With one hand on a railing to steady her wobbly legs, Katie Grimes descended the stairs from the competition pool at Lucas Oil Stadium. It was 1:07 p.m. Tuesday. Grimes had just completed what might have been the toughest 25 1/2 hours in U.S. Olympic swimming trials history.
From late Monday morning through Tuesday afternoon, Grimes, 18, swam a total of 2,500 meters competitively. There were two rounds of 400m individual medley, one of 200 freestyle and one of 1500 freestyle – a huge workload. Between these events, she swam thousands of extra meters to warm up and warm up. There was also time in the cold pool, time undergoing drug tests, time in the training room, time consulting with her coach, time being interviewed on NBC, time with a medal around her neck – and no time to catch his breath.
The results: Grimes won the 400 IM to punch her indoor swimming ticket to the Paris Olympics. (She had previously made the open water team in the 10K.) Less than an hour after the grueling event, she finished last in the 200 freestyle championship final. Then on Tuesday, she qualified second in the 1500, behind only Katie Ledecky. The final will take place on Wednesday evening, meaning she has finally entered a 24+ hour rest window before the next brutal swim.
“It was fun,” she said of Monday’s double. “But I would have liked to see better results.”
“Fun” is an interesting way to describe this challenge. And almost every other swimmer on the planet would be happy with the results.
Being the U.S. Olympic Trials champion in any field is a huge moment, and even reaching the eight-woman final in a second event on the same night was a huge accomplishment. But Grimes failed to become a two-time Olympian at 18 by expecting anything other than greatness from herself at any time.
Her winning time of 4:35 in the 400 IM was about 2 1/2 seconds shy of her lifetime best. And she never really played a role in the 200 freestyle, which is probably too short a distance – and too early in the 400’s stride – to suit her. But the fact that she even dared to attempt the double, when she knew that the mile preliminaries were looming the next day, was a testament to ambition and extreme physical condition.
She will already swim an unprecedented Parisian program with the 400m IM and 10k open water, a combination that has never been done at Olympic level. If she adds the mile and 800 – maybe even a 200 backstroke attempt – it will be an Olympic endurance test for the ages.
But that’s how Nevada Sandpipers tend to roll. Coach Ron Aitken’s club team, based in Las Vegas, trains long distances and places high demands on its swimmers. Many of them in the highest training group are home-schooled, for example, to facilitate the training program. The recent results speak for themselves: Grimes, Bella Sims and Erica Sullivan all competed in the 2021 Olympics; Now, Grimes will be joined in Paris by 17-year-old teammate Claire Weinstein, who made the team in the 200 freestyle on Monday.
“My coach is a genius,” Grimes said of Aitken. “I kind of trust him blindly, and he’s done a great job. I’ve been with Coach Ron since I was 13, so I’ve gotten used to the way we do things.
Here’s how Grimes did things on a manic Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium:
8:05 p.m.: After qualifying in second place that morning in the 400 individual medley behind Emma Weyant, who won a silver medal in the event in Tokyo, Grimes went to the starting block in lane 5 with the entry Olympic Games in Paris at stake.
At the beep, Grimes quickly walked away. An excellent flyer, she covered this 100 meter stage in 1:00.69, the only one in the race to go under 1:02. She increased her lead with a time of 1:08.10 on the backstroke, opening up more than three seconds on the peloton.
Breaststroke is the leg that can change an IM more than any other, and it’s Grimes’ weakest link. She clocked 1:23.52 in the 100 meters, slipping into third behind Weyant and Black Signet Lilla Bognar. But as an elite freestyler and distance demon, Grimes came back strong over the final 100 meters to edge Weyant by half a second.
8:11 a.m.: Grimes kissed Weyant in the pool, swam to the side and exited to a loud ovation from the massive Lucas Oil crowd. Two minutes later, she was interviewed on NBC poolside by Elizabeth Beisel, an Olympic medalist in this event.
8:15 a.m.: Grimes walked off the pool deck, down the stairs to the warm-up pool and was hugged by a group of her Sandpiper teammates. Someone handed her a bottle of Coca-Cola so she could get a quick injection of sugar before slipping into the warm-up pool to work off as much lactic acid as possible before the free 200.
8:46 a.m.: Dried off and dressed in her Sandpiper tracksuit, Grimes climbed the platform lift to the deck of the Lucas Oil to receive her gold medal and a bouquet of flowers for winning the event. This was followed by an in-stadium interview with Kaitlin Sandeno. Swimming a 400 IM/200 freestyle double is tough enough, but working through the pomp and ceremony that comes with making the Olympic team has dramatically reduced the warm-up time between events.
8:49 a.m.: Grimes walked around the pool and delivered her medal and flowers to her family, accepting quick hugs. Then she ran from the pool deck back to the warm-up area.
8:51 a.m.: Standing by one of the cold tubs, Grimes tied back her bun, put on her bathing cap, wrapped a towel around her neck, put on her parka and watched the women’s 100 breaststroke on the big screen above from the warm-up pool.
8:55 a.m.: Grimes went over her Free 200 strategy with Aitken, then showed up in the waiting room to check in for the event.
9:04 a.m.: As Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” blared through the stadium, the 200 freestyle finalists were announced and walked out to their blocks. Grimes was in lane 2 this time. After removing her parka and shoes, she was ready to leave.
9:07 a.m.: Fifty-six minutes after completing a wilting 400 IM, Grimes dove for the 200 free. She failed to place in the top six to earn a spot in the relay, but it was an Olympian effort to complete the double in an hour. “It was quite difficult trying to deal with that,” she said. But the night was still far from over.
9:36 a.m.: Still dressed in her competition suit, Grimes emerged from a recovery tub and spoke to Weinstein for a moment. Then it was time to head out for drug testing. Back at the hotel, she didn’t fall asleep until around 12:30 a.m., with the mile race looming over her the next day.
“I’m a little tired at the moment,” she admitted after covering the 1,500 meters in 16 minutes and 10 seconds. “I knew this race was going to be tough yesterday, but I have tonight and tomorrow morning off, so I’m really looking forward to it.”