USA Swimming is "cutting its blockbuster Olympic trials in half, an attempt to make the event safer and more manageable for the pandemic era," according to Rachel Bachman of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Trials organizers, in an effort to "space out the athletes at CHI Health Center Arena in Omaha, Neb., no longer will host more than 1,700 swimmers at one giant eight-day event," as happened in '16. Instead, they will "stage two separate meets at the same Omaha arena in June." Wave I will be a "kind of wild-card meet for 550-650 lower-seeded swimmers." Wave II, the main event, will "include about 750 swimmers and take place June 13-20." The new swimming trials plan "assumes that Covid-19 vaccines won’t be widely available, even more than four months from now, to athletes, coaches, volunteers and spectators." USA Swimming said it is “extremely likely” that a negative COVID test will be required for every athlete and attendee to enter the venue. USA Swimming President & CEO Tim Hinchey said that the trials are an "important moneymaker, the only event operated by USA Swimming that turns a profit." USA Swimming said that it can "roughly break even on the trials with 60% attendance for the Wave II main event, or about 7,700 spectators" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/26).
