The 2024 USA Swimming Olympic Trials is expected to be a spectacular event, bringing together the nation’s best swimmers in a bid to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team for the upcoming Olympics in Paris. The Trials, held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, will run for nine days, beginning on Saturday, June 15th and concluding on Sunday, June 23rd.
The competition will get underway with the first qualifying races at 11:00 AM ET on June 15. These races will set the stage for the evening finals, which will begin at 8:00 PM ET each night and air on NBC.
If you’ve canceled cable but still want to watch, streaming services like FuboTV (free trial) and DirecTV Stream offer NBC and USA Network for free. Sling TV is another option, and it’s offering promotional pricing for new customers.
In addition to the finals airing on NBC, USA Network will also broadcast qualifying sessions. Both the qualifying and finals will also be streamed on Peacock. Peacock doesn’t offer a free trial to new users, but you can sign up for $5.99 per month.
Notable People
At 27 years old, Katie Ledecky remains a dominant force in the swimming world. With 10 Olympic medals under her belt, including seven gold medals, Ledecky is seeking a spot on her fourth Olympic team. She competes in the 200, 400, 800 and 1500 meter freestyle and holds the top times in each event for 2024. Despite a rare loss in the 200 meter freestyle at the 2023 U.S. Championships, Ledecky remains a formidable competitor and one to watch.
After winning five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, Caleb Dressel withdrew from competition for health reasons at the 2022 World Championships and took an extended break to focus on his mental health. Now, Dressel is back and aiming to compete in his third Olympic Games. He holds the top American time in the 100m butterfly and good records in the 50m and 100m freestyle, making him the favorite to win.
Simone Manuel, a four-time Olympic medalist and the first black woman to win an individual gold medal in swimming, is another star comeback athlete. After suffering from overtraining syndrome and missing most of the events in Tokyo, Manuel returned with impressive times in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle. Her journey back to her best makes this an inspiring story.
Kate Douglas, who won a bronze medal in the 200m medley at the 2020 Olympic Games, has emerged as a standout swimmer, recording top times in multiple events, including the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m breaststroke, and 200m medley. Though she’s only 22 years old, she’s one of the country’s brightest rising stars.
21-year-old Tori Huske narrowly missed out on a medal in the 100m butterfly in Tokyo, but has since won numerous medals at World Championships. She posted a top time in the 100m butterfly and performed well in other events, which should make a big impact at the Trials.
Ryan Murphy remains a key player, having competed in two Olympics, winning medals in the 100 and 200 backstroke. The 28-year-old Murphy has won the 100 backstroke title at the 2023 World Championships and holds the top record in the event.
At 22, young star Regan Smith holds the American records in the 100m backstroke, 200m backstroke and 200m butterfly and will be looking to follow up her first Olympic Games with another impressive performance.
Veteran swimmers such as Lilly King and Nick Fink are also on the shortlist, with King, the world record holder in the 100m breaststroke, seeking a third Olympic team and Fink, the current world champion in the 100m breaststroke, seeking his first Olympic medal.
Katie Grimes and Bobby Finke are the two to watch in the longer distances. Grimes, just 18, owns the second-best time behind Ledecky in the 800 and 1,500 freestyle. Finke won gold in both events in Tokyo and has been a consistent medal winner at world championships.
Here’s additional information on how to watch Day 1 of the USA Swimming Qualifiers:
what: USA Swimming Olympic Trials 2024 Day 1
when: Saturday, June 15, 2024
where: Lucas Oil Stadium | Indianapolis, Indiana
time: Qualifying begins at 11am, finals at 8pm
channel: NBC, USA Network
Best streaming options: FuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial), Sling TV (promotional price). There’s also Peacock.
Additional background on how Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis was transformed into the venue for the preliminary swims was provided by The Associated Press.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Lucas Oil Stadium is poised for a big success with its first ever swimming competition.
Organizers and sponsors on Wednesday showed off the transformation of the home stadium of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts into the world’s largest swimming venue, complete with two 1-million-gallon pools, ahead of next week’s U.S. Olympic Trials.
It will be the first time that a large-scale swimming event will be held in an American football stadium, and the opening night on June 15 is expected to break the indoor attendance record. The stadium is expected to have a capacity of 30,000.
“When you walk around this pool and go behind the curtain you’ll see the largest competition warm-up pool in the world, with 10 50-meter lanes and seven 25-meter lanes,” said USA Swimming President and CEO Tim Hinchey III. “The seats across from me are reserved for coaches and athletes. This is the first time that coaches and athletes will have a front row seat to watch their teammates swim and compete for a spot on the Olympic Team at the Olympic Trials.”
The nine-night event will give Indy officials time to showcase their city on primetime national television, but it also is expected to have a more direct benefit from drawing a quarter of a million tourists, which Mayor Joe Hogsett predicts will add more than $100 million in revenue to the local community.
What will they see? An illuminated 66-foot-tall replica of the Eiffel Tower symbolizing the journey of 52 Olympians to the Paris Games, a giant video board and potential national and world records set in the giant swimming pool.
And they’ll find out how much has changed, since Indy also hosted an Olympic qualifier in 1924, the last time Paris hosted the Olympics.
“The players can fly to Paris and not have to take a week-long boat trip,” said Patrick Johnson, president of corporate sponsor Lilly USA, whose headquarters are a short walk from the retractable-roof stadium.
The rooftop will be closed for the rest of the week.
But the impact of the Olympic Trials will linger long after the governing bodies and athletes have left town.
Local and national officials have committed to funding water safety education programs and swimming instruction for 50,000 people, and all of the water currently inside Lucas Oil Stadium will be safely pumped back into the White River.
But for some of the world’s biggest swimming stars – Katie Ledecky, Caleb Dressel, Simone Manuel and Ryan Murphy – it’s a rare opportunity to join a list of athletes such as Peyton Manning, Eli Manning and Tom Brady who have competed at the venue that has hosted a Super Bowl, multiple Final Fours, a college football national championship, an NBA All-Star festivities and now the Olympic Trials.
“The emerald green grass will turn into diamond blue water and it’ll look a little different if you’ve been here before,” Lucas Oil Stadium Director Eric Neuberger said. “Part of the magic of Lucas Oil Stadium is that no matter what arena we’re asked to have, we can turn it into the home of the most important, coolest, biggest events in the world.”
