Katie Ledecky brings the most hardware but there is plenty to watch beyond her. Regan Smith, fresh off a world-record 100-meter backstroke swim at the U.S. Olympic trials, is a contender in both backstroke events and the 200-meter butterfly. Gretchen Walsh also set a world record at trials in the 100-meter butterfly, which she will compete in along with the 50- and 100-meter freestyles. Kate Douglass, Lilly King, Simone Manuel, Torri Huske and Alex Walsh are the previous Olympic medal winners returning for another Olympics.
The women’s team features four teenagers, including Katie Grimes (pictured above with Ledecky), the 18-year-old competing in her second Olympics. She finished fourth in the open-water swim in Tokyo and will race again in Paris. She also qualified in the 400-meter individual medal and the 1,500-meter freestyle alongside Ledecky. Grimes won silver in the 1,500 at the 2022 world championships, took silver in the 400 IM at the 2023 worlds and improved her open-water result to bronze at the 2023 worlds.
