Malia Francis heads back to Olympic swim trials

A lot has changed for Malia Francis over the last three years. She’s wrapped up a dominant high school swimming career, dealt with a knee injury and earned a spot in the collegiate ranks at Liberty University.

One thing that has stayed the same. In just over a week’s time she’ll be back in the water competing in arguably the nation’s most important swim meet. 

For the second time in her career, Francis will compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials, which get underway this Saturday in Indianapolis. While making Team USA and competing in the Paris Games later this summer will be a longshot, at best, getting to the trials was an accomplishment in itself.

The Rhinelander native and Rhinelander High School-record 8-time WIAA state champion made the trials for the Tokyo Games in 2021 in the 100-meter backstroke. This time around she will swim the 200 backstroke after earning a spot in the final in her final attempt to qualify.

“I was definitely super, super excited,” Francis told the River News during a phone interview last week.

To make it to the trials, swimmers needed to meet or better preset time standards in given events during a period between Nov. 30, 2022 and June 4, 2024. Francis had yet to make the cut in any event entering the Virginia Commonwealth Games held May 30-June 2 at her home pool at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. 

The qualifying time in the 200 backstroke was 2 minutes, 13.59 seconds. She went 2:15.19 in the preliminaries at the Commonwealth Games — good enough for the top seed going into the finals, but not fast enough to make the trials. She had one more shot to make it to Indy.

“I’m not going to lie, that being my very last chance to get the cut, that was like my worst fear, it actually coming down to the last day to qualify,” she said. “It definitely added a whole lot of stress, or maybe anxiety or fear, on to just that whole goal.”

Francis lapped the field in the finals, winning the race by nearly 12 seconds. More importantly, when she hit the wall the clock read 2:13.19. She admitted she didn’t even have to look at the scoreboard to realize what she had just accomplished. 

“I hadn’t even seen the time yet. I just saw my whole team jumping up and down, so I knew when I saw them I had made it,” she said. “While swimming that race, I really wasn’t sure what the time was going to be, because it had been so long since I had felt a race that felt as good as that one did. Sometimes it’s just like, ‘Oh, it’s too good to be true.’ It felt too good to actually be fast enough. I really had no clue, but all I knew is it felt great and I was excited just to be able to finish that race and put it to rest. It was my last chance, so it was like, ‘You know, I just need to swim it and whatever happens, happens.’”

Francis also tried qualifying again in the 100 backstroke. She went a 1:03.46 in the prelims and was unable to better that time in the finals, missing the trials cut by 1.57 seconds. The standard was eight tenths of a second faster than it was in 2021 when she qualified with a 1:02.61.

“Of course, I would give it my all in the 100 as anybody would, but especially as I’ve gotten to college and coming back from my knee injury and a lot of factors playing into it, I kind of moved into more of a 200 focus,” she said. I think that comes a lot with the leg strength. With the issue that I did have with my knee, sprinting and the shorter distances became a little more difficult because you rely heavily on underwaters or you start and kick. That became, post-knee, a little more difficult. 

“I feel like I’m definitely working back to having that sprint-ier side back but, this whole sophomore year, we really, really focused on the 200. We saw that that was where my strength more lied, at least for the time being.”

Francis had knee surgery in the spring of 2022 and redshirted her first year at Liberty as a result. Back closer to 100% this year, she broke into the starting lineup for the Flames was the Atlantic Sun Conference runner-up in the 200-yard backstroke, setting the program’s fourth-fastest time in the event in the process (1:56.50). That helped the Flames earn their sixth straight team conference title.

“Freshman year was definitely long. It was a tough year being injured and working on the little things, slowly building back,” she said. “To be able to jump in and swim this year a little more normally, it didn’t come without its challenges with my knee, but it’s all moving in the right direction. Getting to train and getting to know the coaches and how that whole relationship works, being able to train with the team, it was super fun. Last year, we won conference, but I wasn’t part of necessarily the scoring or the swimming. I was still there as a part of the team, but to be able to contribute to that win this year was super, super cool.”

Now Francis will prepare to swim at Lucas Oil Stadium — the home of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts — which has been transformed into a giant natatorium for the nine-day event that will determine Team USA’s roster for the Paris Games.

The experience will be a little different this time around for Francis, who will get to compete with the best of the best in the country at the trials. In 2021, due to restrictions put in place following the COVID-19 pandemic, the trials were split into two waves. Francis competed in the first of the two waves, which was ineligible to qualify for the Olympics as a result. She finished 16th in her wave in the 100 backstroke that year. Still, Francis said, having some idea of how the trials operate will give her a leg up going into next week.

“Granted it was a little bit of a different environment last time, but they still did a great job during the different waves in 2021 to kind of emulate what trials would normally be like,” she said. “There’s definitely kind of an element of … I’m not necessarily used to it. I don’t know if anybody can ever get used to that because it is so cool, but it definitely adds a little more confidence going into it, knowing how things run and what to expect.”

While technically still in the running for the Paris Games, the odds will be stacked against Francis — with only two spots up for grabs at the trials. In 2021, Rhyan White (2:05.73) and Phoebe Jacob (2:06.46) were the two qualifiers. 

Francis said her main goal will be to simply swim as well as she can at the trials. While she’ll look to improve on her qualifying time, she conceded that will be a difficult task, considering that she tapered her training prior to the Commonwealth Games in an effort to swim fast enough there to make the trials.

“I would be thrilled to be under the cut again and be able to hold on to the rest that I have right now,” she said. “It’s kind of tricky, especially with the way that I did it, resting for this last-chance meet. We’ll kind of play around, build back up a bit and then give me some rest heading in, but I’ll be thrilled to stick around that time. A best time is always the goal, but to stay under that cut would be a big goal of mine.”

The preliminary heats of the 200 backstroke will take place the morning of Thursday, June 20, with the top 16 finishers advancing to the semifinals held later that evening. From there, the top eight finishers will advance to the finals that will take place Friday, June 21. Preliminary events will be carried live on NBC/Universal’s subscription-based Peacock streaming service, and shown on a tape-delayed basis on USA Network. Finals will be carried live on NBC and Peacock.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].