York County's Hali Flickinger locks up Olympic spot with victory in the 200 butterfly

Hali Flickinger could be a bit busier at next month's Olympics than she was five years ago. 

The York County native locked up a spot at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with a first-place finish in her signature event, the 200 butterfly, Thursday night at the U.S. Olympic trials in Omaha. She finished with a personal-best time of 2:05.85 to beat likely Olympic qualifier Regan Smith. 

Flickinger's time is the second-fastest in the world this year and fastest of all-time by a U.S. swimmer in an American pool. 

Smith finished second with a time of 2:06.99. While Smith led for most of the race, Flickinger got stronger as the race went on and took the lead over the final 25 meters. She swam the final 50 meters in 33.1 seconds. 

"I was just having fun, Flickinger said on the NBC broadcast after the race. "Just enjoying the race." 

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Flickinger previously took the top time in the semifinals with a time of  2:06.73 seconds.

The Olympic trials run until June 20, and the qualification period ends June 27. The 2021 Summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo from July 23 to Aug. 8. The Olympics were postponed from last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Flickinger is also a near lock to compete in the 400 IM after taking second in the event Sunday night with a career-best time of 4:33.96 . The swimmers with the top two times qualify for the Olympics, but the qualifiers will become official after the qualification period ends. 

Flickinger competed in the 200 butterfly at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, taking seventh in the event. 

The Spring Grove grad could be primed for a higher finish this time. 

Flickinger established herself as one of the world's top swimmers the past few years — especially in the 200 butterfly. She won gold in the event at the 2018 U.S. national swimming championships and took silver at the 2019 World Championships. 

Flickinger also qualified to compete at the trials in two other events, but she scratched from the 200 freestyle after the preliminaries. She is scheduled to compete in the 200 backstroke Friday, with the possibility of qualifying for Friday's final. 

A 2012 Spring Grove grad who competed for the York YMCA club team, Flickinger enjoyed a standout career at the University of Georgia before her standout international career. She currently trains in Arizona and competes for the Cali Condors of the International Swimming League. 

She trains with swimming coach Bob Bowman, who is famous for training legendary Olympian Michael Phelps. 

"We had a race plan in mind," Flickinger said to NBC of her strategy with Bowman. "All I wanted to do was execute it for him." 

Flickinger wasn't the only York County native competing in the Olympic Trials Thursday night. York Suburban grad and North Carolina State NCAA champion Coleman Stewart finished eighth in the 100 freestyle with a time of 48.51 seconds.

Stewart previously took 10th in the semifinals of the 100 backstroke and missed the finals. 

Matt Allibone is a sports reporter for GameTimePA. He can be reached at 717-881-8221, mallibone@ydr.com or on Twitter at @bad2theallibone.