USA Swimming Unveils Dates for 2028 Olympic Team Trials

Swimmers start a Women's 50 freestyle preliminary heat Saturday, June 22, 2024, at the US Swimming Olympic Trials in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

USA Swimming’s 2028 Olympic Team Trials will be held from June 9—17, 2028 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The sport’s national governing body had announced last summer that its Olympic Trials would be returning to the home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts. The 2024 trials were the first time the event had been held in an NFL stadium, one that has also hosted a College Football Playoff championship game and multiple men’s Final Fours.

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More than 285,000 fans attended nine days of competition, smashing previous attendance records for swimming and generating more than $132 million in economic impact for the city.

“Returning to Indianapolis gives us the opportunity not only to build on the success of 2024, but to make the Trials experience even better for our athletes and fans,” said Kevin Ring, president and CEO of USA Swimming. “With LA28 on the horizon, we want these Trials to showcase the very best of our sport while creating an experience that brings fans closer to our athletes and the excitement of swimming.”

The 2028 trials will add 50-meter strike events that will be contested at the Olympic Summer Games in Los Angeles.

The dates for those trials also mark a change from the Saturday-through-Sunday format of 2024, as the 2028 trials will start on a Friday and end on a Saturday.
One popular aspect of the 2024 event that will return is the Toyota Aqua Zone, which was located along Georgia Street and offered fans several ways to engage with the sport.

Gold Standard in 2024

The 2024 Olympic Trials were also a hit on television, with live primetime coverage on NBC scoring ratings up 20 percent over the previous edition (held in 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic). The event won the 2024 SportsTravel Award for Best Amateur Sporting Event.

The Olympic swimming trials have frequently been held in Indianapolis, first for the men in 1924 and then the women in 1952. Both the men’s and women’s trials were held in Indy in 1984, 1992, 1996 and 2000. Before moving back to Indianapolis in 2024, the event had been held four consecutive times in Omaha, Nebraska.
The United States won eight gold medals and 28 medals overall in swimming in Paris in 2024, both tops in the world. Katie Ledecky won two of those individual gold medals and now has nine such Olympic golds. She is expected to be the biggest star among the competitors in Indianapolis looking to secure spots on Team USA.