Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel and 46 other U.S. swimmers head to Paris this week to try to retain American supremacy in the Olympic pool.
Ledecky, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, still looks dominant in the 800-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle events, but she should have her hands full in the 400-meter freestyle on the first night of competition. Dressel, the winner of five gold medals in Tokyo, is back in form after taking time away from the sport, and he hopes to defend his Olympic titles in the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter butterfly.
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Here’s the complete schedule of swimming events in Paris and a breakdown of the U.S. team and top storylines to get you ready for the Olympic Games.
Schedule
The pool swimming events run from July 27 to Aug. 4 at Paris La Défense Arena. Each day from July 27 to Aug. 3 features a morning session with preliminary heats starting at 5 a.m. ET and an evening session with semis and medal races starting at 2:30 p.m. ET. Each session runs approximately two hours or less. On Aug. 4, there is only an evening session, beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET.
| Date | Morning session | Evening session |
|---|---|---|
July 27 | Heats | Semis/finals (approx. ET) |
W 100m fly | W 100m fly semis (2:30 p.m.) | |
W 400m free | M 400m free (2:42 p.m.) | |
M 100m breast | W 400m free (2:52 p.m.) | |
M 400m free | M 100m breast semis (3:12 p.m.) | |
W 4x100m free | W 4x100m free (3:34 p.m.) | |
M 4x100m free | M 4x100m free (3:44 p.m.) | |
July 28 | Heats | Semis/finals (approx. ET) |
M 200m free | M 400 IM (2:30 p.m.) | |
M 400m IM | W 100m fly (2:40 p.m.) | |
W 100m breast | M 200m free semis (2:46 p.m.) | |
M 100m back | W 100m breast semis (3:10 p.m.) | |
W 200m free | M 100m back semis (3:32 p.m.) | |
M 100m breast (3:44 p.m.) | ||
W 200m free semis (3:50 p.m.) | ||
July 29 | Heats | Semis/finals (approx. ET) |
W 400m IM | W 400m IM (2:30 p.m.) | |
W 100m back | M 200m free (2:40 p.m.) | |
M 800m free | W 100m back semis (2:57 p.m.) | |
M 100m back (3:19 p.m.) | ||
W 100m breast (3:25 p.m.) | ||
W 200m free (3:41 p.m.) | ||
July 30 | Heats | Semis/finals (approx. ET) |
M 200m fly | M 100m free semis (2:30 p.m.) | |
M 100m free | M 200m fly semis (2:42 p.m.) | |
W 1,500m free | W 100m back (2:56 p.m.) | |
W 100m free | M 800m free (3:02 p.m.) | |
M 200m breast | W 100m free semis (3:25 p.m.) | |
M 4x200m free | M 200m breast semis (3:47 p.m.) | |
M 4x200m free (4:01 p.m.) | ||
July 31 | Heats | Semis/finals (approx. ET) |
W 200m breast | W 100m free (2:30 p.m.) | |
M 200m back | M 200m fly (2:36 p.m.) | |
W 200m fly | W 200m fly semis (2:43 p.m.) | |
W 1,500m free (3:07 p.m.) | ||
M 200m back semis (3:37 p.m.) | ||
W 200m breast semis (3:51 p.m.) | ||
M 200m breast (4:15 p.m.) | ||
M 100m free (4:22 p.m.) | ||
Aug. 1 | Heats | Semis/finals (approx. ET) |
W 200m back | W 200m fly (2:30 p.m.) | |
M 50m free | M 200m back (2:37 p.m.) | |
M 200m IM | M 50m free semis (2:44 p.m.) | |
W 4x200m free | W 200m breast (3:04 p.m.) | |
W 200m back semis (3:11 p.m.) | ||
M 200m IM semis (3:35 p.m.) | ||
W 4x200m free (3:49 p.m.) | ||
Aug. 2 | Heats | Semis/finals (approx. ET) |
M 100m fly | M 50m free (2:30 p.m.) | |
W 200m IM | W 200m back (2:30 p.m.) | |
W 800m free | M 200m IM (2:43 p.m.) | |
Mixed 4x100m medley | M 100m fly semis (3 p.m.) | |
W 200m IM semis (3:22 p.m.) | ||
Aug. 3 | Heats | Semis/finals (approx. ET) |
W 50m free | M 100m fly (2:30 p.m.) | |
M 1,500m free | W 50m free semis (2:37 p.m.) | |
M 4x100m medley | W 200m IM (3:01 p.m.) | |
W 4x100m medley | W 800m free (3:08 p.m.) | |
Mixed 4x100m medley (3:34 p.m.) | ||
Aug. 4 | Semis/finals (approx. ET) | |
W 50m free (12:30 p.m.) | ||
M 1,500m free (12:36 p.m.) | ||
M 4x100m medley (1:06 p.m.) | ||
W 4x100m medley (1:26 p.m.) |
The 10-kilometer open-water swims are Aug. 8 (women) and Aug. 9 (men) on the Seine River. Both begin at 1:30 a.m. ET.
How to watch
TV:NBC, USA, Telemundo and Universo
Streaming:Peaco*ck, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, the NBC app and the NBC Olympics app
All of the morning sessions will air live on USA. The evening semis/finals will air live on NBC. Check here for full day-by-day TV and streaming info. Swimming will also be heavily featured in NBC’s tape-delayed prime-time coverage.
Who’s on Team USA
Ledecky and Dressel bring the most hardware, but there is plenty to watch beyond them. Regan Smith, fresh off a world-record 100-meter backstroke swim at the U.S. Olympic trials, is a contender in both backstroke events and the 200-meter butterfly. Gretchen Walsh also set a world record at trials in the 100-meter butterfly, which she will compete in along with the 50- and 100-meter freestyles. Kate Douglass, Lilly King, Simone Manuel, Torri Huske and Alex Walsh are the previous Olympic medal winners returning for another Olympics.
The women’s team features four teenagers, including Katie Grimes, the 18-year-old competing in her second Olympics. She finished fourth in the open-water swim in Tokyo and will race again in Paris. She also qualified in the 400-meter individual medal and the 1,500-meter freestyle alongside Ledecky. Grimes won silver in the 1,500 at the 2022 world championships, took silver in the 400 IM at the 2023 worlds and improved her open-water result to bronze at the 2023 worlds.
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Returning individual medal winners on the men’s side include Dressel, Bobby Finke (gold in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle), Chase Kalisz (gold in the 400-meter IM), Ryan Murphy (silver in the 200-meter backstroke, bronze in the 100-meter backstroke) and Kieran Smith (bronze in the 400-meter freestyle).
Among the new names to watch: 17-year-old Thomas Heilman in the 100- and 200-meter butterfly and Chris Guiliano, the 21-year-old Notre Dame product with the busiest program of any American, featuring the 50-, 100- and 200-meter freestyles and both freestyle relays.
The full Team USA roster with events can be found here.
Key storylines
Can the Americans stay dominant in the pool? The last time the Americans didn’t win the most gold medals of any nation in Olympic swimming was in 1988, when they finished second to East Germany. In Paris, the Australians, who topped the U.S. in the gold medal count at the 2023 world championships, will pose a challenge. The Americans have a good chance, but there aren’t as many sure things as in years past.
There’s also a great rivalry on the women’s side among Ledecky, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus and Canada’s Summer McIntosh. Ledecky remains the standard-bearer in the long-distance freestyle races, but Titmus and McIntosh have caught up to her in the middle-distance events. Titmus is the defending Olympic gold medal winner in the 400-meter freestyle, edging out Ledecky in Tokyo, and she also beat Ledecky at the 2023 world championships. McIntosh briefly held the world record in the 400 last year before Titmus beat it with that world championship final swim. The four-minute mark has been cracked 52 times in the history of the women’s 400-meter freestyle in a long-course pool (50 meters); this trio has combined for 49 of those swims, including the 27 fastest.
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And then there’s New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather, the 20-year-old who won bronze behind Titmus and Ledecky in Tokyo and the owner of two of those three sub-four-minute swims that don’t belong to Ledecky, Titmus or McIntosh. Fairweather set her personal best earlier this year at the 2024 worlds and is inching closer to their lofty territory.
They should all be there in the 400-meter freestyle final on swimming’s first night, Saturday, in what might be the most compelling race of the week. Titmus and Ledecky will also likely face each other in the 800-meter freestyle final Aug. 3.
More reading
- Behind Caeleb Dressel’s Olympic return, ‘a work in progress’ to rekindle his love for swimming
- Team USA has owned the Olympic swimming pool — is that about to change in Paris?
- U.S. Olympic swim trials takeaways: Caeleb Dressel is back, Katie Ledecky is still here
(Photo of Regan Smith at June’s U.S. Olympic trials: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)
Zack Pierce is the national managing editor for The Athletic. Before that, he was the managing editor for The Athletic's Minnesota coverage. He spent over 10 years in various editorial capacities at FoxSports.com after a brief stint at ESPN.com. A Minnesota native, he co-founded the Trent Tucker Fan Club and refused to interact with society for several hours after the 1998 NFC Championship Game.
