Local Olympic Spotlight: Spring Grove, PA Native Hali Flickinger, USA Swimming

Hali Flickinger (Getty Images)

Hali Flickinger, a swimmer from Spring Grove, Pennsylvania qualified for the United States Olympic swimming team at the trials in Omaha.

Flickinger, a specialist in the medley and butterfly races, qualified in the 200m butterfly, after finishing second behind Texas A&M swimmer Cammile Adams. Flickinger led the race after the first 100, but she wasn’t able to hold on. Her time of 2:07.5 was the 14th fastest in the world in 2016.

As a 17 year old at the 2012 Olympic Trials, Flickinger lost her goggles during the final of the same race, causing her to lose and miss qualification. She also expected to qualify in the 200m freestyle which takes the top six competitors for relays, but she lost out of one of slots, causing her to rest all of her hopes on the 200 fly final.

Flickinger has helped the University of Georgia swim team to three national championships while she was swimming for them. She was named first team All-SEC as a senior after being crowned champion of the 200 fly, while also finishing in the top three of the 200m freestyle, the 400m freestyle, and the 200m backstroke.

Despite the 200 fly being her signature event, Flickinger will more than likely find herself out of medal contention in Rio. Her career best time swam in the trials are only the 14th fastest in the world, with the top of the pack being too far ahead for her to catch up to in only a month. Simply making the finals in that event will be a big achievement for Flickinger.

Hali Flickinger (Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick)

If she is to medal, it’ll be more than likely that it is in a relay event. The United States women are expected to contend for the 4X100 medley relay. While the teams haven’t been announced yet, it’s possible that Flickinger will swim in the qualifiers for the relay as the butterfly leg. If the final team wins a medal, then she will bring one home as well as a member of the team.

Flickinger graduated from Spring Grove high school in Pennsylvania in 2012. She majored in finance at Georgia. She trained at the York YMCA under head coach Mike Brooks before moving to college.

The last York County swimmer to make the Olympics was Whitney Metzler who finished eighth in the 400m IM in Atlanta in 1996. Summer Britcher was the last York County native to make an Olympics, when she competed in luge in Sochi in 2014.