INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Shaine Casas looked at the scoreboard, took off his cap and slapped the water furiously as if he had just won the men’s 200-meter individual medley at Friday’s U.S. Olympic Trials.
Settling for second seemed just fine for the 24-year-old Californian.
Three years after finishing third and sixth in his two top events at the trials in Omaha, Nebraska, Casas finally celebrated his lifetime ambition — making the American team.
Casas finished in 1 minute, 55.83 seconds, just a touch behind Carson Foster to claim the second spot in the event. It wasn’t easy. Casas acknowledged the memories of missing the Tokyo Games helped propel him through the final 50 meters — and on his way to Paris.
Afterward, he celebrated with Foster, who qualified in his second event of the week in Indianapolis.
He wasn’t the favorite this time like he was four years ago before the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the Olympics until 2021. But he’s hardly this week’s biggest surprise.
Chris Guiliano, the first Notre Dame swimmer to qualify for an American men’s Olympic swim team, qualified in the 50 freestyle with a time of 21.69 seconds. Only seven-time Olympic gold medalist Caleb Dressel was quicker, by 0.28 seconds.
Guiliano became the first American male to qualify in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle since Matt Biondi in 1988 and will also compete on multiple relay teams.
Biondi made three U.S. Olympic teams and won 11 gold medals.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
