{"id":476612,"date":"2021-06-14T09:56:27","date_gmt":"2021-06-14T16:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=476612"},"modified":"2021-06-14T12:10:24","modified_gmt":"2021-06-14T19:10:24","slug":"u-s-olympic-trials-bryce-mefford-cracks-53-seconds-in-congested-100-back-prelims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-olympic-trials-bryce-mefford-cracks-53-seconds-in-congested-100-back-prelims\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Olympic Trials: Bryce Mefford Cracks 53 Seconds in Congested 100 Back Prelims"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Olympic Trials: Bryce Mefford Cracks 53 Seconds in Congested 100 Back Prelims<\/strong><\/p>\n

With depth aplenty, it\u2019s going to take every meter of three swims to separate the field in the men\u2019s 100 back at U.S. Olympic Trials. And with nine-hundredths of a second separating the top four qualifiers, Monday\u2019s prelims provided only the faintest hints.<\/p>\n

Bryce Mefford<\/strong> is the pace-setter after prelims, the Cal swimmer going 52.99 to win the next-to-last heat and grab the top seed in Monday night\u2019s semifinals. But the competitors are amassing behind him among the top 16 of a loaded American event that the men have dominated at every Olympics taking back to the 1990s.<\/p>\n