Watching Olympic Trials: 400 Freestyle
Olympic Trials - Day 1
The biggest news from last night has to be the new World Record in the Women's 100 Fly set by Gretchen Walsh... that was just in the semi-finals. The finals for the 100 Fly are tonight and the women's final features a very strong field.
| Walsh | Huske | Smith | Shackell | Curzan | Stricklen | Nelson | Pash |
| 55.18 - WR | 55.79 | 55.92 | 56.78 | 57.24 | 57.77 | 57.80 | 57.97 |
The men's 100 Breaststroke semi-finals were very close with all finalists breaking 1:00.00 (10 men broke 1:00.00 - that's a first!). Unfortunately the men's USA Breaststrokers are not very close to the world's top Breaststrokers at this time.
| Swanson | Matheny | Fink | Bell | Foster | Andrew | Nichols | Rodarte |
| 59.34 | 59.42 | 59.46 | 59.57 | 59.63 | 59.65 | 59.76 | 59.78 |
Katie Ledecky dominated the women's 400 Free right from the start (my guess, but with no insider knowledge to back it up, is that Katie is not fully rested). There really wasn't much of a race for second either as Paige Madden separated from the field early and cruised to second.
| Ledecky | Madden | Cox | Han | Roghair | Peplowski | Smith | Mintenko* |
| 3:58.35 | 4:02.08 | 4:06.89 | 4:08.21 | 4:08.66 | 4:09.20 | 4:09.34 | 4:12.05 |
Over 20,000 people watched live, and millions watched on TV, as Aaron Shackell from from The Carmel Swim Club was the surprise winner of the men's 400 Freestyle. It was a very close and exciting race with six men all within 1.5 seconds of each other.
As a coach, I love to look at splits and think about how they impact races (and how the tactics and abilities are developed in training) - here are the very interesting 50 splits from the men's 400 Free
| Shackell | Smith | Johnston | Finke | Whitlock | Magahey | Matheson | Mitchell | |
| 25.52 | 25.78 | 26.17 | 26.12 | 26.15 | 26.20 | 26.55 | 25.96 | |
| 28.21 | 28.25 | 28.16 | 28.24 | 28.21 | 28.43 | 28.39 | 28.47 | |
| 28.61 | 28.82 | 28.71 | 28.56 | 28.58 | 29.09 | 29.09 | 29.01 | |
| 29.02 | 29.10 | 28.78 | 28.71 | 28.96 | 29.40 | 29.19 | 29.52 | |
| 28.62 | 28.80 | 28.68 | 28.68 | 28.85 | 29.09 | 29.53 | 29.37 | |
| 28.86 | 28.82 | 28.94 | 28.97 | 29.04 | 28.59 | 28.79 | 29.25 | |
| 28.66 | 28.78 | 28.56 | 29.15 | 28.81 | 28.47 | 28.99 | 29.57 | |
| 27.97 | 27.41 | 28.19 | 27.84 | 27.95 | 27.62 | 28.10 | 29.61 | |
| 3:45.46 | 3:45.76 | 3:46.19 | 3:46.27 | 3:46.55 | 3:46.89 | 3:48.63 | 3:50.76 |
There is incredible room for improvement in most middle-distance races. Most improvement comes for plain old-fashioned "hard work", a lot from attitude toward racing and a good measure from learning how to swim these races (all 200 races - though I would argue that 200's are really more of "controlled sprint races", 400 Free, 800 Free, 1500 Free and 400 IM). The fastest path to the podium is, for most people, the 200's in strokes (Fly, Back & Breast) along with the races that are 400 and longer.
Making the Olympic Team - If you are unfamiliar with the selection process, several things must happen to make the USA Olympic team. First the swimmer must be faster then the Olympic Time Standard. The USA Trials usually see all swimmers in the Final Heat faster than the Olympic Standard. But... in the 2021 Tokyo Games Trials in Omaha only one man beat the Olympic Standard (Kieran Smith, won eventually won Bronze in Tokyo). After placing second in the event but failing to make the Olympic cut, Jake Mitchell swam a time trial after the meet to qualify for the team by beating the Olympic Standard. Some people may remember the TV talking heads sitting in the studio with the pool behind them, hearing loud cheers from the pool area but not knowing what was going on as Jake Mitchell (swimming a 400 Free time trial by himself) attempted to make the Olympic standard, thus the USA Olympic team, which he did.
The first place finisher in each event makes the team (again, assuming that swimmer makes the Olympic cut).
After that is gets a little complicated. In general, Team USA will take two swimmers in each event but the second place swimmer in each event has to wait until all first place swimmers are decided and the team size is calculated. The second place swimmers are added, as long as they have achieved the Olympic Time Standard, as other swimmer qualify in additional events (think of Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky or Caeleb Dressel swimming multiple races as also adding someone to the team... but, of course, keeping someone else - third place, maybe, in the event, off the team). Technically relays are at the discretion of the coaches but it's a safe bet that the top six in the 100 and 200 Freestyle will also make the team.
At the Olympics, Team USA usually swims the 2-6 place swimmer in the prelims then the top two finishers from trials swim the finals (replacing the slowest two in the prelims)... but not always, sometimes coaches pick a different swimmer because they think that will make the relay faster. For example, Michael Phelps was on the 4x100 Freestyle Relay even though he was not on the team in the 100 Free. He did have to qualify by swimming the Olympic cut in the prelims at trials (but later in his career I don't think he had to do that). Coaches decisions are made, which are sometimes controversial, even in the Olympic Games.
As swimmers qualify for more than one event, they add the second place finisher to complete the team. You may have noticed that only Alex Shackell and Katie Ledecky were named to the Olympic Team last night (signing her name to the banner) after the 400 Free. Paige Madden and Kieran Smith, the second place finishers in the 400 will have to wait to be named to the team in the 400 until later in the week. They probably will be added, but it's not guaranteed yet.
The USA Olympic team size is (usually) 26 athletes.
Now, if you really want to "nerd-out" on swimming, read this! Black 2 & Black 3 swimmers should definitely read and understand this next section.
Men’s 400 Freestyle: What are the opportunities for USA??
by Russell Mark // ASCA Performance & Education Advisor
The men’s 400 free was the only event the US did not have a single top 8 finalist at the 2023 World Championships. From 2021 to 2024, none of the top 8 performers in the men’s 400 free are American. We’re looking for a 3:42 to be in the mix and we’ve only had 1 athlete under 3:45 in the last 6 years – Kieran Smith 3:43.9 for the bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. With optimism and improvement in mind, what are the specific opportunities in the event?
1. Hold Better Paces – 0.5 seconds faster per 50
This is probably the most obvious, but quantifying the gap by 50 pace hopefully makes it more digestible. From the 100m length to 300m length, the US men are about 0.5 seconds off the world average pace. In the last 100m, that gap increases to 0.6+ and almost 0.8 seconds, so clearly there’s a gap in finishing speed, too.
2. Train and race at faster tempos < 1.5 seconds per cycle
In general, part of swimming faster is being able to achieve and sustain faster tempos. The world 400 freestylers are holding faster tempos than the Americans during the entire 400. Across the top 8 in the world, only 3 athletes touch tempos of 1.5 or slower at any point in the race. Across the top 8 in the US, 7 of the 8 are touching tempos of 1.5 or slower. It appears that in order to be a top 400 freestyler, gone are the days where it can be approached with length. It needs to be attacked more aggressively.
3. The 500y free needs to have a similar shift in pacing and tempo
500 yards is 457 meters, but with the 500 having 12 more walls (approx. 60 meters at 5m per wall), the swim distance is pretty similar. Most 500y freestylers actually take less strokes than 400m freestylers (so swim fatigue shouldn’t be the issue for the disconnect).
Anecdotally, I see the 500y race being approached with a measured/paced front end, concluding with a big increase in speed at the end and sprint to the finish. I see the opposite in the best 400m freestyle world athletes with aggressiveness from the start and holding on through the race (essentially best average 100s).
Improving the 400 free can start with more aggressive racing in the 500. Notice it’s the American men (except for Mason Mathias from Auburn) from the top times in NCAA Division 1 this year that touch tempos of 1.5 or faster.
