{"id":477473,"date":"2021-06-16T08:32:03","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T15:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=477473"},"modified":"2021-06-16T10:27:55","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T17:27:55","slug":"ryan-held-posts-48-07-to-lead-100-free-prelims-at-trials-dressel-cruises-to-fifth-seed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/ryan-held-posts-48-07-to-lead-100-free-prelims-at-trials-dressel-cruises-to-fifth-seed\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Olympic Trials: Ryan Held Posts 48.07 to Lead 100 Free Prelims at Trials, Dressel Cruises to Fifth Seed"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Olympic Trials: Ryan Held Posts 48.07 to Lead 100 Free Prelims at Trials, Dressel Cruises to Fifth Seed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ryan Held<\/strong>, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist as part of the American men’s 400 free relay, posted the top prelims time in the men’s 100 free. The 25-year-old from Illinois went out fast in heat 7 of 8 and then held off\u00a0Blake Pieroni<\/strong> to pick up first place. Held swam a time of 48.07, and Pieroni touched just behind in 48.14. Held previously swam a 1:47.57 in the 200 free prelims to qualify 11th for semifinals before scratching, while Pieroni finished a painfully close seventh place in the 200 free Tuesday night, finishing just 0.08 away from a likely spot on the Olympic team. However, looks strong for a bounceback in the 100 free.<\/p>\n

In the final heat, 2012 Olympic gold medalist\u00a0Nathan Adrian<\/strong> was out first to the turn, but the heat turned into a four-way battle between Adrian, two-time world champion\u00a0Caeleb Dressel<\/strong>, LSU’s\u00a0Brooks Curry<\/strong> and\u00a0Zach Apple<\/strong>, who likely earned himself a place in Tokyo by finishing fifth in the 200 free. Apple touched first in 48.21 to place third overall, and Curry (48.23), Dressel (48.25) and Adrian (48.37) took the next four spots overall.<\/p>\n

NC State’s\u00a0Coleman Stewart<\/strong> blasted a 48.45 out of the last non-circle-seeded heat, crushing his previous best time of 49.69 by almost a second, and that held up for the seventh seed in the semifinals. In the first seeded heat, Minnesota’s\u00a0Bowe Becker\u00a0<\/strong>took first in 48.61, ahead of 18-year-old\u00a0Jack Alexy<\/strong>, who took down the 17-18 National Age Group record in the event.\u00a0Drew Kibler<\/strong>, third in the 200 free, took 10th in 48.72, while the top two finishers in the 200 free,\u00a0Kieran Smith<\/strong> and\u00a0Townley Haas<\/strong>, both missed the semifinals. Fourth-place finisher\u00a0Andrew Seliskar\u00a0<\/strong>scratched the event.<\/p>\n

It required a 49.0 to qualify for the semifinals, and a trio of big names occupied the last three spots: relay World Championship gold medalist\u00a0Michael Chadwick\u00a0<\/strong>(49.04),\u00a0Maxime Rooney\u00a0<\/strong>(49.05) and\u00a0Dean Farris\u00a0<\/strong>(49.07). Rooney swam as fast as 47.61 in 2019, and Farris has been 48.07. Chadwick was seeded at 49.57. All three will need to get back to that form to have any shot of qualifying for Tokyo in the 400 free relay.<\/p>\n

Expect a much quicker race in the semifinals, likely with multiple 47-second performances. In a tight, deep field, expect almost all swimmers to need all-out efforts in order to qualify for the final.<\/p>\n