Seven-time Olympic gold medalists Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel headline NBC Olympics’ live coverage of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming beginning this Saturday, June 15, at 11 a.m. ET on Peacock, live from Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, in what will be the first time in history that this event will be staged on a football field in front of hundreds of thousands of fans over nine days. The U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Diving, held from Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tenn., begin Monday, June 17, at 9:15 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, with five nights in primetime.
The top two athletes in each event punch their ticket to the Paris Olympics, so long as they have also hit the Olympic standard qualifying time/mark.
Team USA Swimming is expected to be led by seven-time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Katie Ledecky, the most decorated female swimmer of all time. The 27-year-old phenom has been the fastest American in the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m frees every year since 2014 (except for the 1500m free in 2016, a year she did not race that distance) and aims to continue her decade-long dominance in U.S. swimming and qualify for her fourth Olympic team this summer.
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“The pressure is at an all-time high at the Trials,” said NBC Sports analyst and three-time Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines. “The epitome of what I’m talking about is the women’s 200 backstroke. That’s an event where the sixth-place finisher will not even get close to making the U.S. Olympic team – they only take the top two. But they would win a medal at the Olympics. That’s how good our country is in the sport of swimming.”
Tokyo Olympic 200m medley bronze medalist and 14-time world medalist Kate Douglass and three-time Tokyo Olympic medalist Regan Smith are also expected to compete. Douglass is the top-ranked American in four events (50m and 100m frees, 200m breaststroke, 200m IM) this year, while Smith is the American record holder in the 100m and 200m backstrokes and the 200m butterfly. Overall, the American record holders in 11 of the 14 contested women’s events are expected to compete, making this one of the most competitive Olympic Trials for swimming in U.S. history.
Caeleb Dressel is expected to lead the men’s side, as the seven-time Olympic gold medalist is currently the top-ranked American in the 100m fly, as well as Olympic stalwart Ryan Murphy, a six-time medalist on the Olympic stage. Dressel, who joined Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz as the only men to earn three individual swimming gold medals at a single Olympics in Tokyo, aims to make his third consecutive Olympic team.
Additionally, two-time Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Bobby Finke and reigning Olympic 400m medley gold medalist Chase Kalisz are also expected to swim; if Kalisz makes the Olympic team for the 400 IM, the 30-year-old would become the oldest American to ever contest that event at the Olympics.
NBC Sports’ presentation of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming will be called by Dan Hicks and Jason Knapp alongside three-time 1984 Los Angeles Olympic gold medalist Rowdy Gaines and two-time 2012 London Olympic medalist Elizabeth Beisel. Sunday Night Football sideline reporter Melissa Stark will serve as reporter. Hicks is calling the 124th U.S. Open from Pinehurst Resort & C.C. from June 13-16 and will begin swimming coverage on June 18.
