The U.S. team for the world swimming championships will be determined this week, and it’s going to include some new faces.
Absent are the retired Michael Phelps and Maya DiRado, suspended Ryan Lochte and recovering Missy Franklin.
Katie Ledecky is the headliner, but there are of course many others who will emerge this week as medal favorites for Budapest next month.
The top two per individual event at the USA Swimming National Championships, part of the TeamUSA Summer Champions Series, presented by Comcast, are in line to make the world team. Plus extra swimmers in the 100m and 200m frees for relays.
MORE: Broadcast Schedule | Event Schedule/Results
Here are 10 swimmers to watch in Indianapolis from Tuesday through Saturday:
Mallory Comerford
No Olympic experience
The rising Louisville junior tied Katie Ledecky for the NCAA 200-yard freestyle title on March 17. Remember, Ledecky is undefeated in 15 individual finals at the Olympics, World Championships and Pan Pacific Championships. It was all the more surprising given Comerford, who is five months younger than Ledecky, was 12th and 13th in the 100m and 200m frees at the Olympic Trials. She enters nationals ranked Nos. 2 and 5 in the 100m and 200m freestyles, respectively.
Madisyn Cox
No Olympic experience
Cox is the best all-around female swimmer in the U.S. aside from Ledecky. She ranks second this year in both individual medleys and the 200m breaststroke. The former University of Texas standout is the direct beneficiary of Ledecky opting not to swim the 400m IM on Thursday, given Ledecky is fastest in the U.S. this year in that event. Cox was fourth in both IMs at the Olympic Trials.
Lilly King
Olympic 100m breast champion
Best known for finger-wagging Yuliya Efimova and then beating the Russian in Rio. King actually ranks No. 2 — in the U.S. — this year in the 100m breast behind Rio bronze medalist Katie Meili. Meili has also been 2.72 seconds faster than King this year in the 200m breast, an event King is trying to improve after being eliminated in the Olympic semifinals.
Katie Ledecky
Five-time Olympic champion
It would be shocking if Ledecky does not win the 200m, 400m, 800m and (if she races it) 1500m frees this week. The intrigue comes in the 100m free, which Ledecky did not contest at this meet four years ago. She lowered her 100m free personal best from 56.00 to 53.75 in the last four years and enters Tuesday’s event ranked No. 5 in the U.S. this year (same as her ranking last year). No doubt Ledecky has the talent to make the 4x100m free relay at worlds (as she did at the Olympics), but could she make the 100m free team outright by finishing top two?
Simone Manuel
Four-time Rio Olympic medalist
Manuel is comfortably the fastest U.S. woman this year in the 50m and 100m frees, where she earned silver and gold in Rio. She’s also ranked No. 4 in the 200m free, and only .18 behind No. 2, after handing Ledecky two defeats in the NCAA 200-yard free this past season.
Michael Andrew
No Olympic experience
Andrew, who turned professional at age 14 in 2013, is entered in nine events this week. No way he swims them all, but could this be the year Andrew fulfills promise and makes his first major international meet? He ranks fourth in the 50m free and third in the 200m individual medley nationally this year but has been best known in recent years for his breaststroke. His best Olympic Trials finish was fourth in the 100m breast.
Caeleb Dressel
Olympic 4x100m free relay champion
Dressel memorably delievered under pressure in Rio, setting a personal best in his first Olympic swim leading off the 4x100m free relay final. Dressel went even faster in his three 100m free swims, placing sixth overall. At age 20, Dressel already holds NCAA records in the 50- and 100-yard frees, plus the 100-yard butterfly. Is he ready to overtake Nathan Adrian as the top U.S. sprinter?
Anthony Ervin
Two-time Olympic 50m free champion
At 36, Ervin is the oldest swimmer at nationals by three years. He defied age most recently in Rio, becoming the oldest individual Olympic swimming champion in winning the 50m freestyle a whopping 16 years after sharing gold in the event in Sydney. Ervin hasn’t shown that kind of form this year. He ranks No. 16 in the U.S. in the 50m free.
Chase Kalisz
Olympic 400m IM silver medalist
No U.S. male swimmer has been more impressive this season than Kalisz. In a three-day span in May, he set personal bests in the 200m IM and the 200m breaststroke, swam the second-best 200m butterfly of his life and posted the then-fastest time in the world this year in the 400m IM. Kalisz is entered in three events this week and owns the fastest time in the U.S. this year in all of them — 200m and 400m IM and 200m butterfly.
Ryan Murphy
Three-time Rio Olympic champion
Murphy may have swept the backstrokes in Rio, but he is ranked second in the country this year in the 100m and 200m distances. London Olympic champion Matt Grevers has been faster in the 100m back. Rio Olympic teammate Jacob Pebley tops the 200m back. Still, it would be a shock to not see Murphy swimming both in Budapest, plus perhaps the 50m back.
MORE: King to be less vocal on Efimova topic this summer
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