OMAHA — Missy Franklin’s smile belied her pain. But her voice grew shaky as she spoke the words few who watched her swim four years ago expected to hear three nights into these U.S. Olympic trials.
“Right now, I need to make the team in whatever way that looks like,” Franklin said. “I need to make the team.”
Franklin was a non-factor in the women’s 100-meter backstroke final Tuesday night, finishing seventh in the event which she won at the London Olympics. She’d struggled, too, during the preliminary heat, barely sneaking into the final in an outside lane.