The Olympic swim trials for the 2020 games will be held in Omaha, Nebraska June 21st through 28th, just a month before the Olympic Games which start July 25th.
BYU senior, Payton Sorenson, hopes to succeed at the trials and become an Olympic swimmer.
Payton Sorenson said, “It was always seemed more like a fantasy to me. I didn’t think it was ever going to be a reality, and then in 2016 I was able to go to the Olympic trials then, and then I made it to semifinals and that was just a year off my mission.”
The Olympic Games are the highest goal a swimmer hopes to achieve. Sorenson said, “That’s the big thing for swimmers, it’s going to the Olympic trials and trying to make the Olympic team. That’s like the Super Bowl of swimming.”
The pool in the Richards Building is where the team practices. The team competes in diving, freestyle, distance and various other strokes. The lack of an Olympic pool at BYU has not dissuaded Payton but may have discouraged others.
Payton said, “It inadvertently sends a message of ‘hey that may not be the focus here.’ Which is unfortunate but it is still a good facility.”
Payton is currently ranked in the top 30 swimmers in the nation, but may need to improve his game in order to make the team.
His coach, John Brooks, said, “You have to be the number one or number two in the 50 free or you have to be one of the top 4 in the 100 free because they take relays in the 100 free. Last Olympic trials he was 10th, he needs to beat eight more people in order to go or really nine to go.”
The rest of the team also looks good and has produced Olympians in the past. Brooks said, “We have had some Olympians. We’ve had a couple of US Olympians, and quite a few foreign Olympians.”
If you want to road trip this weekend, you can watch the team and Sorenson as they compete this weekend in Las Vegas.
