U.S. Nationals: Redeeming Swims Turn Third-Place Tears into Singapore Smiles
The disappointment of a third-place finish at Olympic Trials manifests in different ways for the contingent of swimmers who come excruciatingly close to punching their tickets to the Games. A select few actually walk away pleased, perhaps if they swam a best time by a significant margin or never expected to be in contention for a spot, but those swimmers represent a small minority.
Dare Rose, the Cal butterflyer who finished four hundredths out of the second spot in the 100 butterfly last year, remembers feeling despondent. With plenty of Cal teammates off to Paris and Golden Bears head coach Dave Durden part of the U.S. coaching staff, Rose was left behind with Destin Lasco, whose seventh place finish in the 100 freestyle left him one spot away.
“I’d say it was really hard at first,” Rose said. “I remember me and Destin, we’d go to the pool and stare at it and not even get in.”
A pair of University of Virginia backstrokers had company in their misery. Jack Aikins finished third in the 100 and 200-meter events by a combined margin of less than two tenths while Claire Curzan fell by seven hundredths in the women’s 200 back. Worse, both swimmers were in second place for the entire 200 back finals until being caught in the closing lap by Keaton Jones and Phoebe Bacon, respectively.
Aikins got himself past the setback by looking inward.
“After that happened, I was able to take a step back and learn how small two hundredths is and realize that I’m fighting for those moments every single day in practice,” he said.
A cognizance of his daily actions followed: how could Aikins ensure he would not be in that position again?
One answer, he learned was increased aerobic sets to make sure the 200 back, “doesn’t feel that long for me because I’ve done so much longer stuff in practice.” Thinking back to being caught in the final meters of an Olympic Trials final made those sets far more palatable.
Claire Curzan after winning the women’s 200 backstroke — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Now, less than 12 months removed from their respective Olympic misses, Aikins, Curzan, Rose and AJ Pouch have all conquered a major selection meet, not one at the caliber of Olympic Trials but the next-best thing. In the most significant meet held on U.S. soil all year, they secured World Championship spots in quick succession Wednesday evening.
None of the results were a surprise; results from throughout the season plus key absences made all four swimmers favorites, but they still had to stamp out any doubts lingering from last June.
Pouch held off improving teenager Gabe Nunziata for second place in the 200 breaststroke before Curzan and Aikins won their respective 200 back finals. Rose followed with a strong win in the 50 fly. In addition, Alex Walsh moved up from a third-place finish in the 200 breast at the 2024 Trials to second place at Nationals, although she did qualify for the Paris Games in the 200 IM.
As the theme of atonement radiated throughout the Indiana University Natatorium, Curzan pondered the realities of the sport and looked beyond. She was a teenage star who set National Age Group and high school records across multiple strokes and courses, blasting her way onto the Tokyo Olympic team, but she experienced her first taste of true adversity over two disappointing selection meets.
“I realized how tough I am,” Curzan said. “Ideally I would have loved to have a career with just an upward trajectory without any dips but having that battle back is just going to help in so many other aspects of life, not just swimming. It is nice to learn it in a controlled environment. The consequences are not as dire as I always made it. Miss a team, and there is hopefully next year.”
Aikins believes he and Curzan can use their third-place finishes as a catalyst for continuing to push through the remainder of their careers.
“I think if both of us hadn’t got third, we wouldn’t have learned these lessons that are super important,” he said. “We almost would have gotten comfortable with the way things were, and getting third reminded us that we need to get back to work, need to keep grinding.”
