Previewing Penn swimming and diving at the U.S. Olympic Trials (2024)

It’s all been leading up to this.

In less than a week, rising senior breaststroker Matt Fallon, recent graduate distance freestyler Anna Kalandadze, and company will be headed to Indianapolis for the United States Olympic Trials.

All eyes will, of course, be on Fallon; the collegiate season was just a warm-up for this elusive meet. The Warren, N.J. native has been the frontrunner for the U.S. Olympic Team in 200-meter breaststroke since his bronze medal finish at last year’s World Championships in the event. Since then, Fallon has continued to dominate on the national stage. At the U.S. Open in December and TYR Pro Swim Series in April, Fallon touched the wall first in meet record-breaking fashion — at the latter meet, Fallon beat French superstar Léon Marchand. Fallon currently has the fastest time of the season (2:08.18), and his lifetime best (2:07.71) from last summer is within striking distance of the American record — about 0.54 seconds off.

In addition to many recent accolades, Fallon also brings previous Trials experience with him. At his first Trials back in 2021, Fallon —freshly graduated from high school — unexpectedly finished first in the prelims and semifinals but ran out of gas during finals to finish eighth. In November, Fallon told The Daily Pennsylvanian how it’s comforting to have a general sense of what the Trials feel like.

While Fallon’s experience and recent success set him up for a likely Olympic berth, there are many veterans and young talents who will be chasing him down in Indianapolis in hopes of also punching a ticket to Paris.

The most notable veteran is fellow New Jerseyan and Pingry School alumnus Nic Fink. The 2021 Olympian competed in the 200 breast in Tokyo and finished fifth in the final. Since then, Fink has become a consistent name on international team rosters and medal podiums, but he is arguably more successful in the sprint breaststroke (50 and 100).

This past February, he collected a bronze medal in the 200 breaststroke at the World Aquatics Championships — but in a less competitive field, due to the meet conflicting with NCAA competition and Olympics training for most. At 30 years old, the veteran is on the older side, but he has lots of experience with swimming fast at the right time, which is what the Olympics Trials are all about.

Fallon’s competition also includes his Worlds teammate Josh Matheny, who also made his senior international debut at Worlds last year. He is positioned very similarly to Fallon, as he is also trying to maintain momentum from a breakout year to make his first Olympic team. He finished eighth at Worlds last year in the 200 breast, and his season-best time is 2:10.49, compared to Fallon’s 2:08.18.

University of Texas’ Jake Foster is also positioned similarly. Looking to make his first Olympic team, Foster is trying to build off of his fourth place finish behind Fink at February’s Worlds in the 200 breast. His season-best time (2:08.78) is the next fastest after Fallon.

Fallon will not be the only swimmer wearing a Penn cap at the Trials. Recent graduate distance freestyler Anna Kalandadze will be also competing. The Ardmore, Pa. native will compete in 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle after achieving the Trials cut just a couple of weeks ago in New Jersey.

Although this is her first Trials, Kalandadze is no stranger to the big stage, qualifying for the NCAAs every year since transferring to Penn and competing for Team USA at the World University Games last summer. Kalandadze is coming off a remarkable end to her college career where she finished fourth in the 1650-yard freestyle at the NCAAs and collected All-American honors. Although the field is stacked in the distance events with dominant veterans and young rising phenoms, Kalandadze will undoubtedly give it her all, as she’s done season after season, in what may be her final meet.

Additionally, fellow recent graduate individual medley specialist Kevin Keil and rising senior backstroker Daniel Gallagher will be representing the Red and Blue at Trials. Keil will be competing in the 400-meter individual medley, and Gallagher will be competing in the 200-meter backstroke. The two qualified for Trials back in December at Penn swimming and diving’s mid-season meet at Princeton.

The Penn community has a strong cohort of swimmers to rally for next week as they compete in one of the fastest meets in the world in hopes of punching a ticket to the Paris Olympics. The Trials begin on June 15 and conclude on June 23 with the naming of the U.S. Olympic Team. The morning prelims will be streamed live on Peaco*ck with recordings available on USA Network, and the evening finals sessions will be streamed live on NBC and Peaco*ck. The full event schedule can be found here with additional meet information here.