Team USA Tracker: 🎟️ Tickets to Paris up for Grabs
February 2, 2024 (Groundhog's Day): What to Watch for Team USA Paris Olympic Qualification this Week
THE NUMBER:
24
Team USA Athletes will be competing for 24 Olympic Spots in 7 different Olympic events in the next 7 days. Up to 9 TEAM USA athletes can clinch a 🎟️ a direct ticket to Paris in marathon event (track & field and open water swimming) at US Trials or World Championships starting tomorrow morning.
Team USA can also clinch 13 ATHLETE QUOTA SPOTS for TEAM USA 🇺🇸 in 4 diving events and Team Artistic Swimming (6 athlete spots) at World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar. Many of the athletes who qualify the spot this week may head to Paris but will have to wait to be formally named to the Olympic team or to earn that spot at USA Diving trials.
WHAT TO WATCH: DAY TO DAY GUIDE TO TEAM USA 🎟️PARIS QUALIFICATION
Saturday February 3:
DIRECT 🎟️ TO PARIS WATCH
(230 AMET, Peacock) Open Water Swimming: Women’s 10km at World Aquatics Championships Doha, Qatar
If Mariah Denigan finishes Top 13 - Denigan will qualify directly for Paris 2024. Because last year’s 🥇Leona Beck and 🥉Katie Grimes are swimming in this year’s race- there is a chance a top 15 finish could get it done for Denigan who finished 8th at 2023 World Championships.
DIRECT 🎟️ TO PARIS WATCH
(10AMET, Peacock) US Marathon Trials Orlando, FL
Citius Mag writer David Melly has an in depth marathon previews looking at 20 plus women and 20 plus men who could end up the Olympic team
In terms of Olympic Qualification - watch the clock especially in the men’s marathon since only 2 US men have the Olympic standard compared to 11 US women running in the marathon trials.
ICYMI: Tokyo Bronze Medalist 🥉 Molly Seidel pulled out of US Olympic Marathon Trials due to a knee injury
Sunday February 4:
DIRECT 🎟️ TO PARIS WATCH
(230 AMET, Peacock) Open Water Swimming: Men’s 10km at World Aquatics Championships Doha, Qatar
Tokyo Olympian Michael Brinegar and Ivan Puskovitch will need a Top 13 finish to directly qualify for Paris 2024. Last year’s medalist (🥇Wellbrock🥈Rasovszky🥉Klemet) are in the race so a Top 16 finish could qualify Puskovitch and/or Brinegar. There is another way one of them (only one) could qualify via continental qualification if they are both outside Top 16 but they are the top finisher from the Americas.
🇺🇸PARIS QUOTA WATCH🇺🇸
(6AMET, Peacock) Artistic Swimming: Team Acrobatic at World Aquatics Championships Doha, Qatar
Team USA will be trying to qualify for the first time in this event since 2008 and if they qualify will likely send the first ever US male artistic swimmer to the Olympic Games.
Team Acrobatic event is part one of a three part team final in artistic swimming where all three scores will be combined for Paris 2024 qualification. Team USA won 🥈 in Team Acrobatic at 2023 World Championships and the Team Acrobatic will feature 5 time World medalist 45 year old Bill May looking to make his first Olympic games (men were excluded in this event before Paris 2024).
What to Watch: Team USA needs to finish in the Top 5 in combined scores of the three events excluding continental qualifiers (China, Egypt, Mexico, Australia).
Team USA Artistic Swimming Roster for Worlds
Monday February 5
🇺🇸PARIS QUOTA WATCH🇺🇸
(200AM, 1030 AM Peacock) Diving: Women’s 10 M Platform SFS and Finals:
Delaney Schnell who finished 5th at Tokyo and 6th at 2023 Worlds (and qualified one Paris quota) will NOT compete in this event so USA Diving will send two divers Daryn Wright and two time Olympian Katrina Young to qualify Team USA’s second quota spot in Women’s 10M platform.
What to Watch: A Top 12 finish excluding any athletes who already qualified a spot for Paris 2024 or a nation that qualified both spots. There is a chance Team USA could qualify their second spot in Women’s 10M platform just by advancing Wright or Young to the 18 person semifinal so this spot could be locked up after Sunday’s Feb 4 prelims ( 2 AM).
Unlike marathon swimming this will not be direct qualification for athletes as all the USA diving spots will be handed out during the USA Diving Trials in June.
Tuesday February 6
🇺🇸PARIS QUOTA WATCH🇺🇸
(6AMET, Peacock) Artistic Swimming: Team Technical at World Aquatics Championships Doha, Qatar
Part two of a three part team final. Team USA won 🥉 in Team Technical at 2023 World Championships but at the Pan Am Games faltered in Team Technical event when they got a base mark of zero on a technical required element and fell behind Mexico for continental qualification never to catch back up despite beating Mexico in Team Acrobatic and Team Free event at Pan Am Games.
Team USA Artistic Swimming Roster for Worlds
Wednesday February 7
🇺🇸PARIS QUOTA WATCH🇺🇸
(5 AMET, Peacock) Diving: Women’s 3M Synchro Springboard at World Aquatics Championships Doha, Qatar
Last year at the World Championships Team USA (Sarah Bacon/Kassidy Cook) lost the 3rd qualifying spot and the bronze medal on the last dive. This year -Tokyo Olympians Krysta Palmer/Alison Gibson will represent Team USA and will need a 4th place finish or higher excluding France, China, Great Britain, and Italy in this event to qualify Team USA for Paris.
Thursday February 8
🇺🇸PARIS QUOTA WATCH🇺🇸
(1030 AMET, Peacock) Diving: Men’s 10M Synchro Platform at World Aquatics Championships Doha, Qatar
This is the first of two chances for 17 year old teenage diving sensation Josh Hedberg to earn Team USA an Olympic quota at the World Diving Championships. Hedberg first competed at 2022 World Championships and made the 10M platform individual final at the age of 15. Hedberg just turned 17 on January 29 (he shares that birthday with USA Diving 🐐 Greg Louganis) and along with partner 19 year old Carson Tyler will make up the 3rd youngest team in the 25 nation field. Hedberg/Tyler will need a Top 4 finish excluding France, China, Mexico, and Ukraine. Team USA won back to back Olympic medals in 2012 and 2016 when David Boudia was still competing for Team USA in this event but did not qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in 10M synchro platform.
Friday February 9
🇺🇸PARIS QUOTA WATCH🇺🇸
(6AMET, Peacock) Artistic Swimming: Team Free at World Aquatics Championships Doha, Qatar
Part three of three of the three part team final. Team USA fans will have waited through three events spaced out over 100 hours to see if USA Artistic Swimming will qualify an Olympic team for the first time in 16 years. As of the provisional start lists only 12 nations (eligible/not already qualified for Paris 2024) that are participating in all 3 Artistic Swimming events at 2024 Worlds so Team USA needs to beat 7 nations to qualify for Paris 2024.
Team USA Artistic Swimming Roster for Worlds
Saturday February 10
🇺🇸PARIS QUOTA WATCH🇺🇸
(200 AMET, World Aquatics, 1030AMET, Peacock) Diving Men’s 10 M Platform SFS and Finals
At the last two World Championships only 1 US male diver has made a final in the Men’s 10M Platform and that was Josh Hedberg in 2022. Josh Hedberg and Tokyo Olympian Brandon Loschiavo look to finish in the Top 12 excluding divers and nations already qualified to qualify two spots for Team USA in men’s 10M platform diving. A Top 20 finish is likely needed by Hedberg and Loschiavo to qualify a spot for Team USA. After finishing 11th in Tokyo; Loschiavo finished 23rd at 2023 World Championships and a repeat of that placement this year could be just outside a direct quota spot to Paris 2024. Team USA has never sent only 1 US diver to compete in men’s platform diving since it became an Olympic event in 1908 according to OlyMadMen.
WHO IS COMPETING AT THE WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS?
The World Aquatics Championships are the third World Aquatics Championships in the past 18 months (Budapest 2022, Fukuoka 2023, Doha 2024). With the Paris Olympics less than six months away some of the biggest names in the pool are skipping the World Championships in Doha to focus on training for the Paris Olympics.
IN: America’s Best in Water Polo
HOPEFULLY OUT: Missing the Medal Stand
Team USA Men’s Water Polo has never won a medal in the first 20 World Championships and haven’t been to a medal round in 15 years. USA Men’s Water Polo brings the team that is likely headed by Paris headed by star center Ben Hallock and ten other players who play professionally in Europe.
Men's Water Polo Roster & Schedule
Team USA Women’s Water Polo is seeking redemption after having their streak of 7 straight gold medals (4 World Championships Gold, 3 Olympics Gold) snapped last year at the 2023 World Championships. Stars Ashleigh Johnson, Maggie Steffens, Maddie Musselman, and Rachel Fattal will once again lead Team USA. They are without Cutino Award winners and two time Olympic gold medalists Aria Fischer and sister Mackenzie Fischer who retired from international water polo after Tokyo.
Women’s Water Polo Roster & Schedule
IN: Kate Douglass, Claire Curzan
OUT: Katie Ledecky, Lilly King, Simone Manuel, Regan Smith, Torri Huske, Alex Walsh and combined 28 individual 🥇 World Championship medals between them
Kate Douglass (50/100 FR; 200 IM; 200 BR; 50 FL) and Claire Curzan (50/100/200 BK; 50/100 FL; 50 FR) will both swim five plus individual events at the World Championships and are the only members of Team USA’s 8 member women’s swim team with previous World Championships experience. Douglass and Curzan will be USA Swimming’s best medal hopes on the women’s
IN: Carson Foster
OUT: Leon Marchand
France’s Leon Marchand who swept the 200 and 400 IM at the last two World Championships (2022, 2023) and also broke Michael Phelps’ last remaining individual world record in the 400 IM is skipping the meet.
This could be good news for Carson Foster who has finished with 🥈 3 times in the 200/400IM vs Marchand. Can Carson Foster finally take home his first individual 🥇 without Marchand in Doha?
Carson Foster will also be joined by older brother Jake Foster for the first time on a World Championships long course team and Jake Foster is coming off an impressive PanAM Games winning the 100M/200M breaststroke 🥇.
IN: Nic Fink
OUT: Bobby Finke
Both Fink and Finke have won 4 individual medals each (1🥇2🥈1🥉) at the last two World Championships
Nic Fink will look to contend for medals in the 50/100/200m breaststroke for the 3rd straight year while Bobby Finke will continue his training down in Gainesville, FL with Katie Ledecky.
IN: Hunter Armstrong
OUT: Ryan Murphy
Ryan Murphy has won 4 individual medals ( 2🥇2🥈)at the last two Worlds and has medaled at the World Championships going all the way back to Kazan 2015. Murphy’s padawan since Tokyo Olympics; Hunter Armstrong has also won 4 individual medals in the backstroke (including 🥇in 50M backstroke in 2023) will swim in Doha looking for a 3rd consecutive medal in both the 50M and 100M backstroke.
IN: Michael Andrew’s 4 for 50 M
OUT: Roster Caps
Michael Andrew is back on the World Championships team and will compete in all 4 50M races. At the 2019 World Championships Andrew became the first swimmer in history to final in all four 50M strokes at a World Championships (Andrew did not medal in 2019; best finish was 4th in 50M Fly). At the 2022 World Championships; Andrew became the first swimmer in history to medal in 3 different strokes (fly, free, breast) at the 50M distances at a single World Championships meet. At the 2023 US Swimming trials: Michael Andrew won the 50M butterfly but because the 50M Fly was a non-Olympic event Andrew ended up being #27 in priority for a 26 person men’s team headed to the World Championships.
No worries about roster caps this year USA Swimming will only bring a 20 person roster (USA Swimming Roster for Doha 2024) (8 women, 12 men) to the pool and as of now in 18 of the 34 individual events at 2024 World Championships will line up with only have one swimmer in the event down from Team USA’s customary two swimmers like they normally do at the Olympics or World Championships.
175 Days Until Paris… The Latest on Team USA’s Qualification Here