OMAHA, Neb. — The 2021 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials got underway Sunday in the temporary pool inside CHI Health Center in downtown Omaha. Only the top two swimmers in finals heats qualify for a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team that will head for Tokyo. Some relay positions will also be awarded to swimmers who finish outside the top two places.
Indiana is well-represented in Omaha by veteran Olympians Lilly King, Cody Miller and Blake Pieroni who all represented the United States in 2016 in Rio.
Both King and Pieroni are scheduled to swim Monday on Day 2 of competition.
(Scroll down to see Monday's results, click here for Tuesday's results.)
King, from Newburgh, holds the world record in the Women's 100 Meter Breaststroke. She led all qualifiers Monday morning with the top prelim time of 1:05.67 and will be joined by Bethany Galat in Monday night's semifinals, which get underway at 8 p.m. ET. Galat, from South Bend, will swim next to King in the final heat with sights set on qualifying as one of the eight fastest swimmers Tuesday night's finals. Indiana's Emily Weiss, now swimming at IU after starring at Yorktown, swam 26th in morning prelims. Fellow Hoosiers Mackenzie Looze (18th) and Noelle Peplowski (37th) were also in the field.
Miller, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist in the Men's 100 Breaststroke, swam in the semifinals of the event Monday night after advancing with a time of 1:00.35. Miller ended 11th and missed the top 8 to advance to Tuesday night's final heat that will decide who goes to Tokyo. He has one more shot, at age 29, to qualify for Tokyo in the Men's 200 Breaststroke on Thursday.
Pieroni, who swam at Chesterton and IU, tied for ninth place in the Men's 200 Freestyle preliminaries Monday morning. Carmel's Drew Kibler, now representing Longhorn Aquatics at the University of Texas, is expected to contend for a spot in the finals along with Pieroni after placing 7th in prelims. Carmel's Jake Mitchell, now swimming at Michigan, was also in the field after finishing second Sunday night in the Men's 400 Free to Florida's Kieran Smith, along with Zane Grothe, an Auburn swimmer who now trains in Bloomington.
RELATED: Carmel's Kibler, Mitchell qualify for Tokyo Games; IU's Lilly King dominant in 100m breaststroke
Mitchell did not advance in the 200 Free after finishing 26th in prelims. Grothe advanced to Monday night's 200 Free semifinal by tying for 13th place in morning prelims.
Mitchell's second-place time of 3:48.17 in the 400 Freestyle did not meet the FINA time standard of 3:46.78 to qualify for Tokyo. So Grothe could be in line to get the second spot behind Smith because he is the only other American swimmer to meet the standard during the international qualifying period that opened March 1, 2019, and runs through June 27. Mitchell could still earn the Olympic team spot if he can meet the FINA time standard in a sanctioned swim before June 27.
Monday's results
King clocked the fastest time in the world in the past four years in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:04.72. Annie Lazor, who trains at Indiana University, made it through to Tuesday's finals with a second-place finish to King. Galat also earned a place in the final.
Kibler finished fourth and Pieroni came in fifth in the men's 200-meter freestyle event to earn their spots in the final.
In the Women's 100 Meter Backstroke, Amy Bilquist is in position to advance to Tuesday night's finals. The Indiana high school champion at Carmel who swam at California in college and now trains in Arizona qualified eighth on Monday morning for Monday's night's semifinals. She needs to hold onto at least the 8th spot to swim in finals.
Carmel's Berit Berglund and Maddie Christman, along with Jo Jo Ramey of Fishers, were also in the field for the 100 Backstroke. Berglund earned a second swim by placing 15th in morning prelims while Ramey will be an alternate in Monday night's semifinal after placing 17th.
In the Men's 100 Meter Backstroke, Carmel's Wyatt Davis failed to advance out of his qualifying heat, where he was swimming along with top seed and world record holder Ryan Murphy. Davis finished 29th in morning prelims. Murphy stands 4th heading into semifinals.
Cade Oliver of Franklin and IU swimmers Brendan Burns and Jacob Steele were also also in the field but did not advance.
In the Women's 400 Meter Freestyle, Carmel's Emma Nordin moved on to Monday night's final along with world record holder Katie Ledecky. Nordin now trains with Sun Devil Aquatics at Arizona State, and qualified 7th for finals with a time of 4.10.31. Ledecky is the top seed at 4:03.07.
Kaersten Meitz, who trains at Purdue, is also in the final eight Monday night, seeded 6th with a 4:07.07.
Also swimming Monday night is Carmel's Kelly Pash in the final eight of Women's 100 Butterfly. Pash, who now swims with Kibler at the University of Texas, is seeded eighth.
U.S. Olympic swimming trial dates and where to watch:
Monday, June 14
Wave II Qualifying Heats on NBCSN at 6:30 p.m. ET*
Wave II Finals on NBC at 8 p.m. ET/PT
Tuesday, June 15
Wave II Qualifying Heats on NBCSN at 6:30 p.m. ET*
Wave II Finals on NBC at 8 p.m. ET/PT
Wednesday, June 16
Wave II Qualifying Heats on NBCSN at 6:30 p.m. ET*
Wave II Finals on NBC at 8 p.m. ET/PT
Thursday, June 17
Wave II Qualifying Heats on NBCSN at 6:30 p.m. ET*
Wave II Finals on NBCSN at 8 p.m. ET
Wave II Finals on NBC at 10 p.m. ET/PT*
Friday, June 18
Wave II Qualifying Heats on NBCSN at 6 p.m. ET*
Wave II Finals on NBC at 9 p.m. ET/PT
Saturday, June 19
Wave II Qualifying Heats on NBCSN at 6:30 p.m. ET*
Wave II Finals on NBC at 9 p.m. ET
Sunday, June 20
Wave II Finals on NBC at 8:15 p.m. ET
*Delayed coverage