INDIANAPOLIS — USA Swimming’s national championships come to the Natatorium for the eighth time, but this version is different from the previous such meets. The nationals signal a build-up to the 2024 Olympic Trials, which will be held 1.4 miles away at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The meet runs Tuesday through Saturday, with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals at 7 p.m.
Results will determine team selection for four international meets: next month’s World Championships at Fukuoka, Japan; World Junior Championships at Netanya, Israel; Pan American Games at Santiago, Chile; under-23 European Championships at Dublin, Ireland.
The meet features 31 Olympic medalists. Top two finishers in each event qualify for the world team, plus up to six in the 100- and 200-meter freestyles for relays.
Six storylines:
1. Will Carmel swimmers return to world stage?
In 2021, Drew Kibler and Jake Mitchell became the first Carmel swimmers to make a U.S. Olympic team. In 2023, they will be contenders to make the world team, as will two more Carmel swimmers, Alex Shackell and Kelly Pash. No Carmel swimmer has ever made the U.S. women’s world team in long course (50-meter pool).
Kibler made the men’s world team in 2022, winning a gold medal in the 4x200 freestyle relay and missing bronze in the 200 free by .03. The University of Texas graduate has the year’s fastest time by an American, 1:45.82. Mitchell, who transferred from Michigan to Florida, is this year’s No. 2 American in the 400 freestyle, 3:49.91.
The 16-year-old Shackell, coming off a sophomore season at Carmel High School, should have a better chance in 2024 than she does this week. Pash, 22, ranks as No. 3 American in the 200 butterfly and Shackell No. 5. Shackell has an outside shot in the 100 butterfly, coming off personal best from a May meet at the Natatorium.
Carmel backstroker Wyatt Davis, now at Michigan, was a 2019 world junior champion. Shackell’s older brother, Aaron, set a national high school record in the 200-yard freestyle at the state meet.
Lynsey Bowen (500-yard free), Molly Sweeney (200 IM) and Berit Berglund (100 backstroke) are all state record-holders on the girls side.
2. Is Lilly King still queen of breaststroke?
Hard to believe it has been nearly seven years since Evansville’s Lilly King became a global sports sensation. She called out a Russian for doping, then beat her to win a gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke at the Rio Olympics.
Now, the 26-year-old Indiana University graduate is being challenged as the top American breaststroker.
Until the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, King had won 85 consecutive races in the 100 breaststroke – long and short course meters, short course yards – according to NBC Sports. She came away with bronze, and did not medal in the 100 breaststroke at the 2022 worlds. Inspiringly, despite recovering from a bout of COVID-19, she subsequently won gold in the 200 breaststroke.
Heading into nationals, King is No. 2 in both breaststrokes this year: in the 100 behind Lydia Jacoby, the surprise Tokyo gold medalist, and in the 200 behind Kate Douglass.
3. Cody Miller and other Hoosiers
Like King, Cody Miller is a holdover from Rio 2016. The 31-year-old IU graduate has not represented Team USA since winning a silver in the 100 breaststroke at the 2019 Pan Am Games, but he remains in the mix as the No. 3 American this year.
IU swimmers seeking world team spots include Anna Peplowski, who ranks second to Katie Ledecky in the 200 free; sprinter Kristina Paegle, distance freestyler Mariah Denigan; two-time NCAA champion Brendan Burns, and 2021 Olympian Michael Brinegar.
The Hoosiers’ Blake Pieroni, 27, a relay gold medalist in 2016 and 2021, has come out of a brief retirement but did not enter nationals.
Zionsville’s Will Modglin, coming off a national high school record in the 100-yard backstroke, is caught in an in-between year. He is not age eligible for junior worlds, and he will have a better chance in 2024 after a freshman season at Texas.
4. Caeleb Dressel comeback
After winning five gold medals at Tokyo, Caeleb Dressel withdrew from the 2022 worlds for unspecified health reasons. He had won two golds at worlds.
The 26-year-old returned to competition in May and is entered in his specialties: 50 and 100 freestyles, 50 and 100 butterflies.
He ranks outside the United States’ top five but customarily cuts time at major championships.
5. Katie Ledecky, Chase Kalisz try to round out decade
Katie Ledecky and Chase Kalisz have competed in all five World Championships since 2013. If they make it in 2023, they would join five others to race in as many as six: Nathan Adrian, Elizabeth Beisel, Natalie Coughlin, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps.
Ledecky, 26, has won seven Olympic golds and 19 World Championship golds. She is in the conversation as the greatest freestyler in the sport’s history. She is No. 1 American in the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyles.
Kalisz won gold in the 400 individual medley at Tokyo and bronze at the 2022 worlds. He ranks No. 3 in the 200 IM behind Carson Foster and Shaine Casas.
6. They’ve got next: Regan Smith and Kate Douglass
Two 21-year-olds, Regan Smith and Douglass, could grow into Team USA’s next superstars.
Smith, a world champion in both backstrokes, is No. 1-ranked American in five events: 100 and 200 backstrokes and butterflies, plus 200 IM. She could swim in all five this week without having to race more than once in any session.
She set an American record of 2:03.87 in the 200 butterfly on June 4 at Tempe, Ariz.
Douglass completed her collegiate career in March with seven firsts at the NCAA Championships, three with American records in individual events: 200-yard IM, 100 butterfly, 200 breaststroke.
Contact David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
