2026 Speedo Fort Lauderdale Open

Wednesday, April 29 – Saturday, May 2, 2026
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Center
LCM (50 meters)
Meet Central
Psych Sheet

The psych sheet for the 2026 Speedo Fort Lauderdale Open, formerly a stop on USA Swimming’s Pro Swim Series, has dropped, and it’s absolutely loaded with Olympic medalists and world champions.

The 2025 edition of the competition was an absolute crowd-pleaser, drawing global attention and media after two world records were broken in one day. Katie Ledecky shattered her nine-year-old record in the 800m freestyle, and Gretchen Walsh obliterated the 55-second barrier in the 100m butterfly.

Both stars are headed back to the Sunshine State for round two.

Ledecky is slated to take on her typical schedule of the 200, 400, 800, and 1500 free, while Walsh is expanding beyond her usual 50 and 100 fly and 50 and 100 free to also enter the 200 free and 50 back.

Two of the most versatile active female swimmers, Kate Douglass and Summer McIntosh, are also set to compete again this year.

Douglass has entered a whopping eight events, the 50 and 100 free, 50 and 100 fly, 50, 100, and 200 breast, and the 200 IM, but will almost certainly trim that down as the meet progresses.

McIntosh, on the other hand, is entered to take on a more pointed schedule: the 200 and 400 free as well as the 200 breast. The 400 free will bring another head-to-head showdown with Ledecky. While McIntosh’s PB is over two seconds faster and her season best is a second quicker, the event may have been the race of the meet last year, when Ledecky came from behind over the final 75 meters for a slight upset (this was before McIntosh shattered the world record by two seconds at the Canadian Trials a few months later).

Team USA’s premier backstroker for nearly a decade, Regan Smith, will race the 100s and 200s of both fly and back in addition to the 200 free, where she broke 1:57 for the first time at the Westmont stop of the Pro Series last month.

Other names on the psych sheet include UVA standouts Claire Curzan and Anna Moesch, both of whom had major drops in short course yards and will be racing long course for the first time since last summer.

U.S. national team mainstays Alex Walsh, Phoebe Bacon, Erin Gemmell, Emma Weyant, Katharine Berkoff, and Simone Manuel, along with multi-time world junior champions Rylee Erisman and Audrey Derivaux, are also among the top entrants.

On the men’s side, France’s Leon Marchand will take on the same schedule he swept at the Paris Olympics, the two IMs, the 200 fly, and the 200 breast.

Marchand’s training partner, Hungarian Hubert Kos, coming off an electric NCAA Championships, is slated for his usual backstroke events in addition to the 200 IM, along with interesting entries in the 100 breast and 200 free.

American Caeleb Dressel will be back in action, contesting his usual 50 and 100 fly and 50 and 100 free as he continues his comeback journey post-Paris.

Alongside Marchand, Kos, and Dressel, the men’s field features several other Olympic or world championship medalists, including Ilya Kharun, Josh Liendo, Chris Guiliano, Shaine Casas, Bobby Finke, Thomas Heilman, Luke Hobson, Carson Foster, Patrick Sammon, Kieran Smith, as well as rising contenders toward LA 2028 such as Maximus Williamson, Ian Call, and David King.

The field is almost too loaded to highlight every noteworthy name, but here are some of the headliners and their event schedules before SwimSwam posts previews and storylines to watch over the next week.

This is not an exhaustive list, and the names are not in any particular order.

Notable Women’s Entries

Katie Ledecky – 200/400/800/1500 free
Katie Grimes – 200/400/1500 free, 200/400 IM, 200 fly, 200 back, 200 breast
Jillian Cox – 200/400/800 free
Becca Mann – 400/800/1500 free, 200 fly
Kate Hurst – 200/400/800 free, 400 IM
Emma Weyant – 200/400 free, 200/400 IM
Kate Douglass – 50/100 free, 50/100 fly, 50/100/200 breast, 200 IM
Summer McIntosh – 200/400 free, 200 breast
Alex Walsh – 50/100/200 breast, 200/400 IM, 200 free, 200 fly
Gretchen Walsh – 50/100/200 free, 50/100 fly, 50 back
Claire Curzan – 50/100/200 free, 50/100/200 back, 100 fly
Anna Moesch – 50/100/200 free
Katharine Berkoff – 50/100 free, 50/100/200 back
Rylee Erisman – 100/200/400 free, 200 back, 200 IM
Audrey Derivaux – 200/400/800 free, 100 fly, 100 breast, 200 back
Regan Smith – 100/200 fly, 100/200 back, 200 free
Mona McSharry – 50/100/200 breast
Eneli Jefimova – 50/100/200 breast
Emma Weber – 50/100/200 breast
Phoebe Bacon – 50/100/200 back, 50 fly, 100 free, 200 IM
Simone Manuel – 50/100/200 free
Isabelle Stadden – 50/100/200 back
Leah Hayes – 100/200/400 free, 100/200 breast, 200/400 IM
Leah Shackley – 50/100/200 fly, 50/100/200 back
Kasia Wasick – 50 fly, 50 free
Nikolett Padar – 50/100/200/400 free
Erin Gemmell – 100/200/400 free
Madi Mintenko – 50/100/200/400 free, 100/200 back, 100 fly
Erika Pelaez – 50/100/200 free, 50/100/200 back, 100 fly
Tess Howley – 100/200 fly, 100/200 back
Lindsay Looney – 100/200 fly, 200 free

Notable Men’s Entries

Caeleb Dressel – 50/100 fly, 50/100 free
Josh Liendo – 50/100 fly, 50/100/200 free
Leon Marchand – 200/400 IM, 200 fly, 200 breast
Chris Guiliano – 50/100/200 free
Quintin McCarty – 50/100 free, 50/100 back, 50 fly
Hubert Kos – 50/100/200 back, 200 IM, 200 free, 100 breast
Jack Aikins – 50/100/200 back, 50/100 free
Patrick Sammon – 50/100/200 free, 100 fly
Luke Hobson – 50/100/200/400/800 free
Ilya Kharun – 50/100 fly, 50/100 free
Shaine Casas – 50/100 fly, 50 back, 100 free
Maximus Williamson – 50/100/200 free, 100 breast, 200 back, 200 IM
Carson Foster – 200/400 IM, 100/200 fly, 100/200 back, 100 free
Thomas Heilman – 50/100/200 fly, 50/100/200 free
Daniel Diehl – 50/100/200 back, 100/200 free, 200 IM
Bobby Finke – 400/800/1500 free, 400 IM
Kieran Smith – 200/400 free, 200 back, 200 IM
Mitchell Schott – 200/400 free, 200 fly, 200 back, 200 IM
Aiden Hayes – 50/100/200 fly, 50 back, 50 free
Jack Kelly – 50/100/200 breast
David King – 50/100/200 free, 50/100/200 back
Ian Call – 50/100/200 breast, 50 free, 200 IM