Billings swimmer Ethan Harder is headed to Omaha for not one, but two, 2020 Olympic Trials swimming events.
Harder qualified for the 200 backstroke, his signature event, on Friday at the USA Swimming National Championships in Stanford, California. He won his time trial heat in 2:02:3.
The phenom, who owns all sorts of Montana state records, qualified in the 200 fly on Wednesday. That is actually his secondary event. Harder raced Thursday as a No. 10 seed in the 200 backstroke but came up short before rallying on Friday.
He will try to qualify in the 100 backstroke on Saturday.
According to swim coach Sean Marshall, Harder is the first Olympic Trials qualifier from the Billings Aquatic Club.
The 2020 Olympic Trials are next June in Omaha, Nebraska.
Marshall also notified MTN Sports that Friday tonight in Des Moines at the USA Swimming Futures Championships, BAC swimmers Rylee O’Neil & Liam Kerns qualified for Junior National Championships.
Both broke Montana State records in their events. O'Neil in the 400 Individual medley (5:00.4) and Kerns in the 100 breastroke (1:05.1).
Marshall said Kerns placed 6th for a podium spot while O'Neil finished 9th. Her time in the B Final was the 3rd fastest overall in the event. O'Neil dropped five seconds off of her previous best. Kerns dropped two seconds.
