LA28 Time Standards: A Look at the Qualifying Process
by Dan D’Addona — Swimming World Managing Editor
11 December 2025
LA28 Time Standards: A Look at the Qualifying Process
Qualification for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics is a little different, with direct qualification in the stroke 50s and a reduction of 16 automatically qualified relays to 12.
The time standards will also be different.
Here is a look at the time standards for LA28:
The biggest change for LA28 is the inclusion of the stroke 50s in the Olympics, as they are at World Aquatics Championships. That passed earlier this year, but it presents a problem given that there were no additional quota spots allocated.
Qualification for the six 50 stroke events for men and women will not follow the usual A standard/B standard times. Instead of setting a qualification time, athletes will directly qualify by finishing in the top six of designated races at the 2027 World Cup, scheduled for as-yet unspecified cities and likely to be held in Europe.
In the fall of 2027, each of the three stops will feature two races (presumably one men’s and one women’s) that are direct Olympic qualifiers. Heat entries will be unlimited by nation. Swimmers over the three-day meet will advance from prelims to quarterfinals to semifinals to an eight-person final, the only level that is constrained to two representatives per nation. The top six finishers in the final will automatically qualify for Los Angeles, subject to selection procedures imposed by national governing bodies. (For instance, due to quota restrictions, a country could elect to take only one automatic qualifier and fill is other spot with a swimmer who qualifies in a different event.)
The purpose is to ensure that there are not a quota-busting number of qualifiers who meet a certain time standard for LA28.
A Half-Century Apart, Katie Ledecky and Casey Converse Are Now Linked By Distance Breakthroughs
by John Lohn – Editor-in-Chief
17 December 2025
A Half-Century Apart, Katie Ledecky and Casey Converse Are Now Linked By Their Distance Greatness
The Site: Cleveland, Ohio. The Meet: The 1977 NCAA Championships. The Event: The 1650-yard freestyle.
On March 26, 1977, Casey Converse made history in the pool. Less than a year removed from representing the United States at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Converse became the first athlete to break the 15-minute barrier in the 1650 freestyle. Behind a time of 14:57.30, the University of Alabama standout cut an incredible nine seconds from the previous NCAA/American record, the 15:06.76 managed by Tim Shaw a year earlier.
Why the trip back in time? Well, over the weekend, Katie Ledecky joined Converse as a sub-15:00 performer in the mile. Racing at her namesake meet, the Katie Ledecky Invitational, the 28-year-old American distance legend touched the wall in 14:59.62 to break her own American record of 15:01.41, set in 2023. Ledecky now sits 24-plus seconds faster than the No. 2 woman in history, Erica Sullivan (15:23.81).
Although the science is not exact, the gap between men’s and women’s event records generally sits in the 50-year range. For example, the recently retired Ariarne Titmus owns the world record in the women’s 200-meter freestyle, thanks to her sensational 1:52.23 clocking at the 2024 Australian Olympic Trials. Titmus produced that time 52 years after Mark Spitz went 1:52.78 in the event at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
It took 48 years for Ledecky to match Converse’s barrier-breaking performance, and she accomplished the feat in stylish fashion. Ledecky has long been an inspiration to rising swimmers, and approximately 1500 youngsters were expected to compete at the Ledecky Invitational, which was held at the University of Maryland. When Ledecky cracked the 15-minute barrier on Sunday, she was loudly cheered and provided a moment for those in attendance to remember.
Photo Courtesy: Alabama Athletics
Although separated by a half-century, Ledecky and Converse (who passed away in 2024) now share a common accomplishment – the first of their genders to go sub-15:00 in the 1650 freestyle. Both will be remembered for joining a special club, much like Jim Montgomery (100 freestyle) and Natalie Coughlin (100 backstroke) are lauded for being the first athletes of their genders to go under a minute in their specialty events in the long-course pool.
When Converse was at his peak in the 1970s, he engaged in several epic races, including the final of the 400-meter freestyle at the 1976 United States Olympic Trials. In that event, Converse finished third, behind Brian Goodell and Shaw, to earn a spot at the 1976 Games in Montreal. That final also featured stars John Naber, Bruce Furniss, Mike Bruner, Bobby Hackett and Doug Northway. It was a clash of titans.
Throughout her career, Ledecky has demonstrated what is possible in the women’s distance-freestyle events. Although she initially enjoyed a massive gap over her competition, Ledecky lit a fire under her foes, pushing the likes of Summer McIntosh and Lani Pallister to clock in the 8:05 range in the 800 freestyle. As was the case for Converse at the 1976 Trials, Ledecky dueled with a spectacular field at the 2025 World Championships, winning gold in the 800 freestyle. She was followed to the wall by Pallister and McIntosh.
Following his career in the pool, Converse transitioned to the deck and became a successful coach, notably at the Air Force Academy. As for Ledecky, she’s still getting faster on the path to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Whatever the future holds, she and Converse are now linked. They might be separated by 50 years, but they’ll forever be recalled for taking the 1650 freestyle into new territory
U.S. Women’s Water Polo Celebrates 25 Years of Olympic Inclusion (Plus: Where Are They Now?)
by John Lohn – Editor-in-Chief
17 December 2025
In 2000, women’s water polo finally made its official Olympic debut – a century after the men’s game.
“We thought for sure (the International Olympic Committee) would add it to the Olympics in ’88, and they didn’t. In ‘92, they didn’t. And in 1996, they didn’t. I retired in ’94 because I didn’t think it was ever gonna be added,” said Maureen O’Toole, who was widely regarded as the greatest female water polo player of all time.
Yet on October 29, 1997, O’Toole was reading The San Francisco Chronicle in her kitchen and recalled seeing “a one-sentence thing in the paper” that women’s water polo would finally be contested at the 2000 Sydney Games. When O’Toole arrived at her office at Cal-Berkeley, where she was the head women’s coach, her old coach Sandy Nitta called.
“Mo, did you hear? Do you want to come out of retirement?” Nitta asked.
O’Toole, then 36, said: “I remember thinking for a hot second, ‘Oh man, I got a 5-year-old daughter. I don’t know.”
When the news reached USC goalie Bernice Orwig, she immediately thought: “Oh, this is amazing! But I still hadn’t made the U.S. National Team. I was on the B team, so I’m like: ‘Oh well. There’s already other goalies ahead of me. I’ll just continue with college and maybe one day, it’d be really cool if I could get there.’”
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Brenda Villa was training with the U.S. National Team on weekends to prepare for the 1998 World Championships in Perth. But October 29 was a Wednesday and she was in high school. Cell phones were rare, and only 18 percent of U.S. homes had internet access. “Maybe someone called my house line?” she guessed.
Eventually, all three women made that inaugural U.S. Olympic team that had been the second-to-last nation to qualify for the tournament, finished eighth at the previous World Championship and, somehow, in Game One in Sydney, defeated powerhouse Netherlands, 6-4. Next, it tied Canada, 8-8, to earn a crucial point in the round-robin tally and, five days later, went on to defeat the Netherlands again in the semifinal, 6-5, to earn a berth in the gold-medal game against host nation Australia.
U.S. driver Julie Swail remembered walking into an arena filled with the largest crowd ever to watch a women’s water polo game.
“It was so loud, you could feel it in your chest cavity,” Swail said. “Of the 17,000 in attendance, I’d say 16,000 were cheering for Australia. You could be two feet away from your teammate, shouting at the top of your lungs, and they could not hear.”
The plan was to stay calm and “just play Los Al style,” Orwig said, as if they were at practice at Los Alamitos, the team’s training base in California.
Villa recalled assistant coach Chris Duplanty telling the US team to “listen for the silence. If we’re doing well, scoring, making big saves, the place will be quiet. Aim for that quiet – and be okay in that quiet (because) it means we’re doing a good job.”
The final turned into a remarkably low scoring game, tied 2-2 at the end of the third period. Australia broke the tie with 1:50 to go. In the final 13 seconds, Villa tied it, 3-3, and overtime seemed inevitable – until the final second when the Australian lefty Yvette Higgins caught the ball, cranked her shoulder, and fired. The ball whizzed past U.S. goalie Orwig’s outstretched arm and slammed into the upper left corner of the net.
“I still remember how it went off my hand,” said Orwig. “But there was so much confusion on the play. All of a sudden, the game was over. Like, ‘What? What just happened? We lost? Are you sure we lost?’”
U.S. coach Guy Baker disputed the call, but it was done.
“It was shock, just absolute shock that that’s how it ended,” said defender Heather Moody. “We all came to the side (of the pool), almost blank.”
But the crowd was rapturous.
“Aussie-Aussie-Aussie Oi-Oi-Oi haunted me for decades,” Villa said.
Moments later, while the ecstatic champions from Australia accepted their gold medals, Team Russia stood on the far right of the podium, jubilant after defeating the Netherlands, 4-3, earlier that night to claim the bronze. On the far left was the only team that had lost that day, the U.S., draped in the inaugural silvers.
Orwig blew past the press and was later summoned to do a gutting post-match press conference with the gleeful Aussies. A full year later, the final point was still on her mind. In 2001, she met with coach Baker and broke down crying, telling him: “Any time there’s a player at that position, all I see is that moment in the gold-medal game,” Orwig said. “I ended up retiring in 2003 because I just… I was never able to get back to that level of play.”
By then, Orwig had already completed her college career, but younger players like Villa, 19-year-old Ericka Lorenz, and 21-year-old Ellen Estes returned from the Olympics to face another new opportunity. Women’s water polo suddenly had NCAA championship status. The NCAA had decided even before Sydney to hold the first NCAA women’s water polo championship in 2001.
Thanks to Olympic and NCAA inclusion, participation grew, as did funding, but perhaps the greatest and longest-lasting impact of the 2000 silver medal was the development pipeline.
After Sydney, coach Baker left UCLA to work full-time for USA Water Polo. “That’s where the P.A.C.E. clinic started, all the education, under-20 teams, under-18s, all that,” Baker said.
Future Olympians like “Maddie Musselman, Rachel Fattal – all those kids were identified while we were running that stuff,” said Baker, who would coach two more U.S. women’s Olympic teams. In 2004 in Athens, he guided the squad to bronze (with seven Sydney veterans on the team). In 2008 in Beijing, the U.S. earned another silver.
The development push didn’t only affect youth, however. Baker had infused it into the culture of the 2000 Olympic team – partly out of necessity (to raise money), but by emphasizing its importance. Nearly every single member of that team later became a coach.
“Before we were an Olympic sport, we used to run camps and clinics as a way to fundraise for the women’s national team,” recalled Rachel (Scott) Ruano, the 2000 Olympic alternate. “The coaching staff would do coaching seminars and we (players) would travel around the country doing clinics for kids. We did a whole Eastern tour. I think I went to one in like Louisiana, Chicago, all over, as well as in California.”
“Guy felt it was really, really important to give back,” Moody added. “So the 2000 team was actively taking the lead in teaching younger athletes our skills, and in the 2000 to 2004 window we were really active. We made videos so kids and coaches could see: here’s what the national team does.”
As a result, Moody said: “I had to learn to use my words to teach kids what I did, so now when I’m coaching, I have an idea of how to break down passing, shooting, center work, defense. It helped me develop as a coach. It gave us the groundwork and the platform to grow into who I am today.”
Where Are The Now?
Robin Beauregard, 46, a physical therapist in Orange County, is raising 11-year-old twins in Tustin,California.
Ellen (Estes) Lee, 47, lives in Belmont, California, has two water-polo playing children, and works atGenentech, where she leads a group that develops pricing strategies to help patients access medicine.
Courtney Johnson, 51, lives in Dallas, Texas, has four children, and is both the director of girls’ waterpolo and the executive director of operations at Pegasus Water Polo Academy.
Ericka Lorenz, 44, lives in Redondo Beach, California, and is an ocean lifeguard for the Los AngelesCounty Fire Department.
Heather Moody, 52, lives near Sacramento and is the high-performance director of the American RiverWater Polo Club. She also coaches a community college women’s team and a high school boys’ team.
Bernice Orwig, 49, is a mother of two in Colleyville, Texas, and teaches pre-kindergarten to 3-year-olds.
Maureen O’Toole, 64, lives in Australia, three hours south of Sydney, where she is a lifeguard andoutrigger canoe coach.
Nicolle Payne, 49, lives in the North Lake Tahoe area and coaches goalkeepers for the USA WaterPolo’s Olympic Development Program.
Heather Petri, 47, lives in Moraga, California, and is an assistant women’s water polo coach at her almamater, Cal-Berkeley, with Coralie Simmons.
Kathy Sheehy, 55, placed second in the women’s 50+ division at the 2025 World Aquatics MastersChampionships in Singapore, and is based in South Lake Tahoe.
Coralie Simmons, 48, has been head coach of women’s water polo at Cal-Berkeley since 2015 and israising two soccer-playing children in the Bay Area.
Julie Swail, 51, lives in Irvine, California, and does NBC Olympic commentary for women’s water poloand triathlon (her 2008 Olympic sport).
Brenda Villa, 45, is the new associate head coach of women’s water polo at her alma mater, Stanford.
Coach: Guy Baker, 64, is the executive director of Lamorinda Water Polo Club in Lafayette, California,where he coaches the U18 boys’ and girls’ teams.
Alternate: Rachel (Scott) Ruano, 49, lives in Sacramento where she is the programs director and Boys’U14 coach at the same club as Heather Moody. All four of her sons play water polo, including Lucas, whocompeted for the US at the U16 world championships in 2024.
‘Duel We Missed’ Captures Best Feature Film Award at Paladino d’Oro Sport Film Festival
by John Lohn – Editor-in-Chief
16 December 2025
‘Duel We Missed’ Captures Best Feature Film Award at Paladino d’Oro Sport Film Festival
As the year nears its end, “The Duel We Missed” has picked up a major film award. The documentary, which highlights the missed opportunity for a 1500-meter freestyle showdown between American Brian Goodell and the Soviet Union’s Vladimir Salnikov at the 1980 Olympic Games, was recently honored as the Best Feature Film at the 45th Paladino d’Oro Sport Film Festival in Palermo, Sicily.
Produced by Ilnur Rafikov and Edward Staroselsky, “The Duel We Missed” takes an in-depth look at the careers and Goodell and Salnikov, two of the greatest distance swimmers in history. While Goodell won gold in the 400-meter freestyle and 1500 freestyle at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, he was denied the chance to defend those crowns at the 1980 Olympics, due to the United States’ boycott of the Moscow Games.
As for Salnikov, he won gold in the 1500 freestyle at the 1980 Olympics and captured the gold medal in the event at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. However, the Soviet Union’s boycott of the 1984 Games in Los Angeles denied him the chance to add another title. Salnikov was the first man to crack the 15-minute barrier in the 1500 freestyle, a feat Goodell was also chasing, until the U.S. boycott of 1980 short-circuited that pursuit.
A meeting between Goodell and Salnikov in the 1500 freestyle was deeply desired for the 1980 Olympics, but politics ended any hope of that clash. “The Duel We Missed” examined the storyline, and the chase for a sub-15:00 performance in the 1500 freestyle. The film featured past and present interviews with Goodell and Salnikov, and included tremendous competition footage from the era.
“The Duel We Missed” is under consideration by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a potential Oscar nomination in the documentary category. At the Paladino d’Oro Sport Film Festival, it was also nominated for Best Olympic Film, Best Documentary and Best Leading Role.
Groundbreaking! Katie Ledecky Goes Sub-15:00 for American Record in 1650-Yard Freestyle at Namesake Meet
by John Lohn – Editor-in-Chief
14 December 2025
Katie Ledecky Goes Sub-15:00 in 1650-Yard Freestyle at Namesake Meet
A few months ago, organizers announced that the Nation’s Capital Invitational was being renamed the Katie Ledecky Invitational, in honor of the distance-freestyle legend who emerged as a future star in Potomac Valley Swimming.
Well, the meet could not have asked for a better way to usher in its new title, as Katie Ledecky – doing what she does best – produced a stunning performance on Sunday night.
Racing the 1650-yard freestyle at the University of Maryland, Ledecky became the first woman to break the 15-minute barrier in the event, clocking a time of 14:59.62. Ledecky’s performance lowered her own American record in the event, which had stood at 15:01.41 since 2023. She is more than 24 seconds faster than the No. 2 performer in history, Erica Sullivan (15:23.81).
It has been another banner year for Ledecky, the four-time Olympic champion in the 800-meter freestyle. Earlier in the year, she set her first world record since 2016 when she covered the 800 freestyle in 8:04.12. That effort was followed by a double in the 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle at the World Championships in Singapore. Now, she has broken another barrier by dipping under the 15-minute threshold in the 1650 freestyle.
More than 1500 athletes were expected to compete at the KLI, which was initially named the Tom Dolan Invitational before becoming the NCAP Invite. Athletes from around the Mid-Atlantic Region made up the majority of the swimmers at the University of Maryland, and Ledecky was sure to treat those in attendance on Sunday night with a memory they will never forget.
Ledecky was like a metronome on Sunday evening. After opening with a 25.40 split for her first 50 yards, she settled into a routine of 27-second splits that carried her to the latest sensational achievement of her Hall of Fame career. Until her incredible closing split of 26.12, Ledecky was 27-something on every one of her other splits.
Here is a look at her consistency:
25.40 – 27.44 – 27.56 – 27.49 – 27.48 – 27.29 – 27.24 – 27.39 – 27.39 – 27.28 (4:31.96 at 500 yards)
27.16 – 27.12 – 27.11 – 27.09 – 27.16 – 27.24 – 27.08 – 27.32 – 27.28 – 27.49 (9:04.01 at 1,000 yards – 4:32.05 500 split)
27.38 – 27.38 – 27.51 – 27.55 – 27.34 – 27.37 – 27.52 – 27.58 – 27.50 – 27.66 (13:38.80 at 1,500 yards – 4:34.79 500 split)
27.42 – 27.28 – 26.12
Ledecky is no stranger to barrier-breaking performances. In addition to becoming the first woman to break 15 minutes into the 1650 freestyle, she was the first female to go sub-4:30 in the 500-yard freestyle and was the first woman to go sub-8:10 in the 800-meter freestyle. More, was the first woman to break 15:30 in the 1500 freestyle.
Happy Birthday Craig Beardsley!!
Country: USA
Honoree Type: Swimmer
FOR THE RECORD: 1980 OLYMPIC GAMES: MEMBER OF THE BOYCOTT TEAM; 1982 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS (LC): BRONZE (200M BUTTERFLY); 1979 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: GOLD (200M BUTTERFLY); 1983 PAN AMERICAN GAMES: GOLD (200M BUTTERFLY); 2 WORLD RECORDS: 200M BUTTERFLY (1980, 1981)
As a youngster with burgeoning dreams, Craig Beardsley drew inspiration from what he saw on television from the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games. Athletes such as Mark Spitz, Jim Montgomery and Mike Bruner were headliners for Team USA. One day, Beardsley would be an Olympian, too, racing alongside the best the world had to offer, in pursuit of his sport’s ultimate reward: An Olympic gold medal.
Growing up, Beardsley didn’t have the typical team experience known by many swimmers. The schools he attended, including the prestigious United Nations International School in New York, did not field teams. Upon his family moving to New Jersey, Beardsley began training with the Dolphin Aquatic Club in Ridgewood and his star started to soar. His talent was clear when he won the 8-to-10-year-old title in the 50-yard butterfly at the Bergen County Championships.
By 13, Craig was nationally ranked in his age group in the 200 butterfly, the event which would define his career. There was little doubt that grand days awaited, and his bright future was further developed when Beardsley opted to compete collegiately for coach Randy Reese at the University of Florida.
Beardsley captured a pair of NCAA championships in the 200 butterfly while at Florida and continued to elevate his status to one of the premier performers in the world in his prime event. At the 1979 Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Beardsley captured the gold medal in the 200 fly, winning the event by nearly two seconds. The performance was supposed to set the stage for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, where Beardsley would be a gold medal favorite.
Sadly, that opportunity was short-circuited by politics. The United States boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games following the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979. Years of hard work and dedication went unfulfilled, with Beardsley – and his compatriots – having no control of the situation.
At the 1980 Olympics, the Soviet Union’s Sergey Fesenko won gold in the 200 butterfly in a time of 1:59.76. A little more than a week later, while racing at U.S. Nationals, Beardsley obliterated that time with the first world record of his career, an eye-opening mark of 1:58.21 that sliced more than a second off the previous global standard, set at the 1976 Olympics by American Mike Bruner. The performance from Beardsley was a statement of his excellence, and that an Olympic gold should have been his.
While not all boycott-affected American athletes continued on with their careers, Beardsley forged ahead. In 1981, during a dual meet between the United States and the Soviet Union in Kiev, Beardsley lowered his world record in the 200 fly to 1:58.01. That record lasted a little more than two years and, combined with his initial world record, meant Beardsley had the fastest time in the history of the 200 fly for three years.
At the 1982 World Championships, Beardsley was the bronze medalist in his signature event and he followed in 1983 with another gold in the 200 fly at the Pan American Games. Heading into the 1984 Olympic Trials, Beardsley received his chance to compete at the Los Angeles Games. But a third-place finish in the 200 butterfly left him shy of that goal. Shortly after the 1984 Trials, Beardsley retired.
Craig has been involved with Swim Across America since its founding in 1987, serving in multiple roles while helping to raise money in the fight against cancer.
The information on this page was written the year of their induction
December Featured Honoree: Ernst Brandsten (SWE/USA) and his Memorabilia
This is the last month that we will feature an Honoree and his memorabilia. We end in December with 1966 ISHOF Honoree, Ernst Brandsten (SWE/USA) Honor Coach. Ernst donated many fabulous things to ISHOF, and we want to share some of them with you now. Also below is his ISHOF Honoree bio that was written the year he was inducted.
1909-1912 Swedish National Championships medals.
Official Springboard Specs.
Ernst competed in the 1912 Olympics, and coached The USA Mens Diving team in the 1920, 1924 and 1928 Olympics. Ernst is the only coach in Olympic History to sweep springboard and platform competitions.
1912 Stockholm Olympic Certificate
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Happy Birthday Shane Gould!!
Shane Gould (AUS)
Honor Swimmer (1977)
FOR THE RECORD: OLYMPIC GAMES: 1972 gold (200m, 400m freestyle; 200m individual medley), silver (800m freestyle), bronze (100m freestyle); WORLD RECORDS: 11 (from 100m to 1500m freestyle); “World Swimmer of the Year”: 1971, 1972.
Shane Gould, in a short but brilliant career, held every freestyle world record and the four stroke 200 Individual Medley. She broke the oldest record in the books when she beat Dawn Fraser’s 100m World Record at Sydney on January 8, 1972 (58.5). Fraser had held the record almost 16 years since December 1, 1956. In one short period form April 13, 1971 until January 8, 1972, Shane set 7 world records. She was 2nd only to Mark Spitz at the Munich 1972 Olympics in that no female swimmer had ever won 5 individual medals in swimming.