Cal's Abbey Weitzeil Finishes Third in 50 Freestyle at Trials

Simone Manuel won the event, and Weitzeil barely misses an Olympic berth in this swimming sprint

Abbey Weitzeil / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Cal’s Abbey Weitzell barely missed getting an Olympic berth in the women’s 50-meter freestyle, finishing third in that event on the final day of the U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials on Sunday.

Weitzeil will be going to her third Olympics as a relay swimmer in the 4x100 freestyle relay by virtue of her fifth-place finish in that event earlier this week.

However, she was hoping to get into the Olympics in an individual event, and she nearly did it in the 50 freestyle.  Only the top top two finishers in each event qualify for the Olympics in that event, and Weitziel finished the final in a time of 24.26 seconds, lust 0.11 of second behind second-place finisher Gretchen Walsh.

Walsh nearly finished in a dead heat with first-place finisher Simone Manuel, who touched the wall in 24.13, just two-one-hundredths of a second in front of Walsh.

Weirzeil still has a chance for her second Olympic gold medal in the relay.  She was a member of the U.S. gold-medal-winning 4x100 medley relay team in 2016, and she won a pair of silver medals in the 2020 Olympics in the 4x100 freestyle and 4x100 medley relays.

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