Lucie Nordmann finishes tenth in Women's 100-Meter Backstroke Semifinal

OMAHA, Nebraska – Sixteen-year-old Lucie Nordmann, making her U.S. Olympic Team Trials debut, finished 10th in the women’s 100-meter backstroke on Monday (June 26), missing the final by less than a tenth-of- a-second. She touched the wall at 1:00.52, just six hundredths-of- a-second behind former U.S. Olympian Natalie Coughlin, who grabbed the eighth and final spot for tomorrow’s final with a time of 1:00.46.

The soon-to- be junior at The Woodlands High School said she felt “really good” until the end of the race.

“I kind of felt like I had a soft touch,” she said. “My spacing was off at the finish.”

She went faster in the evening than she did in the morning’s preliminaries (1:00.80). Nordmann had the tenth-fastest time in preliminaries and finished in the same spot during the evening. Nordmann lit up when describing the experience of swimming in front of 14,032 fans in a highly charged atmosphere.

“It was so cool. It’s one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” she said. “The atmosphere is like no other. It’s just amazing.”

Nordmann will compete in the women’s 200-meter backstroke on Friday. A member of the Magnolia Aquatic Club, she displayed her work ethic discussing her plans for the rest of the week.

“I’m definitely going to train some more,” she said.