The NBC broadcasting partnership between Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines has been highly successful for many years. Together, they have called seven Olympic Games, and have also teamed up for other major competitions. Most recently, they worked together at the World Championships in Fukuoka, this summer’s gathering of the best in the sport.

As a play-by-play guy, Hicks is an all-timer. His Olympic role with NBC is complemented by his duties as the man who guides his network’s coverage of some of the biggest golf tournaments in the world. Meanwhile, Gaines has served as NBC’s longtime swimming analyst, the three-time Olympian bringing an inarguable passion to the telecast, along with commentary that provides context to the action.

At the World Championships in Japan, Hicks and Gaines worked a three-person booth during the first half of the meet. The additional member was Michael Phelps, the 28-time Olympic medalist whose career was documented by Hicks and Gaines from Phelps’ debut in Sydney to his farewell in Rio de Janeiro.

Phelps has called occasional races with the entrenched NBC tandem since his retirement, but his presence in Fukuoka was particularly notable. With Phelps’ last world record targeted by France’s Leon Marchand, NBC made a wise decision to include the GOAT in its coverage. After all, it was an opportunity to bring extra insight to the viewership.

USA Swimming on Monday announced its schedule of events for 2024, the tentpole of which is U.S. Olympic Team Trials in June.

The year will start with three TYR Pro Swim Series dates – in Knoxville, Tenn., Jan. 10-13; Westmont, Ill., March 6-9; and San Antonio, Texas, April 10-13.

Open water championships will be held in Sarasota, Fla., May 3-5. It all builds up to Olympics Trials in Indianapolis from June 15-23, selecting the team for the Paris Olympic Games.

While swimmers are away in Paris, the Speedo Summer Champs will be held in Irvine, Calif., from July 23-27. The senior and junior championships will be combined at that event.

The Toyota U.S. Open will be held Dec. 4-7 at a site to be determined.

New to the schedule is the Club Excellence Challenge Series, in which USA Swimming has partnered with three existing meets as a last tune-up for Trials. From the press release: “Prize money will be awarded by USA Swimming to the top three finishers in each event determined from combined results across all three meets, with a leaderboard posted on usaswimming.org.”
 

Even within many of the United States’ 38 medal-winning swims at the World Championships, something was missing. An American team that prided itself on swimming up to the level of its international competition just was not fully clicking. It was a stark contrast as Australia outperformed expectations in final after final on the way to 13 gold medals and becoming the world’s dominant team for 2023.

The Americans’ medal total second-most ever by any country at a World Championships, trailing only the 45 medals the United States captured at a World Championships missing many key international performers last year. And the results showed that the American team will enter the Olympic year with medal favorites in nearly every event. But the seven gold medals ranked as the lowest U.S. total at any major meet in 29 years, since the 1994 World Championships.

The U.S. did not swim poorly by any measure, but the usual spark was dimming through much of the meet. The biggest surprise was the women’s 100 breaststroke, where Lilly King and Lydia Jacoby had been expected to finish 1-2 entering the meet. Instead, Jacoby won bronze and King ended up fourth as neither approached their best times.

Torri Huske ended up with bronze in the women’s 100 butterfly, a half-second slower than her season-best time and a full second down from her gold-medal-winning mark last year.

The NCAA has released its championship qualifying standards for Division I and Division II programs.

The times have continued to creep faster. Automatic “A” qualifying standards are calculated with the three-year average of eighth place for each event. Provisional “B” standards are calculated using a three-year average of the top 125 times.

There also is a long-course conversion.

For the men’s Division I field, 11 of the 13 events saw a faster qualifying time (only the 1650 free and 200 backstroke remained the same). In relays, the 400 free and 200 medley relays are a faster cut, while the others are the same as last year.

For the Division I women, only five events got faster, led by the 200 breaststroke, which is nearly a half second (o.45) faster. The 100 butterfly is 0.23 faster.

Meanwhile, the 500 got slower at 4:37.89, 2.13 seconds slower than last year’s cut.

All five relays are the same as last year as well as the IM events, 100 free, 200 free, 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke.