Michael Brinegar will have to wait until Friday for another chance at making an Olympic final.
The 21-year-old Columbus native and Indiana University redshirt junior finished 17th in the preliminaries of the 800-meter freestyle on Tuesday morning in Tokyo. Only the top eight make the finals.
Swimming in the fourth of five heats on what was Tuesday night in Japan, Brinegar stayed with the top swimmers in his heat for a few laps before falling off the pace. His time of 7 minutes, 53.00 seconds was a little short of his personal-best time of 7:49.94 that he swam in last month’s Olympic Trials, when he finished second to earn a spot on his first Olympic team.
The United States’ other entrant in the 800 freestyle, Bobby Finke, qualified for the final with the third-fastest prelim time, an American-record 7:42.72. Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine had the fastest time with a 7:41.28.
Since this is the first year for the men’s 800 freestyle to be contested at the Olympics, Romanchuk’s time is an Olympic record.
Brinegar and Finke both will compete in the prelims of the 1,500 freestyle at around 6:48 a.m. Friday. The final is at 9:44 p.m. Saturday.
Brinegar, who was seeded 16th in the 800 freestyle, is seeded 20th in the 1,500 freestyle for Friday’s prelims, which will be televised by USA Network. As with the 800 freestyle, the top eight times in the 1,500 freestyle will make the final, which will be on NBC.
