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Thursday, March 28, 2024
Brett Pinfold and Cannon Clifton

Brett Pinfold (left) and Cannon Clifton will both swim in the 100-meter freestyle in Olympic Trials, which begin Sunday June 26th. Their best times are within four hundredths of a second of each other. 

Olympic Trials preview: Several Badgers vying for trip to Rio

As the month of June winds down, the excitement of the 29 swimmers with UW ties who are going to Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, is at an all-time high. From Beata Nelson, the 17-year-old freshman phenom who has qualified in five events, to 32-year-old Badger alum and 2004 Olympian Adam Mania, UW will be well-represented in the pool in Omaha.

Best Chances to Qualify for Rio:

Out of the men, Michael Weiss has perhaps the best shot to make the team. The 2013 graduate and former U.S. National Teamer has no weak stroke, qualifying in six events and swimming in five. Weiss’ biggest strength is the 400-meter individual medley, where he has the seventh fastest overall qualifying time. Weiss, the tenth overall qualifier in the 200-meter freestyle, has a faster qualifying time than Michael Phelps - and that is in one of Phelps’ premiere events.

Cierra Runge has qualified within the top ten in all three of her events and will transfer to UW from the University of California, where she spent her freshman season, in the fall. The 6-foot-4 distance swimmer took a gap year in order to train for Rio, spending her time in Tempe, Arizona, training with a group of swimmers that include Phelps. Runge’s two most likely shots at the team are the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle. She is seeded third in both events.

Over the last five years, the face of the women’s swim team has been Ivy Martin. Now a volunteer assistant coach, the 2015 graduate and former U.S. National Teamer has qualified in three sprint events, the 100-meter butterfly and the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyles. Martin is the number three woman in the 50-meter field, and barring something unpredictable happening, will have at least a relay spot in Rio if she finishes within the top six.

UW Alumni continue careers:

Like Martin and Weiss, there are other alumni that have qualified for Olympic Trials, many of whom exhausted their eligibility in 2015 and 2016. Austin Byrd, Jake Mandli, Ryan O’Donnell, Drew teDuits and Jenny Holtzen all recently finished their eligibility and are ready to compete in various events in Omaha.

Out of the recent alum group, not including Martin, the highest qualifying times belong to Byrd (22, 200-meter) and teDuits (28, 100-meter) in both backstroke events for the men. Holtzen is ranked 90th in the 800-meter freestyle for the women, but based on her performance at NCAA’s, she will probably outperform that ranking.

There is another Badger alum competing in Omaha in addition to this expansive group, but he’s quite a bit older than rest of that group. 32-year-old Adam Mania, who graduated in 2006, is ranked 29th in the 100-meter backstroke, with a blazing-fast - especially for his age - seed time of 55.38 seconds. This would not be Mania’s first Olympics should he qualify. As a junior at UW, Mania competed for Poland in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, but has since switched his allegiance to the United States.

Well-rounded:

There are multiple swimmers who have qualified in four or more events. These include Cannon Clifton, Abby Jagdfeld, Beata Nelson, Brett Pinfold, and Weiss. All five have a chance to at least qualify for the semifinals in one event, but since most of the qualifying times are extremely close, anything could happen.

Nelson, an incoming freshman and Junior National Teamer who is only 17 years old, has her best shot at the Olympic team in the 100-meter butterfly, where she is seeded 28th. Jagdfeld, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Purdue, has her strongest seed time in the 200-meter freestyle, where she has the 47th fastest time in the field.

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Clifton and Pinfold, who are both seniors from Houston, Texas, are right with each other time-wise, both having their best seed in the 100-meter freestyle. Pinfold is seeded 47th with a 49.99, and Clifton 51st with a 50.02. That’s only three hundredths of a second separating their times. Expect this to be very close between the two of them, even if they don’t make semifinals. Both swimmers will be competing in three out of their four events in Omaha.

The Olympic Trials begin June 26th and will continue through July 2nd. The Daily Cardinal will have full recaps of the Olympic Trials and will also share live results on Twitter from the evening sessions.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated from its original version to reflect the correct number of swimmers attending the Olympic Trials due to transfer and retirement from the sport. Additionally, other swimmers announced they would be swimming in less events than they qualified here. This change has also been updated within the story.

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