By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam
2025 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Tuesday, June 3 – Saturday, June 7, 2025 Indianapolis, Indiana Indiana University Natatorium LCM (50 meters) Meet Central World Championship Selection CriteriaMEN’S 50 FREESTYLE: BY THE NUMBERS
World Record: 20.91, Cesar Cielo (BRA) – 2009 American Record: 21.04, Caeleb Dressel– 2019/2021 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials Winner: Caeleb Dressel, 21.41 World Aquatics ‘A’ Cut: 22.05The 50 free final in Paris was notable for the US men for an undesirable reason – ignoring the February World Championships in Doha earlier in the year, it was the first Worlds or Olympics since 2013 that they did not put a swimmer on the podium.
Year 2015 2016 2017 2019 2021 2022 2023 Swimmer Nathan Adrian – Silver Anthony Ervin – Gold Caeleb Dressel – Gold Caeleb Dressel – Gold Caeleb Dressel – Gold Michael Andrew – Silver Jack Alexy – SilverCaeleb Dressel was only five-hundredths off the bronze, but his time of 21.41 from last year’s Olympic trials would have been enough to claim third. Chris Guiliano took second behind the multi-time World Champion at those Trials last year in 21.69, a hundredth ahead of Matt King in 21.70.
Jack Alexy was down in fourth a year after taking silver in Fukuoka, but only two-tenths off his best. It should be a dogfight for the top two between these four once again in 2025.
Alexy Ready To Take Dressel’s Mantle?
Dressel has won trials in this event every year since 2017 other than his partial 2023 season. He’s long been the US’ premier sprinter but is yet to break 22 seconds this season – the last time he didn’t do so in season was 2018.
His best so far in 2025 is 22.21, eight-tenths off his 21.41 in Indianapolis last year, but has the highest ceiling of anyone in the field. He made the Olympic final last year, with his semi-final (21.58) and final (21.61) time faster than any other US man was in 2024.
He also knows exactly how to peak at the right time at trials, descending all three rounds last year and swimming his fastest in the final every year since 2017.
Year Heats Semi-Final Final 2017 21.75 – 21.53 2018* 21.89 – 21.67 2021 21.29 21.51 21.04 2022 21.71 – 21.29 2024 22.00 21.61 21.41*The 2019 World Championship team was selected based on the results of the 2018 National Championships
It would be a surprise not to see Dressel make the team, although he may not take top spot this time around.
Jack Alexy has the fourth-fastest best time in the field (21.54), but has had a great senior season for Cal. He was slightly off his yards best in the 200 free (1:30.02), but clipped his best in the 50 (18.34) and is now sixth all-time in the 100 after going 40.36 at NCAAs.
He’s swum the event once in long course so far this season, going 21.94 which ranks fastest amongst US men. He will be looking to rebound after finishing fourth at Trials last year, and is only a tenth off his best ever in-season time.
Jack Alexy (photo: Jack Spitser)
His swim in the final last year (21.76) was his slowest of the three rounds after going 21.74 in heats and 21.66 in the semi-finals. The second of those would have placed him second in the final, three-hundredths ahead of Chris Giuliano.
He was faster at trials in 2023, going 21.63 in the final before setting his PB of 21.57 at worlds. However, he has only been sub-22 seven times since then so doesn’t have the same body of work that some of his other competitors do.
Alexy has the most swimming speed of any competitor in the field, and if he can hit his best at the right time should be quietly confident of getting his hand on the wall first.
King and Guiliano Making The Most of New Surroundings
Matt King and Chris Guiliano will both represent new teams at trials this year. King has moved from Texas Ford Aquatics, where he spent his redshirt 2023-24 year, to Indiana, whilst Guiliano moved from Notre Dame to Texas.
Guiliano took the second spot in the Trials final in 2024, going slower than in the semis but finishing a hundredth ahead of King in 21.69. His time of 21.59 from that earlier round stands as his best, and he dropped nearly four-tenths overall. He only has four swims under 22 seconds, but peaked at exactly the right time last year and should certainly be in the final.
He swam to a best time of 18.48 in the 50 at NCAA’s and split 17.80 on Texas’ winning medley relay. Whilst his season best in long course only stands at 22.29, that is only a tenth back of what he came into last year’s trials with. He’ll need to be at his best to make the team, but has had a knack of getting his hand to the wall when it counts at Trials over the last two years.
Matt King was agonisingly short of that individual spot last year, but does have experience from the Doha world championships as well as his international relay swims in the 100 free. He’s set a new PB in the 50 twice this year, and should not be much slower than last year, if at all.
Matt King (photo: Jack Spitser)
He set best times in the 50 (18.87) and 100 (41.14) in yards in his final NCAA season, and dropped an 18.13 split on Indiana’s American Record-setting 200 medley relay.
King has been 23.07 in long course this year at an Indiana time trial, but will be much quicker than that in Indianapolis. He’s not swum slower than a 22.00 at Trials in either of the last three years and has dropped time from heats to the final in each of those as well. .
Pros Looking To Make Their Mark
Michael Andrew is the only individual Worlds medalist in this event other than the two just mentioned, taking silver in 2023 in what is still his best of 21.41.
He holds a season best of 21.97, which is the slowest he’s been in-season since 2021. He doesn’t tend to drop massively at trials, only going a few hundredths faster at the last two, so could be further down the field than normal this year. He was only 5th in 21.81 2024 after finishing 1st in 21.45 in 2023.
If Andrew is on for the 50 he’s a massive threat to make the team, but looks to be trending the wrong way in the 50 free over the last two years. He’ll need to turn that around to be in the hunt this year, especially with other swimmers on the rise.
Brooks Curry is someone who could be heading in the opposite direction. He missed the semi-finals in 17th last year with a swim of 22.35, but has been 22.03 this year and holds a best of 21.84 from 2022.
He hasn’t made the ‘A’ final at Trials since then, but that season best from the Sacramento Pro Swim Series is his second fastest in-season time. Not only that, but it ranks him at #3 so far this season.
Ryan Held is yet to compete in freestyle in meters this season, but holds a best of 21.50 from 2023 and is a Worlds finalist. He was only 21.85 last year, ascending all three rounds, but like in the 100 is not a definite entry here.
One swimmer who definitely won’t be here is David Curtiss, who recently announced his retirement. He was the Pan Pacific Games champion in 2023, and finished 5th at Trials in 2022 and 6th in 2023. Curtiss was only 16th in the semi-finals last year, but his best of 21.76 would be amongst the best in the field.
Returning College Stars
Jonny Kulow and Quintin McCarty both made the ‘A’ final in this event at NCAAs this year, with McCarty having made the final at last year’s Olympic Trials as well.
Kulow has a best of 21.87 from 2023, and was 21.79 last year as he finished eighth but lost a swim-off to Adam Chaney. He set a new best in yards (18.56) this year, had a wicked 17.78 split at NCAAs and has set a new best of 48.35 in the 100 already this year. He was 22.04 in the 50 at that meet.
McCarty made his first NCAA ‘A’ final in the 50 this year, and will look to return to the Trials final in 2025. He was 21.85 in the semi-finals before finishing seventh in 21.97, with that still standing as his best time. He’s been 22.12 so far this year, which ranks him at #4 among US men.
Quintin McCarty (photo: Jack Spitser)
Adam Chaney, a previous NCAA ‘A’ finalist at Florida, swam at a Mason Manta Rays meet back at the start of May where he was 22.89 in the 50 free, but did not swim for Florida this season.
He’s announced his transfer to Arizona State for the 2025-26 season, but may not target Trials this year. He was 22.08 in the final last year to place eighth, but his best stands at 21.79. He’d need to drop some time from that to be in the hunt for the top two if he did swim.
Looking to Break Through
All of the swimmers mentioned so far have made at least one US Trials ‘A’ final, and whilst several of them look strong again this year there are numerous other swimmers looking to claim a spot in the final.
Drew Salls and Jerry Fox have both had good years at NC State, both breaking 19 seconds whilst Salls made the ‘B’ final at NCAAs with an 18.90. He dropped half a second last year to finish 12th in 22.15, and has been 22.55 this year already.
Fox actually holds the faster best in yards after going 18.83 at ACCs, but in long course is 22.45 from last year’s Trials. His season best of 22.69 is less than a quarter of a second from that, and he’s had a pair of 18.4 splits in the short pool for the Wolfpack this season.
Daniel Baltes placed 11th last year in his personal best of 22.14, but shaved half a second off in yards and has been 22.40 so far this year – his fastest-ever in-season time. He was fourth at Big Tens in 18.96.
Jack Dolan and Matt Jensen are slightly older than these previous three, but made the semi-finals last year and will hope to be in the hunt again. Dolan set a best time of 22.07 in the heats last year and has been 22.29 already this year, the sixth-fastest season best of the field.
Jensen is coming off his final season at Cal, which included setting a new best in yards of 19.20. When he swam 22.24 at last year’s trials his yards best stood back at 19.55, so if that can translate over to the long course he’ll be on the cusp of the 22-second barrier.
SWIMSWAM’S PICKS
Rank Swimmer Season-Best Personal Best 1 Jack Alexy 21.94 21.54 2 Caeleb Dressel 22.21 21.04 3 Chris Guiliano 22.29 21.69 4 Matt King 23.07 21.70 5 Michael Andrew 21.97 21.41 6 Jonny Kulow 22.04 21.79 7 Quintin McCarty 22.12 21.85 8 Brooks Curry 22.03 21.84Dark Horse: Tommy Palmer – Palmer transferred from Arizona to Arizona State this year, and has been a beneficiary of Herbie Behm’s sprint revolution there. He broke 19 seconds for the first time in January, had done so four more times before the end of the season and split 18.1 on the 200 free relay at NCAAs. That has already transferred over to long course, as he was under his previous best in both prelims and finals at the most recent Pro Swim Series. He comes into trials with a best of 22.26, and after dropping four-tenths in prelims last year could sneak into the top-8 if he can crack the 22-second barrier this time around.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2025 U.S. World Trials Previews: Dressel Fighting To Keep His Crown In The 50 Free
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