Chris Guiliano takes 100m free; Caeleb Dressel makes it back to the team
Before this week, Notre Dame had never sent a swimmer to the Olympics. Now, Chris Guiliano is nominated to swim for the US twice. He added a win in the 100m freestyle to his collection of medals on Wednesday, just two days after winning the 200m freestyle.
Jack Alexy took second, followed by Caeleb Dressel and Hunter Armstrong. The United States won gold in the last two Olympics in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Dressel was on both of those teams, and he will get a chance to add to his medal collection in Paris. He had taken time away from swimming after the 2022 World Championships. While Dressel isn’t likely to repeat his five-gold performance from Tokyo, he’s shown he can still contribute to USA Swimming.
Teenager Thomas Heilman wins the 200m butterfly
Thomas Heilman took the men’s 200m butterfly with a powerfully swam race. He timed his final stroke to hit the wall at the exact right time, winning in 1:54.50. At just 17 years old, Heilman is the youngest man so far on the team bound for Paris. Luca Urlando took second with a time of 1:55.08, and will wait to find out until later in the week if that time was good enough for a nomination to the team.
Heilman is the youngest swimmer to be nominated for the U.S. team since Michael Phelps made the team for the Olympic Games Sydney 2000. He is trying to push aside the noise and focus on his swimming.
“In terms of Michael Phelps comparisons, it’s always great to be in the same conversation as him, but I’m trying not to worry about that too much and try to take things, day by day and leading up to the rest of the meet and then, through Paris,” he said.
Matt Fallon takes the 200m breaststroke with a new American record
In 2021, Matt Fallon was the top seed in the 200m breaststroke at the 2021 US Olympic Swimming Trials, but he didn’t make the team. This year, he left no doubt. Fallon had a huge lead throughout his race, and scored a new American record with a 2:06.54.
“I’ve been eyeing that record for a while. I knew that I definitely had the capability to do it. It’s just this year I took a ton of time out doing a lot of long course, really making sure I can kind of put my best foot forward, doing a lot of race prep. I know — I’ve had it in me this entire time. I just wanted to get out and do it on the biggest stage,” Fallon said.
Josh Matheny took second, and will find out later in the week if he will be nominated to the team.
