Katie Ledecky and Will Gallant become first swimmers to qualify for 2024 Olympic Trials
American swimming superstar Katie Ledecky has once again proven to be one of the favorites at the 2024 Olympic games in Paris. At the Phillips 66 U.S. National Championships on Wednesday, November 30, 2022, Katie qualified for the Olympic trials by dominating the 800-meter freestyle.
Absolutely no one seemed surprised when Ledecky finished the race at 8:13.90, leaving Michaela Mattes behind in second place by 24 seconds. While this is quite a few seconds longer than her record-breaking swim in 2016, it stands just one second off her gold-winning swim at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
This marks her 30th fastest swim at the U.S. Open to date. The Olympic qualification time set for the women's 800-meter freestyle is 8:45.79, and Katie dipped below this cut off by more than half a minute.
Women's 800-meter freestyle positions:
- Katie Ledecky 8:13.90
- Michaela Mattes 8:37.89
- Cavan Gormsen 8:38.15
- Beatriz Dizotti 8:40.10
- Caroline Pennington 8:42.93
Will Gallant qualifies alongside Katie Ledecky
Ledecky's male counterpart, Will Gallant, also swam in the 800-meter freestyle finals. Gallant is an athlete from North Carolina State University, studying in his junior year.
Gallant finished the race in fifth position but was the first American to finish. He stopped the clock at 8:08.20, behind Guilherme Costa, Alfonso Mestre, Stephen Steverink, and Eric Brown. Gallant's best ever time in the 800-meter freestyle stands at an amazing 7:53.34 that he recorded in the 2022 U.S. Nationals.
Despite the swim not being his best performance, Gallant managed to dip below the Olympic qualification time of 8:09.69 and join Ledecky to become the first two U.S. swimmers to qualify for the 2024 Olympic trials.
Men's 800-meter freestyle positions:
- Guilherme Costa 7:54.10
- Alfonso Mestre 7:54.80
- Stephen Steverink 8:01.08
- Eric Brown 8:04.47
- Will Gallant 8:08.20
It can be considered a stroke of good luck that the Olympic trials qualifying period opened on the same day as the first day of the U.S. Open: November 30, 2022. This makes the two athletes the first U.S. swimmers to qualify for the trials.
Can Ledecky add to her Olympic success in 2024?
Katie stands as one of the most successful female athletes of all time, having won seven Olympic gold medals and 19 World Championship gold medals.
Ever since making her debut at the 2012 London Olympics, Katie has gone on to win gold in every single 800-meter freestyle event she competed in, including all the Olympic games leading up to 2024. Although she will be entering her late twenties in 2024, the only reasonable prediction that can be made about the Women's 800-meter freestyle is that Katie is most likely to win it.
The other events where we are most likely to see the American athlete are in the 400-meter and 1500-meter freestyle. She is in the mix in these competitions as well to get at least a podium finish, if not gold. The 25-year-old definitely seems to be the favorite.