INDIANAPOLIS — Twenty-three summers ago, at the 2000 U.S. Olympic swimming trials, a gangly 15-year-old out of Towson, Md., by the name of Michael Phelps qualified for the Summer Olympics in the 200-meter butterfly and went on to finish fifth in Sydney. By the next summer, at 16, Phelps was a world champion and a world record holder, the start of what would become the most decorated career in the sport’s history.
In the two-plus decades since Phelps’s arrival, no American male swimmer 16 or younger had qualified for an Olympics or world championships — until Tuesday night. That’s when 16-year-old Thomas Heilman finished second in the 200 fly at the U.S. championships in 1 minute 54.54 seconds, earning a spot on Team USA’s roster for next month’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, and in the process breaking Phelps’s national age-group record.
“It’s amazing,” Heilman said. “I’ve looked up to [Phelps] for as long as I can remember, honestly. It’s really cool to be able to say I broke one of his records.”
The Heilman of today is much like the Phelps of 2000: well-known as a can’t-miss phenom in the insular world of youth swimming — in which the times tell the tale and national and international rankings are a click or a tap away — but virtually unknown outside of it. That may soon change, as it did for Phelps.
Advertisement
As the world championships approach — and just beyond them the Paris 2024 Olympics — Heilman, a rising junior at Western Albemarle High west of Charlottesville, is leading a wave of young swimmers that is changing the face of the sport in the United States and preparing to carry the torch of American dominance into the next generation.
While it is normal for the churn of the Olympic cycle to toss aside older athletes and replace them with younger ones, what’s going on now in American swimming feels more like a sea change.
The previous Olympic cycle, between Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020 (which actually took place in 2021), closed the curtain on American legends Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin and Nathan Adrian, while the current cycle has seen Allison Schmidt bow out and superstars Simone Manuel and Caeleb Dressel on unsure footing as Paris draws nearer.
Advertisement
Manuel, a 26-year-old sprinter and five-time Olympic medalist, skipped nationals, forfeiting any chance of going to the world championships as she battles back from overtraining syndrome in hopes of recovering for Paris.
As for Dressel — the 26-year-old superstar and seven-time Olympic gold medalist — on Wednesday he failed for a second straight night to earn a roster spot in Japan, finishing third in 23.35 seconds in the final of the 50 fly, an event won by veteran Michael Andrew (23.11). And for the second straight night, Dressel declined to address reporters. Just six months into his return to swimming following an extended mental health break, he has two more chances, in the 100 fly and 50 free, to make the U.S. team bound for Fukuoka.
The rookies are taking over this meet. On Tuesday’s opening night, a whopping eight of 16 available spots on the world championship team went to young swimmers who will be making their senior-level international debuts in Japan. Four more rookies earned spots Wednesday.
Advertisement
“I think it’s good for USA Swimming as a whole,” Bob Bowman, Phelps’s longtime coach and now the head men’s coach for Team USA in Fukuoka, said of the wave of youngsters. “There was a long era where the very best people stayed on the scene a long time. And now they’ve worked their way out of [the sport], and it’s great to see these young folks come up and fill their shoes. I think it’s exciting.”
On Wednesday, even Katie Ledecky was taken down by a teenager. Ledecky, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, was run down in the final 50 of the 200 free by 16-year-old Claire Weinstein, who finished in 1:55.26 and out-touched Ledecky by two-hundredths of a second. Both earned spots in Japan in the event, but Ledecky is unlikely to swim the individual 200 free at worlds because of a conflict on the schedule with the 1,500 free; she was competing at nationals primarily for the purpose of locking up a relay spot.
Also earning a spot on that relay Wednesday night was fourth-place finisher Erin Gemmell, an 18-year-old from Bethesda who trains at Nation’s Capital Swim Club and is the daughter of Ledecky’s former coach, Bruce Gemmell. As a 7-year-old, Gemmell dressed as Ledecky for Halloween. A decade later, they are likely to be on a relay together at worlds.
Advertisement
Also among the newcomers is 17-year-old Jillian Cox, one of the generation of young distance swimmers who were moved to try that discipline by watching Ledecky dominate for the past decade-plus and who in Tuesday night’s final of the 800 freestyle dropped more than 10 seconds off her best time to finish second behind Ledecky and earn a spot on the world championships roster. In the aftermath of the race, Cox was still trying to process the result when Ledecky, from two lanes away, swam over to give her a hug.
“I’m speechless. I can’t even explain how excited I am,” said Cox, a product of Cedar Park, Tex., who will head to the University of Texas in the fall. “… For the little kid in me who watched [Ledecky] race, it’s so crazy because now she’s a teammate of mine.”
In some cases, Team USA may need to construct entire relays out of new parts in Japan — a daunting notion for a program that historically has dominated relays but lately has seen the rest of the world, especially Australia, close the gap and in some cases zoom past.
Advertisement
The top four finishers in Tuesday night’s final of the men’s 100 free — who typically would form the four legs of Team USA’s 4x100 relay team — were newcomers: Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Matt King and Destin Lasco. Although veteran Ryan Held finished fifth, putting him in contention for a relay spot as well, Bowman said he wouldn’t be afraid to go with four rookies if needed.
“All of them have swum in the NCAA system, so they know relays,” Bowman said. “That’s one thing we do really well [in America]. So they’ll be able to step up and do that with no problem. I have no worries about that.
“These kids are good.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZMCxu9GtqminnK66sbXCrGZraGJofHGCjmtvaJuclrazsYywnKKmo6myqrqMrZ%2BopZGoeqmxyKWkmqZdqsCiedKwoKalmaO0cA%3D%3D