U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials are taking place June 13-20 in Omaha, Nebraska. Wednesday's finals session can be seen live on NBCSN at 8 p.m. ET, as well as streamed on NBCOlympics.com [HERE] and the NBC Sports App.
If Wednesday was “Ledecky Night” at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials, Thursday is all about a pair of Gators.
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Caeleb Dressel, swimming’s top male star, can ink his ticket to the Tokyo Olympics in the men’s 100m freestyle on Night 5 in Omaha. In the same primetime session, Ryan Lochte aims to keep his hopes for a fifth Olympics alive in the semifinals of the men’s 200m individual medley.
Dressel and Lochte, both graduates of the University of Florida, train together in Gainesville under former Team USA head coach Gregg Troy.
Dressel, 24, already holds a pair of Olympic gold medals from Rio 2016 as a member of two U.S. relay teams. Since then, however, the Green Cove Springs, Florida native has ascended to the top of the sport as an individual competitor. He has amassed 13 world championships across the spectrum of freestyle and butterfly sprint events. The crown jewel, though, is the oldest Olympic swimming race of all, the 100 free.
SEE MORE: 2019 Worlds: Dressel repeats as 100m free world champion
Thursday’s final features a veteran group from which at least four – and potentially as many a six – will earn spots on the Olympic team in the 4x100m free relay. Ryan Held, Dressel’s teammate on the gold medal-winning relay at Rio 2016, is again in the hunt for an Olympic berth, as are 2019 World Championship team members Zach Apple and Blake Pieroni.
Five-time Olympic gold medalist Nathan Adrian missed out on the final, ending his best chance to qualify for a fourth Olympics after recovering from a 2019 testicular cancer diagnosis. While disappointed, Adrian was at ease following Wednesday’s semifinals.
“This is such an all-in sport. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stick two good swims together. I had a really good one this morning,” Adrian said.
“When I would have a bad practice before, it was a little bit of a dagger in the heart… now I sort of go home and I let it go immediately and I give my wife and my baby a big hug and a kiss.”
The second-most interesting race of the night is not one of the three other finals, but Heat 1 of the men’s 200m IM semifinal, which features Lochte. The 36-year-old posted an encouraging prelim time of 1:58.48, second-best in the field behind only Michael Andrew, who races in Heat 2.
SEE MORE: Meet the Athletes: Michael Andrew
Should Lochte place among the top eight times in the semis, he would advance to Friday’s final with a chance to qualify for a fifth Olympics. A Tokyo appearance would carry extra significance for Lochte, who has expressed determination to show, on the Olympic stage, that he is a changed man from the person who exited Rio de Janeiro in 2016 in disgrace.
Elsewhere, Bobby Finke, another Florida Gator, will attempt to become one of Team USA’s first two representatives in the men’s 800m freestyle, making its Olympic debut in Tokyo. Eighteen-year-old Matt Fallon aims to continue his meteoric rise in the men’s 200m breaststroke, potentially alongside fellow Pingry High School (Somerset County, New Jersey) grad Nic Fink. And in the women’s 200m butterfly, Regan Smith can add another event to her Tokyo calendar.
SEE MORE: Swimming Trials: Regan Smith powers to 100m backstroke win
Thursday night will also see Simone Manuel's first primetime swim of Trials in the women's 100m freestyle. The defending Olympic co-champion will share a semifinal heat with her Rio teammate, Oliva Smoliga.