PJ Foy
Juneau swimmer PJ Foy is headed to the U.S. Olympic Trials, becoming the 13th Alaskan in history to qualify for the elite, high-stakes meet.
Foy, a senior at Thunder Mountain High School, met the qualifying time in the 100-meter butterfly on March 16 at the Northwest Spring Sectionals in Federal Way, Washington.
Foy won the finals at the long-course meet in a personal-best time of 53.44 seconds. The Olympic Trials qualifying time is 53.59.
“It feels awesome,” Foy told reporter Klas Stolpe, who wrote about Foy’s achievement for the Juneau Empire.
He’s the first swimmer from Juneau to qualifying for the Olympic Trials and, at age 18, the youngest nationwide to meet the qualifying standard in the 100 butterfly. He has three months to prepare for the June 15-23 meet in Indianapolis, where swimmers will vie for spots on the U.S. team for the Paris Olympics.
“For an 18-year-old to make the trials is impressive,” Glacier Swim Club coach Scott Griffith told Stolpe. “I think that the Olympics are a longer process than (what) is going to happen in three months. But there is always a chance; if you got a lane, you got a chance.”
Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby of Seward was 14 in December 2018 when she qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials. She was 17 by the time she swam in the trials, which were delayed to 2021 because of the pandemic, and by then she was already one of the top-ranked breaststrokers in the world. It wasn’t an upset when she made the Olympic team, and she was a medal favorite heading into the Tokyo Olympics, where she claimed the gold medal.
Foy isn’t heading to Indianapolis with his eyes on Paris. He’s ranked 42nd in the 100 fly on USA Swimming’s list of the season’s top times, a list led by Shaine Casas (51.03 seconds) and Caeleb Dressel (51.27). Dressel is a seven-time Olympic gold medalist who set the 100 fly world record of 49.45 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
“I’m going to be honest, this is more for just the experience right now,” Foy told Stolpe. “I’m just happy that I made the trials, and going to the trials is just icing on the cake.”
If he swims well at the trials, Foy has a shot at making the U.S. team for the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Australia in August.
He’ll begin his NCAA Division I college career in the fall at North Carolina.
Alaska’s U.S. Olympic Trials qualifiers
Clark Rush, 1980
Mia Costello, 1988
Andrew Billings, 1988
Maria Reeves, 2000
Andrew Tainter, 2000
Robert Roosa, 2000
Patty Nash, 2000
Derek Gibb, 2000, 2004
Micha Burden, 2008
Samantha Wicks, 2016
Lydia Jacoby, 2020/2024
John Heaphy, 2020
P.J. Foy, 2024