{"id":588355,"date":"2024-06-18T08:43:13","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T15:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=588355"},"modified":"2024-06-18T08:43:13","modified_gmt":"2024-06-18T15:43:13","slug":"u-s-olympic-trials-day-4-prelims-mason-laur-leads-luca-urlando-in-200-fly-carson-foster-scratches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-olympic-trials-day-4-prelims-mason-laur-leads-luca-urlando-in-200-fly-carson-foster-scratches\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 4 Prelims: Mason Laur Leads Luca Urlando in 200 Fly; Carson Foster Scratches"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 4 Prelims: Mason Laur Leads Luca Urlando in 200 Fly; Carson Foster Scratches<\/strong><\/p>\n

The morning heats of the men’s 200 butterfly at Olympic Trials did not produce any especially swift times, but a fascinating race to secure the top-two spots heading to Paris is imminent. Entering the meet,\u00a0Carson Foster<\/strong> and teenager\u00a0Thomas Heilman<\/strong> were the clear favorites, but Heilman struggled in the morning while Foster, already on the Olympic team in the 400 IM, made the surprise decision to skip the event.<\/p>\n

The top swimmer to come out of the heats was Florida’s\u00a0Mason Laur<\/strong>, who swam a controlled first half of the race (at least compared to his closest rivals) before closing with splits of 29.94 and 30.36. He got to the wall in 1:55.09, knocking almost six tenths off his previous lifetime best of 1:55.67. Laur was a wild card swimmer entering the meet after a strong season for the University of Florida, but now he is very much in the mix.<\/p>\n

The second spot went to\u00a0Luca Urlando<\/strong>, who bounced back after missing the semifinals of the 200 free. Urlando, a 2022 World Championships finalist in the event, is on the comeback trail after shoulder surgery, and he is hoping to claim an Olympic berth after missing the team by less than a tenth in this event three years ago.<\/p>\n

A pair of Cal swimmers came in next with\u00a0Dare Rose<\/strong> (1:55.94) and\u00a0Colby Mefford<\/strong> (1:56.36). Rose, last year’s World Championships bronze medalist in the 100 fly, was only one hundredth off his personal best while Mefford dropped one-and-a-half seconds.\u00a0Jack Dahlgren<\/strong> had a strong swim to place sixth (1:56.45), with veteran\u00a0Trenton Julian\u00a0<\/strong>seventh (1:56.53).\u00a0Chase Kalisz<\/strong>, quo qualified for his third Olympic team with a second-place finish in the 400 IM, took seventh in 1:56.71.<\/p>\n

Heilman, meanwhile, was behind Julian and Urlando for the entirety of his race while Mefford also went ahead on the last 50. A year after swimming a time of 1:53.82 and tying for fourth at the World Championships, narrowly missing the world junior record in the process, Heilman was almost three seconds off that time in prelims at 1:56.77. We’ll see if he can get back to his top form by the semifinal round.<\/p>\n

Zach Harting<\/strong>, the Olympic Trials winner in this event three years ago, took ninth in 1:57.30.\u00a0Kaiser Neverman<\/strong> (1:57.31),\u00a0Stephen Hitchcock<\/strong> (1:57.41),\u00a0Tommy Bried<\/strong> (1:57.60),\u00a0Alex Colson<\/strong> (1:57.62),\u00a0Mitchell Schott<\/strong> (1:57.90) and\u00a0David Schmitt<\/strong> (1:58.32) secured their spots in the semifinals, while\u00a0Carl Bloebaum<\/strong> and\u00a0Logan Robinson<\/strong> tied for 16th in 1:58.37, setting a potential swim-off for the last spot in the semifinals.<\/p>\n