{"id":453325,"date":"2020-11-11T10:43:27","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T17:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=453325"},"modified":"2020-11-11T11:10:49","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T18:10:49","slug":"u-s-open-preview-welcome-to-a-new-olympic-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-open-preview-welcome-to-a-new-olympic-year\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Open Preview: Welcome to a New Olympic Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Open Preview: Welcome to a New Olympic Year<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the words of\u00a0Bill Murray\u00a0<\/strong>in the 1993 film Groundhog<\/em> Day<\/em>, “It’s the Olympic Year. Again.” As the coronavirus pushed back the Olympic Games to 2021, we are once again entering “the Olympic year” with so much emphasis on long course training and gearing up for another chance at peaking in June for the Olympic Trials. That march to Omaha begins this weekend with the U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

This year’s Toyota U.S. Open will look a little different than year’s past. The meet will be spread out over nine different sites across the country in order to minimize travel and allow for more realistic social distancing while the COVID-19 pandemic continues around the United States. Many of the best American pro swimmers are overseas competing in the International Swimming League, but most of those that chose to stay stateside will be at the U.S. Open, along with some of the best amateur collegiate swimmers.<\/p>\n

This will be the first long course domestic meet in traditional style since the Des Moines Pro Series in early March, before the pandemic screeched everything to a halt on March 12. Most of the racing will be done virtually as USA Swimming will provide a leaderboard each night, compiling all the swims from the nine locations, giving fans an opportunity to compare where their favorite swimmers stack up against the others around the nation.<\/p>\n

Toyota U.S. Open sites (Psych Sheets)<\/p>\n