The road to Paris begins in Indiana.
The stars are going to be out in Indianapolis as the U.S. begins the Olympic swimming trials on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium. The nine-day event will be the first time the swimming trials have been held in an NFL stadium, as the U.S. prepares to capitalize on the popularity of the event.
The trials will serve as a preview to what is expected to be a hotly contested summer Olympics in Paris, particularly between the United States and Australia. The U.S. was challenged in 2021 by the Aussies, with the Americans winning 11 gold to Australia's nine. In total, the United States had 30 medals to Australia's 21.
Katie Ledecky can expect to be challenged again in the summer not only by Ariarne Titmus but also by Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh who has already been lighting it up on the international stage.
For now, these swimmers just have to focus on getting to Paris. That is certainly going to be a near certainty for some swimmers like Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel, but there are no guarantees for anyone heading to Indiana.
Here's everything you need to know about the format of the swimming qualifying team trials.
USA Olympic team trial rules
There isn't much complicated when it comes to competing in team trials. Swimmers that finish with the best or second-best times in an event will make the team, so long as they also posted an Olympic qualifying time — it is rare the United States has a top-two team trial finisher that doesn't also have an Olympic qualifying time.
The same process applies for relays, as swimmers will be decided based on the times they swim at the trials.
There is a qualifying process to reach the trials. To compete for a chance to represent the U.S. in the Olympics, swimmers have to meet the following criteria, per the U.S. Olympic Trials Event Information Handbook:
- Be a U.S. citizen eligible to represent the U.S. in the 2024 Olympics
- Be a currently registered premium member of USA Swimming in good standing
- Have achieved a qualifying time standard between Nov. 30, 2022, through June 4, 2024
Athletes can still submit their times through the late qualifying process if they recorded a qualifying time after June 4, 2024, and before June 10, 2024. It must be submitted before 11:59 p.m. ET on June 10, 2024. That process cannot be used to submit improved times and it does come with an additional fee.
If a swimmer had previously competed for another country, they must be approved for a change of sport nationality by World Aquatics and submit it before the entry deadline.
Times that are accepted are those from USA Swimming-sanctioned competitions, USA Swimming-approved competitions that have been submitted to SWIMS, and USA Swimming-observed competitions that have undergone the proper procedures to ensure the times are recorded properly.
Olympic qualifying time standards 2024
Below is a table for Olympic qualifying times and Olympic consideration time standards for the Paris 2024 games.
| Event | Men's OQT | Men's OCT | Women's OQT | Women's OCT |
| 50m freestyle | 21.96 | 22.07 | 24.7 | 24.82 |
| 100m freestyle | 48.34 | 48.58 | 53.61 | 53.88 |
| 200m freestyle | 1:46.26 | 1:46.79 | 1:57.26 | 1:57.85 |
| 400m freestyle | 3:46.78 | 3:47.91 | 4:07.90 | 4:09.14 |
| 800m freestyle | 7:51.65 | 7:54.01 | 8:26.71 | 8:29.24 |
| 1500m freestyle | 15:00.99 | 15:05.49 | 16:09.09 | 16:13.94 |
| 100m backstroke | 53.74 | 54.01 | 59.99 | 1:00.29 |
| 200m backstroke | 1:57.50 | 1:58.09 | 2:10.39 | 2:11.04 |
| 100m breaststroke | 59.49 | 59.79 | 1:06.79 | 1:07.12 |
| 200m breaststroke | 2:09.68 | 2:10.33 | 2:23.91 | 2:24.63 |
| 100m butterfly | 51.67 | 51.93 | 57.92 | 58.21 |
| 200m butterfly | 1:55.78 | 1:56.36 | 2:08.43 | 2:09.07 |
| 200m IM | 1:57.94 | 1:58.53 | 2:11.47 | 2:12.13 |
| 400m IM | 4:12.50 | 4:13.76 | 4:38.53 | 4:39.92 |
How many swimmers make the Olympic team?
There are up to 26 men and women who can qualify for each NOC, per the Olympics. There are allowed to be two athletes from each NOC qualified per individual event, and one relay team per relay event.
NOCs can enter a pair of athletes into an event only if both have the Olympic Qualifying Time needed to reach the event. So long as athletes achieve the OQT, they will immediately be qualified for the event as long as there aren't two athletes already having reached the qualification.
If there are fewer than 852 athletes after the conclusion of the qualification period, athletes who have equaled or posted a better time than the Olympic Consideration Time will be invited to compete in the events.
How old do you have to be to qualify for Olympics?
There are different age limits for various countries. The default minimum age is 16. However, there are some who are as young as 13.
For the United States, the youngest an athlete can be is 13 to compete in the Olympics, according to the Olympics.
