INDIANAPOLIS — Swimming superstar Katie Ledecky has punched her ticket to Paris and her fourth Olympic team.
In Indianapolis on Saturday night, Ledecky, a seven-time gold medalist, won the 2024 U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials final in the women’s 400m freestyle, earning a spot on Team USA. Paige Madden finished second but has not yet qualified.
In the final of the men’s 400m freestyle, Aaron Shackell, 19, emerged victorious and is also going to Paris.
It will be the first Olympics for Shackell, son of Nick Shackell, who represented Great Britain in swimming at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
“Ever since I found out my dad was an Olympian, I always wanted to be an Olympian,” Aaron Shackell said, adding for a while that he wasn’t especially good at the sport and didn’t enjoy it. “It’s unbelievable to be honest.”
The 400m finals closed the first day of an unprecedented Olympic swimming race in the USA.
For the first time, USA Swimming held the event inside an NFL stadium. An Indianapolis Colts red zone inside Lucas Oil Stadium was turned into the testing competition pool. The huge venue allows 30,000 fans to watch at once, according to organizers, as some of the world’s best athletes compete in an event possibly more stressful than the Olympics themselves.
“This is a lot more intense than the Olympics because it’s so hard to get to the Olympics, and you add this monstrosity and it’s going to put a lot of pressure on them,” said three-time gold medalist and NBC Sports analyst. Rowdy Gaines.
In her semi-final heat on Saturday, Gretchen Walsh set a world record in the 100m butterfly with 55.18 – the first world record set in trials since Michael Phelps did it in 2008.
Opening night, with prime-time coverage on NBC, drew about 20,000 people, the largest crowd to see a night of swimming, according to announcers.
Organizing this nine-day event took weeks, according to USA Swimming chief commercial officer Shana Ferguson, who said 1.8 million gallons of water were pumped into the stadium and are constantly being recycled to keep the temporary pools full. competition and warm-up.
With more than a week to go, hundreds of elite athletes will continue fighting for the chance to represent the USA. Some are eyeing their first Olympics.
“There is no such thing as a former Olympian or a former Olympian. After building a team that will last a lifetime,” Gaines said. “And that can never be taken away from you.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
