Jack Alexy Barely Misses Earning Olympic Berth in a Second Event

Cal swimmer Alexy finishes fourth in 50-meter freestyle final at U.S. Olympic Trials

Jack Alexy starts the 50-meter freestyle / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Cal’s Jack Alexy missed earning an Olympic berth in a second event by seven-one-hundredths of a second at the U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials in Indianapolis on Friday evening.

Alexy had already ensured he would be participating in the Paris Olympics when he finished second in the 100-meter freestyle on Wednesday, but he was looking for a berth in the 50-meter freestyle on Friday, and he figured to have a decent chance of finishing in the top two.

It didn’t happen. Alexy finished fourth in the 100 freestyle final, just seven-hundredths of a second behind second-place finisher Chris Guiliano. Only the top two finishers in an event can compete in the Olympics in that event.

Caeleb Dressel, who had capture the gold medal in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (which were held in 2021), finished first in the 50 freestyle final in the trials in a time of 21.41 seconds.  Dressel won by margin of 0.28 seconds, which is a sizable gap in this wild event that covers just one length of the pool.

Trials: Caeleb Dressel surges to victory in 50m freestyle https://t.co/j1e0S6RLjT

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It enables Dressel to get an Olympic berth in this event after finishing third in the 100 freestyle final, behind Guiliano and Alexy.

Guiliano finished second on Friday in 21.69, giving him Olympic berths in two individual events.

The hard-luck third-place finisher was Matt King, who missed getting an Olympic berth by just one-one-hundredths of a second, recording a time of 21.70 seconds.

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