Katie Ledecky Makes Her Third Olympic Team; Torri Huske “Flies” To Tokyo, the Second Teen To Qualify

Women’s 100 Butterfly

While the 400 free could have been described as ho-hum — with Ledecky all but assured the win, at least in U.S. waters — the women’s 100-meter butterfly lit up the night. 

Torri Huske, an 18-year-old from Arlington, Virginia, who is missing high school graduation to compete at Trials this week, flew onto her first Olympic Team by winning the women’s 100-meter butterfly — beating 2016 Olympian Kelsi Dahlia and breaking the American record again, the second time in two nights.

“It doesn’t feel real yet,” said Huske, wide-eyed and smiling, immediately after the race. “I don’t even know what to do.”

Huske shattered the 100 butterfly American record in the semifinals last night, beating Olympic gold medalist Dana Vollmer’s record set at the 2012 Olympic Games. Then Huske did it again in the finals. Her winning time of 55.66 is the third fastest all-time and is over a third-of-a-second faster than Vollmer’s former record.

Coming onto the pool deck before the race even started, Huske was all business. She took off her warmups as she walked onto the pool deck — a time when other swimmers typically look around and soak in the atmosphere. The she was the first on the blocks, waiting there for a few minutes while the other swimmers took off their sweats. 

She described her usual strategy as “fly and die” — going out fast for the first 50 meters of the 100 butterfly, then trying to hang on. And indeed she did. At the turn, she was on pace to break the world record (Sarah Sjostrom’s 55.48). Her second 50 was slower, but she held on to beat fellow teen Claire Curzan by 0.23 seconds. Curzan, 16, is good friends with Huske.

Known for swimming in a wetsuit when she was younger to stay warm in the pool, Huske is small for a swimmer and credited the Covid-19 pandemic with helping her improve her strength — which allowed her to not “die” as quickly in her final 50. With swimming pools closed last year, Huske was forced to find other ways to workout.

As NBC Olympics reported, Huske rode a stationary bike and rowing machine for 45 minutes twice a day. She also hiked, ran hills, did a power tower, and went running with her mom, who grew up in China in a labor camp, attended college there at age 16, then immigrated to the U.S. in 1991 and earned an engineering degree from Virginia Tech. 

It took two months before Huske’s parents found a small backyard pool for their daughter to  swim in 45 minutes from their house. She either swam laps in this 42-foot long pool, or swam tied to a bungee cord, her dad sitting on the cord on the pool deck.

Asked if she would have made the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team without her improved strength, Huske said it was hard to say. But it definitely kept her from fading in the 100 fly.

Michael Phelps, who’s at the 2021 Trials as a spectator, agreed. Given the fast times at trials so far this year, “the swimmers did something right this past year,” he said before the night’s races started.

Although Huske and Ledecky are two different types of swimmers — Huske a sprinter and Ledecky a long-course freestyler — the two have something in common. Huske will enter Stanford University this fall after the Tokyo Games. Ledecky helped the Cardinal win two NCAA championship titles and graduated last fall — a year earlier than planned thanks to the pause in competition caused by the pandemic.

Ledecky and Huske both have more races at trials this week, with Ledecky competing in the 200, 800, and the 1,500 freestyles, and Huske entered in the 50, 100, and 200 freestyles, as well as the 200 butterfly and 200 IM. 

Huske admitted she was overwhelmed to be swimming at U.S. Olympic Team Trials — Swimming. “Really famous swimmers” were saying hi to her, and Olympic gold medalist Lilly King asked Huske if she was going to get an Olympic rings tattoo. 

“Apparently Katie Ledecky called my exact time I would go [in the 100 fly] before my race,” said Huske. “She predicted it.”

Asked if other swimmers might now idolize her and be overwhelmed to share a lane with her in the warm up pool, Huske smiled and replied, “That's really weird to think about because I feel like I'm not super scary.”