Smith was the 2017 national champion.

Kieran Smith is the top seed in the men’s 400 free final at 3:48.06 as nobody in the final, with the exception of Mitch D’Arrigo has swum in an Olympic Games, nor has anyone outside of Andrew Abruzzo represented the US at a major senior international meet. Second seed Ross Dant of NC State and third seed Chris Wieser swam lifetime bests to surround short course American record holder Smith in tonight’s final.

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