U.S. Olympic swimming, diving trials: What to know and which Ohio athletes to watch
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The anticipation for the 2024 Paris Olympics is ramping up as the major U.S. Olympic trials get underway on Saturday.
America's swimmers and divers will lead things off as the athletes hope to realize a lifelong dream and qualify for the Olympics. Among those athletes are multiple central Ohio natives and Ohio State Buckeyes. Here is everything you need to know about this week's American swimming and diving Olympic trials.
Swimming trials
Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis will host this year's swimming trials, which run from Saturday until June 23. The usual home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts has been converted with a fully built pool in the middle of the field.
The meet will consist of all individual swimming events contested at the Olympics with the top two in each final expected to qualify. The freestyle relay teams will likely consist of the top six swimmers in the 100 and 200m freestyle finals.
Ohio swimmers to watch
Hunter Armstrong: The former Buckeye and Dover, Ohio native will be among the favorites to advance in the 100m backstroke as the current world champion. He will also compete in the 50m and 100m freestyle events.
Charlie Clark: The Sandusky native just finished his senior season in Columbus with Ohio State. He enters with top five times in the 800m and 1500m freestyle.
Emily Brown: Brown is a recent graduate of Dublin Coffman and will compete in the 100m and 200m butterfly as well as the 200m individual medley. She will swim collegiately at Tennessee after a successful high school career in central Ohio.
Star swimmers to watch
Katie Ledecky: The seven-time Olympic gold medalist is three medals away from becoming the most decorated female American Olympian of all time. She will compete in the 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1500m freestyle events.
Caeleb Dressel: The 27-year-old Floridian will once again be one to watch. Dressel has won seven Olympic medals and all of them have been gold. He competes in the 50m and 100m freestyle as well as the 100m butterfly.
Kate Douglass: Douglass cemented herself as one of the top swimmers in the world after earning four golds, five silvers, and one bronze at the last two world championships. She will race in both breaststroke races, both freestyle sprints, and the 200m individual medley.
How to watch on NBC4
NBC4 will have live coverage of the swimming trial finals every night beginning at 8 p.m. The qualifying heats will be streamed on Peacock at 11 a.m. Peacock is owned by NBC and not NBC4’s parent company, Nexstar.
Diving trials
The Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee will be the site for the 2024 diving trials, which begin on Monday and conclude on June 23. Seven of the eight Olympic diving events will be contested at the trials. The trials will not have a men's synchronized platform event because the U.S. did not meet the Olympic quota.
The top two divers in the individual springboard events make the Olympic team while the winners of the platform events qualify. The winners of the three synchronized events make Team USA.
Ohio divers
Jordan Rzepka: The New Albany graduate just completed his junior season at Purdue. The 21-year-old will compete in both individual events and the synchro platform.
Jordan Skilken: Skilken graduated from Columbus Academy before joining Texas' diving team and she will compete in both individual events. The 23-year-old is the daughter of Steve Skilken, who was an All-American diver at Ohio State.
Noah Duperre: Duperre will dive in the individual events and the synchro springboard in Knoxville. The 22-year-old graduated from New Albany and just finished his senior year at Texas, where he won an NCAA championship in 2021.
Lyle Yost: The Shaker Heights native enters trials after his fifth season with the Ohio State diving team, where he won the NCAA championship in the 1m springboard in 2023. Yost will dive in both individual events.
Star divers to watch
Delaney Schnell: The 2020 silver medalist in Tokyo's synchro platform event will compete in all four events in Knoxville. She will dive the synchro platform with Jessica Parratto, who was her partner in Tokyo three years ago.
Krysta Palmer: The 31-year-old from Nevada is a springboard diving specialist and will hope to qualify in both events. Palmer took home bronze in the individual springboard event in Tokyo.
Andrew Capobianco: Capobianco, 24, earned a silver at the Tokyo Olympics in the synchro springboard with Michael Hixon. Capobianco competes in all three men's events in Knoxville.
How to watch on NBC4
Primetime coverage of the diving trials will be on NBC4 for five out of the six days of competition, starting on Monday at 9:15 p.m. Morning and afternoon coverage will be live on Peacock each day.