{"id":475596,"date":"2021-06-10T17:40:45","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T00:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=475596"},"modified":"2021-06-10T17:40:45","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T00:40:45","slug":"2021-us-olympic-trials-notes-should-wave-i-stay-how-many-first-time-olympians-will-be-named","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/2021-us-olympic-trials-notes-should-wave-i-stay-how-many-first-time-olympians-will-be-named\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Olympic Trials Notes: Should Wave I Stay?; How Many First-Time Olympians Will Be Named?"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Olympic Trials Notes: Should Wave I Stay?; How Many First-Time Olympians Will Be Named?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wave I of the United States Olympic Trials concluded earlier this week in Omaha, Nebraska with a shortened event schedule compared to the typical, eight-day setup. It was a different feel from a normal Olympic Trials – with no national teamers and a handful of fans. But the overall product was still exciting, and swimming was on TV four nights in a row. The question has to be asked: Is a two-wave Olympic Trials the way of the future or does it die along with COVID?<\/p>\n

With the COVID-19 pandemic causing so much uncertainty for the sporting world in 2021, many fans were concerned with how USA Swimming could conduct a safe Olympic Trials this year.<\/p>\n

How would all the qualified athletes be able to fit in the two 50 meter pools for warmups? How would seating work in the stands? It was not feasible to make Trials a regional competition by splitting the meet in two – with some contenders for the Olympic team in one place and others in a different venue. It wouldn’t have been a fair way to select the team.<\/p>\n

USA Swimming eventually decided on dividing the meet into two “waves,” with a faster set of cuts created to meet the 41st-seeded time, in order to select the team with a lesser amount of swimmers. Those remaining athletes with Trials cuts would still get to compete in Omaha, albeit not in the same capacity with the members of the Olympic team roaming the deck alongside them.<\/p>\n

USA Swimming also provided a little incentive to the Wave I meet, with the top two finishers in each A-Final earning the opportunity to race in Wave II, thus giving the athletes in each final the feel of what fighting for a spot on the Olympic team is like. What looked like a glorified U.S. Open on paper quickly felt like a real Olympic Trials with something at stake in each A-Final.<\/p>\n

Many of the swimmers who competed in Wave I got the invaluable experience of gaining a second swim at Trials, while also racing on TV and earning the opportunity to be interviewed. It was something they wouldn’t have gotten at a regular Olympic Trials. Many of the athletes who finished first or second celebrated as if they made the Olympic team, and it gave them the euphoric feeling of making the Olympic Trials cut for the first time all over again.<\/p>\n

With many of the athletes and coaches praising the Wave I format, did USA Swimming successfully stumble into a new format for Olympic Trials to fight overcrowding?<\/p>\n

Growing Pains<\/strong><\/p>\n

With so many athletes qualifying for the meet at the last three Trials, there have been growing concerns over the size of the meet. In the men’s 400 IM, 66 athletes swam the race in 2000, 26 swam in 2004, 55 in 2008, 113 in 2012, and 94 in 2016.<\/p>\n

In 2020, 44 are on the psych sheet for Wave II while an additional 16 raced in Wave I. Sixty swimmers is considerably fewer than the last two Trials, but there has been debate over just how many heats should be contested at a meet like this to appease the fans. Ultimately, the more people that make Trials, the more tickets are likely to sell, and the more likely that people will come back to each session. But if fans are being turned off by heats and heats of the 400 IM, then maybe the amount of athletes competing needs to be revisited. USA Swimming has solved this issue with the 400s specifically, with the fastest five heats swum first to ensure more rest for those who make finals. The rest of the heats are held after the session, but it is still a topic of discussion: Is it the right move to value quantity over quality?<\/p>\n

So with Wave II starting this weekend with less athletes on deck, did COVID accidentally allow USA Swimming to discover a way that minimizes the overcrowding at Olympic Trials? Of course, athletes who make the Olympic Trials cuts each quad make the meet with the excitement of racing alongside their idols. But with the incentive of racing in the CHI Health Center, that may be enough for those who make the meet.<\/p>\n

The simple solution may be to just make the cuts faster and faster, but with the amount of excitement we saw out of the athletes in Wave I, is that the move for the future? It is certainly up for debate, and maybe a two-wave Trials will fade as more and more get vaccinated and larger indoor gatherings are permitted. But with Wave I being a success, perhaps it can be revisited in the future.<\/p>\n

Wave II:<\/h3>\n

How Many Defending Gold Medalists Move On?<\/strong><\/p>\n