Kate Douglass turns Olympic swimming trials into showcase of versatility (2024)

It effectively announced her as the program’s Next Big Thing even before this selection meet for the 2024 Paris Games began. And nothing Douglass has done here has contradicted that notion.

In the latest incarnation of one of the most versatile and unique swimming talents in recent history, Douglass flirted with the world record in the final of the women’s 200-meter breaststroke Thursday night before settling for a commanding victory in a meet-record time of 2 minutes 19.46 seconds, nearly 2½ seconds faster than runner-up Lilly King (2:21.93).

“It’s super cool to have my face on the stadium,” Douglass said. “Definitely, it was scary at first. I felt the pressure after seeing that, but I feel like I’ve done a good job of handling it.”

Already the winner of the 100 freestyle the previous night, Douglass, a 22-year-old University of Virginia product, is headed to Paris in a second individual event – and could be a part of three relays there. She also will be the favorite to win the 200 individual medley Saturday, in which she won Bronze in Tokyo, and remains entered in the 50 free, for which she is the American record holder, although it is widely expected she will scratch the latter.

By virtue of her second-place finish, King, 27, also qualified for Paris in a second individual event, having previously won the 100 breast. But the highlight of her night occurred several minutes after the race when her boyfriend suddenly appeared near the warmup pool and, in the full view of NBC’s cameras, dropped to one knee and proposed. King, known for her ability to perform under pressure, said yes.

Also Thursday, another multi-stroke American star, Regan Smith, added a victory in the women’s 200 butterfly to the one she won earlier in the meet in the 100 back, completing her four lengths in 2:05.70, nearly a second faster than 17-year-old Alex Shackell (2:06.69). Shackell’s runner-up finish put her on the Paris roster, which already featured her brother Aaron, who won the men’s 400 freestyle on the opening night of the meet. Both will be first-time Olympians.

Three-time Olympian Ryan Murphy, as expected, won the men’s 200 back to complete a historic sweep of the backstroke events here, becoming the first male swimmer to pull off that feat at three consecutive U.S. trials. Keaton Jones, like Murphy a product of California Berkeley, grabbed the second spot with a time of 1:54.61 and was in tears as he hung on the lane line afterward until Murphy reached over and hugged him.

Spare some thoughts, meanwhile, for Jack Aikins. The third-place finisher in the 100 back two nights earlier, he was also third Thursday night, missing a berth in Paris in those two races by a combined margin of less than two-tenths of a second.

Like Murphy, Caeleb Dressel will be a third-time Olympian in Paris. Already named to the team on the 4x100 free relay, Dressel, a five-time gold medalist at Tokyo in 2021, won his semifinal heat in the 50 free Thursday night in 21.61 seconds — his fastest time at that distance in more than two years — and will be the second seed in Friday night’s final behind Chris Giuliano (21.59).

And in the night’s most stunning moment, sprinters Adam Chaney and Jonny Kulow, having tied for eighth (21.89) in the semifinals of the men’s 50 free and thus forced to race a swim-off for the last spot in Friday night’s finals, tied again at 21.79, drawing a stunned roar from the crowd. There was nothing to do except race another swim-off, which they did after a cool-down period of around 45 minutes. This time, Chaney prevailed, 21.81 to 21.99.

Amid all the outrageous drama and out-of-nowhere performances at a meet in which the difference between glory and heartache is perilously thin, Douglass has spent the past few days taking care of business in a methodical and drama-free fashion. When she wins, she looks as if she expected herself to win. When she loses — well, she hasn’t done that yet.

A unicorn of a swimmer who could swim a half-dozen individual events — and medal in any or all of them if her body and the Olympic schedule would allow it — Douglass is trying to pull off something no American woman has ever done: qualify for an Olympics as an individual swimmer in freestyle, breaststroke and IM.

Douglass won a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago in the 200 IM as a 19-year-old, but it was in the three years between then and now that she erupted into a medal-gobbling machine. Seven golds at the 2022 NCAA championships — where she also became the first swimmer, male or female, to win titles in three different individual strokes (freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke). Seven more golds at the 2023 NCAAs. Six medals, including two golds, at the 2023 world championships in f*ckuoka, Japan.

“It’s confidence,” Virginia Coach Todd DeSorbo, who will double as head women’s coach for Team USA in Paris, said of Douglass’s ascension. “I don’t think she wasn’t confident before, but she didn’t know what she was capable of before. In her first two years [at Virginia], anytime she did something great, it was shock. I told her the first time we met freshman year that she was capable of being an Olympian. She had the talent. A lot of things had to happen to get to that level, and she made them happen. She sets pretty lofty goals, and she works really hard.”

It is likely Douglass’s goals never included passing by an eight-story-high photo of herself as she entered a football stadium to swim one of the most unusual Olympic trials programs anyone has attempted. But here she is. By the end of this summer, they may just decide to leave the photo up there forever.