Emma Weyant appeared headed to the finals in the 400 IM preliminary race at U.S. Nationals on Thursday afternoon at Indianapolis, chasing down Florida’s Alex Walsh in the final 50 meters for a close second-place time of 4:38:08.
Walsh grabbed the victory but judges disqualified Weyant for a dolphin kick during the breaststroke — the third leg of an IM race — putting an abrupt end to the 2021 Olympic silver medalist’s celebration. She exited the pool to seek counsel from her coach while the ruling was confirmed in a video review.
Fans in attendance at IUPUI Natatorium let out a collective gasp, followed by boos, when the public address announcement of Weyant’s disqualification was made. Weyant won the bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships.
USA Swimming explained the disqualification with the rulebook guidelines stating “one butterfly kick is permitted after each start or turn in breaststroke. After that one fly kick is performed, all movement of a swimmer’s legs must be simultaneous without alternating movement.”
The ruling likely ends any chance for Weyant to reach Worlds in Japan next month. She did not reach the final in the 200 freestyle on Wednesday and is seeded 12th in the 400 freestyle, her only remaining event.
There is still a chance for Olympian Caeleb Dressel to qualify for Worlds. He bumped up to the A final in the 100 butterfly after Ryan Murphy scratched for the finals.
Dressel, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist entered in his first major swimming event in more than a year, owns the world record time of 49.45 in the 100 fly but was just under 52 seconds in qualifying Thursday.
–Field Level Media