US Olympic Swimming Trials 2016: Finals Schedule and Predictions
The 2016 United States Olympic Swimming Trials have just one more day of competition left on Sunday to finish filling out the country's roster that will head to the Rio Games this summer.
Unlike the first seven days of these trials from Omaha, Nebraska, that saw numerous heats and finals packed into one day, Sunday has only two events being held:
| Women's 50M Freestyle | 6:45 p.m. |
| Men's 1500M Freestyle | Following |
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Women's 50M Freestyle
| 1 | Abbey Weitzeil |
| 2 | Madison Kennedy |
| 3 | Simone Manuel |
| 4 | Katrina Konopka |
| 5 | Olivia Smoliga |
| 6 | Lia Neal |
| 7 | Dana Vollmer |
| 8 | Amanda Weir |
This race is a dead sprint. The freestyle is the most conventional style of swimming, and all it takes is one lap—or one length of the pool—to complete.
That makes it one of the most exciting events of the trials and with some of the names that are taking part, the women's 50-meter freestyle has a chance of being the most thrilling races of the week.
Within the field are three swimmers, Abbey Weitzeil, Simone Manuel and Lia Neal, who have already qualified for spots at Rio in other events.
Weitzel also put up the best time in qualifying and is my pick to win this race. However, I'd expect Manuel to be right there with her, but she'll have to hold off Madison Kennedy, who finished with the second-best qualifying time.
Prediction: Abbey Weitzeil and Simone Manuel qualify
Men's 1500M Freestyle
| 1 | Connor Jaeger |
| 2 | Jordan Wilimovsky |
| 3 | Michael McBroom |
| 4 | P.J. Ransford |
| 5 | Zane Grothe |
| 6 | Robert Finke |
| 7 | Clark Smith |
| 8 | Chris Wieser |
The men's 1500-meter freestyle is the complete opposite of Sunday's first event. Instead of just one frantic lap, swimmers will go 30 laps in an event that will test the limits of their endurance.
I can only see this race being won by one swimmer, and that's Connor Jaeger. He put on a dominant performance in qualifying, as finished with a time of 14 minutes, 58.59 seconds. The next-best swimmer was 7.3 seconds behind him.
That kind of domination would be almost impossible to pick against. All Jaeger has to do is swim a similar race on Sunday, and he'll be on his way to Rio.
Prediction: Connor Jaeger and Jordan Wilimovsky qualify
Stats courtesy of USASwimming.org.
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