Ledecky, Dressel, Andrew Head U.S. Team For 2019 World Championships (Full Roster)

By Jared Anderson on SwimSwam

USA Swimming has announced its roster for the 2019 World Championships, with multi-event stars Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel, Michael Andrew and Kathleen Baker leading the way.

Those are the four swimmers set to compete in four individual events each. All four are now pros, as Ledecky and Dressel wrapped up their collegiate eligibility this past spring and Baker turned pro after her junior NCAA season. The stacked Worlds roster will include every U.S. gold medalist from those 2018 Pan Pacs: Andrew, Dressel, Townley Haas, Zane Grothe, Jordan Wilimovsky, Ryan Murphy, Chase Kalisz, Ledecky, Baker, Lilly King, Micah Sumrall and Hali Flickinger. The roster also mostly matches what we projected based on the results of U.S. Nationals and Pan Pacs this past summer.

The only spots that weren’t officially locked up at that point were the second entries in the 50s of fly, back and breast. First priority for those entries goes to the top-ranked swimmer in the 100 of that stroke, and a couple of those athletes are currently listed on the official roster, though not all of the stroke 50s have their second entry finalized as of yet. Here’s a quick look at entries in those non-Olympic events:

100 fly champ Dressel and 100 back champ Baker are locked into the second entries in their 50s, while the other four spots are still up for grabs. USA Swimming says those will be decided sometime between now and the entry deadline in June in order to find the fastest athletes already on the roster who have the FINA A cut in the 50-meter event.

Official selection procedures note that if the winner of the corresponding 100 is already entered in the 50 or declines that spot, the team will select the next-fastest available swimmer in the 50-meter event, provided both entrants have a FINA A cut.

Team USA: 2019 World Championships Roster

The only major change from the athletes who qualified for these spots over the summer is that Micah Sumrall is listed as the second 100 breast entrant on the women’s side, and Katie Meili is absent from the roster. Meili was second at Nationals in 1:06.19, and though she was only the fourth American at Pan Pacs, Sumrall (1:06.56) didn’t beat her Nationals time. But Meili declined her Worlds roster spot due to law school, USA Swimming says, and Sumrall will take over the 100 breast spot.

You can see the full rosters here, or below:

Men’s U.S. Team

Women’s U.S. Team

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