American 50 freestyle swimmers tied twice (!!) at Olympic trials, leading to 2 thrilling swim-offs
INDIANAPOLIS — Sometimes, ties happen in swimming, especially in sprint events. And it’s happened a few times this week at U.S. Olympic swimming trials at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Among several semifinals Thursday night was the men’s 50-meter freestyle — an all-out, don’t-breathe kind of sprint featuring the top-16 fastest swimmers in America. This event was wildly close with all 16 swimmers finishing within .76 seconds of each other, fighting for a spot in the top eight final.
But it was even closer for two swimmers — Adam Chaney from the University of Florida in the first semi and Jonny Kulow of Sun Devil Swimming in the second semi — who tied for the eighth and last spot in Friday’s final, both posting times of 21.89 seconds.
Here’s the video of the second 50 free semifinal with Kulow in Lane 2. (NBC seemingly didn’t not share video of the first semi.)
The “splash and dash” never disappoints, especially with Caeleb Dressel.
NBC & @peacock | #SwimTrials24 pic.twitter.com/cCfjruTxjI
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) June 21, 2024
So what happens after a tie?
Well, they had a swim-off. And in an unbelievable turn of events, they tied AGAIN.
The second time around, Chaney beat Kulow off the blocks by just .01 seconds, but then they both hit the wall and finished with a time of 21.79.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! @ace10chaney and Jonny Kulow tie AGAIN in their swimoff for the final slot of the Men’s 50 free at #swimtrials2024 @USASwimming @RAYSswimming @GatorsSwimDv @CometsSwimDive pic.twitter.com/0ePyIHOx0N
— Charles Galvin (@cgalvinesq) June 21, 2024
SWIM-OFF TIE ALERT#SwimTrials24 | @TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/AzMSM45rRD
— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) June 21, 2024
After the first swim-off, the two friends spoke with the media while waiting to hear when they’d swim again. They said that neither of them had ever been in a double tie before.
“He could be the best guy that I’d want to do it again with,” Kulow said.
“Can’t wait to swim again,” Chaney added when asked what his reaction was to the second tie. “This is what we do, this is why we do it. Getting to do it with Adam is even better.”
So … a second swim-off! After all the regularly scheduled events finished Thursday night, of course. And this time, there was a clear winner.
Chaney out-touched Kulow by .18 seconds and won the swim-off with a time of 21.81 — and advanced to Friday night’s final — while Kulow finished at 21.99.
While the race is short, it requires a tremendous amount of power and energy. So it’s really very impressive that they were able to maintain about the same time — especially considering they swam the 50 free four times Thursday — three times in about 90 minutes.
Three 50 Freestyles in 1.5 hours. Heck of a battle from these two.
Adam Chaney, 21.81
Jonny Kulow, 21.99#SwimTrials24 | @TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/U224NiaQAU— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) June 21, 2024