World Championships: American Team Overcoming Adversity, Taking Steps Toward Los Angeles Goal
The United States team has stabilized, following a difficult start to the World Championships. A widespread stomach illness forced three swimmers to withdraw from events on Day One, and the women’s and men’s 400 freestyle relays, both favored for gold, fell to Australia. But as more time passes from the onset of symptoms, the results over the last three days have been more in line with pre-meet expectations.
The Americans have captured 12 medals, although only two of them are gold. Looking ahead to the final four days of competition, the team has a chance to reach the 30-medal threshold after falling two short last year in Paris, with double-digit gold medals an outside possibility.
That brings up the question of how this performance will be judged at the meet’s conclusion. Overcoming an illness just days before the start of the year’s most important competition should be celebrated. U.S. National Team Director Greg Meehan has lauded the swimmers’ positive approach in spite of adversity, and the unwillingness to yield is a credit to their toughness and training. No swimmer should be blamed for doing their best amid rough conditions.
But from a bigger picture perspective, matching Paris was never the goal. The team’s total was its lowest in the pool in two decades and the first time without double-digit gold medals since 1988, when there were fewer events on the program. In the aftermath of Paris, USA Swimming opted for a full reboot, with CEO Tim Hinchey and national team leader Lindsay Mintenko departing. The implication was clear that better results were expected by the time a home Olympics in Los Angeles arrives in 2028.
Luke Hobson — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
Sick or not, work remains. In Wednesday’s finals, Luca Urlando produced what might be the team’s standout moment of the meet, dominating the men’s 200 butterfly final. But can the American men earn another individual gold? Bobby Finke, the swimmer who averted a shutout last year in Paris, faded to fourth in the 800 free, illness taking a toll. Luke Hobson had a chance in the 200 free, but his valiant effort was not enough in the wake of a brilliant finish by David Popovici. Jack Alexy will be the top seed in the 100 free final but with Popovici and Kyle Chalmers right there. The Americans have already been shut out from five finals, although it’s tough to discern how much of the poor performances is attributable to the illness.
The women, as expected, are collecting medals at a furious pace. They have reached the podium in every individual event so far, with special mention to Kate Douglass (100 breaststroke) and Claire Weinstein (200 freestyle) for filling holes in the roster from Paris. Katie Ledecky won her sixth world title in the 1500 free while Gretchen Walsh delivered a gutsy effort to dominate the 100 fly. American depth is so extraordinary that swimmers who did not qualify for Worlds such as Leah Shackley, Tess Howley and Leah Hayes all posted near-medal-worthy times at the World University Games.
But in the close races in Singapore, gold medals have been tough to come by. American swimmers repeatedly have come so close just to miss out. Tuesday’s finals session provided the example, with Regan Smith winning silver in the 100 back with a remarkable effort despite her health, though still behind the buzzsaw that is Kaylee McKeown in the backstroke races. The combined margin by which Hobson, Smith and Douglass missed gold medals was less than six tenths of a second.
There have been a handful of disastrous results, most notably the 10th-place finish in the mixed medley relay. An American team which could have contended or perhaps won gold ended up out of contention thanks to some lineup decisions that did not pan out (200-meter specialist Keaton Jones on the backstroke leg, a still-struggling Huske handling butterfly). That result will surely linger, with the Americans having lost out on a sure medal.
Katie Ledecky with University of Florida coach Anthony Nesty after winning gold in the 1500 free — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
Still, this has not been a poor performance as a whole. But remember how dominant the U.S. swim team has been in the not-too-distant past? In a single day nine years ago at the Rio Olympics, Ledecky capped off the best meet of her career with a world-record-crushing performance in the 800 freestyle while Maya DiRado (200 back) and Anthony Ervin (50 free) both won upset golds.
Nine years earlier at the 2007 World Championships, the third day brought the following results: Michael Phelps winning gold in world record in the 200 free, Natalie Coughlin and Aaron Peirsol breaking world records in the 100 back (with Ryan Lochte taking second), Kate Ziegler comfortably topping the 1500 free, with Tara Kirk’s silver in the 100 breast capping the historic night in Melbourne.
At that 2007 meet, the U.S. won 20 out of 40 gold medals. At the Olympics in both 2012 and 2016, the Americans captured 16 out of 32. Three times in the last two decades, American teams have won half of all golds awarded at a major meet.
That’s the standard this generation is striving to emulate. The women are not far off with their elite, experienced core. Perhaps small adjustments could make them an all-time elite group. The men are further off, with no best-of-the-best aces in the mold of Phelps or peak Caeleb Dressel. But even if another year passes with zero individual golds, there has been progress. Finke and Hobson are elite international performers, with Urlando and Alexy closing in and Carson Foster just a tick behind.
Many of the team’s rookies have struggled in Singapore, likely in part due to illness, but that should not discount what swimmers like Rex Maurer, Jack Aikins, Campbell McKean and Luka Mijatovic accomplished at Nationals. No American 100 backstrokers even reached the semifinals this year, but Will Modglin showed promise in dropping more than a second from his best times at the World University Games.
Illness means the Americans get a pass for weaker performances here. But one-fourth of the Olympic quad has elapsed. The next World Championships is two years away in Budapest, a repeat World Championships host where the U.S. has previously dominated in 2017 and 2022. By 2027, once Meehan and a still-to-be-hired CEO have had time to implement their visions for USA Swimming’s elite contingent, a jump in results will be expected if there’s any chance of a grand American masterpiece at the Los Angeles Games.
But despite the setbacks and struggles, there’s some hope to be drawn from the United States’ performance this week, even if it’s not as much as the team’s supporters might have wanted.
