Flickinger 8th in 100 fly at Olympic Trials
Spring Grove's Hali Flickinger placed eighth in the 100-meter butterfly final Monday at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Nebraska.
But her best event is yet to take place. Flickinger, who just finished her senior season with the national championship University of Georgia team, entered the meet with the 21st-best seed time in the nation in the 100 fly, yet she somehow navigated preliminaries and semifinal action to advance to the final eight. Unable to match the speed of Olympic-bound Kelsi Worrell or defending Olympic champion Dana Vollmer, Flickinger still can fall back on her best event.
The 200 butterfly, where Flickinger has posted the fourth-fastest seed time in the nation, begins with preliminary heats Wednesday. The semifinals for the 200 fly are scheduled for Wednesday night. The top-two finishers in each event earn spots on the U.S. Olympic team, with a maximum number of team members set at 26.
The 100 fly came down to a two-swimmer race.
Less than 16 months after giving birth to her first child, Vollmer finished second behind Worrell, but Vollmer still managed to qualify for her third Olympics and earn the chance to defend her Olympic title in Rio. Vollmer led at the turn, but the late-blooming Worrell rallied on the return lap to post the second-fastest time in the world this year at 56.48 seconds. Vollmer touched next in 57.21, giving her the second spot on the Olympic team. They were the only two women in the final to post times under 58 seconds.
Flickinger finished in 59.31 seconds.
Flickinger qualified for seven events to reach her second Olympic Trials. The 21-year-old also raced at the Trials as a 17-year-old with her club team, York YMCA. Prepared to swim in five events at the Trials, Flickinger pulled out of the 400 free preliminaries earlier in the day.
Wearing a black suit with her black Georgia swim cap, Flickinger smiled and waved to the crowd when she was announced to another sold-out crowd at the CenturyLink Center.
Flickinger's busy week continues Tuesday. She and West York teenager Courtney Harnish are scheduled to swim in the 200-meter freestyle in the morning preliminaries. York YMCA swimmer, Meghan Small is scheduled to swim in the 200 individual medley.