US Olympic Swimming Trials 2016: Results, Qualifying Times for Tuesday
The road to this year's Summer Olympics continued on Tuesday with Lilly King and Townley Haas among the big winners on the third day of qualifying trials taking place in Omaha, Nebraska.
Michael Phelps is the biggest star, though he must wait one more day to finish his qualifying in the 200-meter butterfly. The most decorated Olympic athlete in history is seeking to add more hardware to his mantle in Rio de Janeiro this summer, but at 30 years old, he's an elder statesman in the sport.
Here's a full list of the winners and Olympic qualifiers from Tuesday's trials:
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| Results (Time) | Townley Haas (1:45.66) | Conor Dwyer (1:45.67) | Jack Conger (1:45.77) | Ryan Lochte (1:46.62) |
| Results (Time) | Olivia Smoliga (59.02) | Kathleen Baker (59.29) | Amy Bilquist (59.37) | Ali Deloof (59.69) |
| Results (Time) | Lilly King (1:05.20) | Katie Meili (1:06.07) | Molly Hannis (1:06.65) | Breeja Larson (1:07.53) |
| Results (Time) | Ryan Murphy (52.26) | David Plummer (52.28) | Matt Grevers (52.76) | Jacob Pebley (52.95) |
Semifinal results are available on USA Swimming's official website.
The men's 200-meter freestyle was one of the night's best races, with the top four finishers separated by less than one second. Ryan Lochte fell out of the top three, though he will be going to Rio as part of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay team.
NBC Olympics provided a GIF of the race's photo finish on Twitter:
Lochte wasn't wildly celebratory after the finish, though he did offer this on the NBC broadcast after the race, via Nick Zaccardi of NBC Olympic Talk:
Townley Haas' win made him a first-time Olympian. Not bad for a young kid about to enter his sophomore year at Texas.
Following that thrilling finish, the women's 100-meter backstroke took center stage. Olivia Smoliga has been the one to beat since the preliminaries started and held up her end of the bargain with a brilliant 59.09-second run in the finals.
Joining Smoliga on the U.S. team heading to Rio will be Kathleen Baker, who finished two-tenths of a second behind her fellow swimmer and pulled off another major feat in the process, per Scott Fowler of the Charlotte Observer:
Missy Franklin had a run to forget, finishing a disappointing seventh after winning a gold in this race four years ago. Natalie Coughlin, who was also hoping to qualify for Rio in this event, finished right behind Franklin in eighth place.
Despite the brutal runs for Franklin and Coughlin, the duo did receive support from an American swimming legend for their efforts:
David Plummer became one of the best stories in qualifying, reaching his first Olympics at the age of 30 by finishing second in the men's 100-meter backstroke.
Both Plummer and Ryan Murphy were ahead of the world-record pace of 51.94 seconds at the halfway mark, but they were unable to continue at that rate after making the turn. The end result worked out well for them, though, so they probably won't mind.
The theme for this year's American swimmers heading to the Olympics is change, as major stars such as Franklin, Lochte and Coughlin were bumped out of the picture in favor of new blood like Smoliga, Haas and Baker.
Even someone like Plummer, who is older, is getting his first taste of the biggest stage the world has to offer thanks to a brilliant performance. There's always one moment in sports when a changing of the guard occurs.
It appears as if the U.S. crop of swimmers is in the midst of that sea change heading into Rio.
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