Katie Ledecky, the 2015 World champion, and Missy Franklin, the 2013 World champion, qualified for the 200m freestyle individual race at the 2016 Rio Olympics by finishing first and second, respectively, at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials on Wednesday in Omaha, Nebraska.
Ledecky raced to one minute, 54.88 seconds while Franklin clocked 1:56.18. Leah Smith and Allison Schmitt, the 2012 Olympic champion, were third and fourth and qualified to swim on the 4x200m freestyle relay. Cierra Runge and Melanie Margalis were fifth and sixth and will likely also be named to that relay later.
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With his infant son Boomer watching from the stands, Michael Phelps qualified for his fifth Olympic Games - a U.S. men's record - in the only event he's raced at every Olympics: the 200m butterfly. He clocked 1:54.84, well off his 1:51.51 world record set in 2009, and was joined by Tom Shields who will make his first Olympic appearance.
Maya DiRado booked another event in Rio, as she qualified for the 200m individual medley in first place with a time of 2:09.54.
Five one-hundredths of a second separated Melanie Margalis (2:10.11) from going to the Rio Olympics in the event, while that margin booted out 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Caitlin Leverenz (2:10.16).
Earlier in the men’s 100m freestyle semifinals, Olympic 100m freestyle champion Nathan Adrian raced to 47.91 seconds and collegiate Caeleb Dressel touched second in the heat with 48.52. Anthony Ervin was second in the other semifinal heat with 48.71 and, along with Conor Dwyer who clocked 49.18, advances to Thursday’s final.
Cammile Adams, who was nearly derailed from her second Olympic trip by an overturned disqualification in the preliminary heats, raced to the fastest time in the 200m butterfly semifinals. She clocked 2:07.31, while Hali Flickinger and Kelsi Worrell advanced into Thursday’s final as well. Teenager Cassidy Bayer’s 2:07.97 was good enough to advance to the final in fourth place.
Kevin Cordes advanced to the 200m breaststroke final with the second fastest time in the world this year in the event, 2:07.81. Also into Wednesday’s final are Josh Prenot, Will Licon and Cody Miller.