USA Swimming News: Katie Grimes’ Absence Allows NCAA Champions a Ticket to Doha World Championship 2024

US Swimming fans were looking forward to the upcoming World Aquatics Championship to be held in Doha. However, some huge changes to the US contingent selected for the February event have now come as a big shock to everyone. Most importantly, this change involves the removal of a star swimmer who many looked forward to medal at the contest.

4x World Championship medalist Katie Grimes was one of the USA Swimming members who were taken off the roster for Doha. A few more prominent swimmers were taken off the final roster for the World Aquatics Championship. However, the exclusion of these swimmers has paved the way for new NCAA swimmers to replace them.

USA Swimming denies Katie Grimes a shot at the gold medal

The new changes in the USA Swimming roster have slashed down the names of Katie Grimes and Claire Weinstein from the women’s team. Moreover, the men’s team has also seen the loss of a head count in the name of Will Gallant. While replacements have been sent for Grimes and Weinstein, no such thing has been done for Gallant.

While these three swimming stars were removed from the team, USA Swimming introduced several NCAA swimmers to the new final team for Doha. According to SwimSwam, these new swimmers include Lilla Bognar, Kayla Han, Kate Hurst, and Addison Sauickie. With this, the numbers of the women’s team have gone up to seven from five while the men’s team now has 12 swimmers instead of 13. 

While fans are clamoring to know the reason behind removing these three swimmers, no clarification has been released yet. This was supposed to be a redemption year for Katie Grimes to finally win a world championship gold. But now, she will remain stuck at silver for one more year,

Grimes’ world championship gold wait to extend for another year

Katie Grimes has been working very hard to win a world championship gold medal for two long years. The swimmer did her best to surpass everyone but ended up with silver medals every time. Currently, Katie Grimes stands at three silver medals and a bronze medal. However, her removal from the swimming team for Doha extends her waiting period for golden glory. 

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The 18-year-old long-course swimmer is a two-time World Junior Open Water Champion. But, the senior competitions are a tough cookie to crack for her so far, especially with the legendary Katie Ledecky being a direct competition. Will Grimes be able to surpass her opponents including Ledecky anytime soon?

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