2017 arena Pro Swim Series at Atlanta

Atlanta, GA
May 4 - 7, 2017
Thursday Timed Finals: 5:00 p.m. EST
Prelims Friday - Sunday: 10:00 a.m. EST
Finals Friday - Sunday: 7:00 p.m. EST

The fourth stop on the arena Pro Swim Series kicks off in Atlanta, GA Thursday night with a pair of distance events -- the women's 1500m freestyle and the men's 800m freestyle. The three and a half day meet at Georgia Tech's McAuley Aquatic Center is ​loaded​​ with talent from the likes of ​Katie Ledecky​ and ​Penny Oleksiak​ to ​Nathan Adrian ​and ​Park Tae Hwan​. With so much going on this weekend in Atlanta, here are three major storylines to keep an eye on.

1.) Gold Medal Rematch

​Simone Manuel ​and ​Penny Oleksiak ​(Canada) will face off for the first time since they tied for the 100m freestyle gold medal (52.70) at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. While both swimmers are at different stages of training -- Manuel coming off a historic NCAA Championships in March and Oleksiak coming off Canadian Trials less than a month ago -- you can expect this to be a close race just like it was back in August. Of note, both ladies' fastest times of the year came in April with Manuel (53.66) at the arena Pro Swim Series at Mesa and Oleksiak (53.84) at Canadian Trials​

2.) Park Tae Hwan Targets Budapest

The 27 year-old South Korean superstar has had quite the tumultuous career. Between notable financial troubles with sponsors and the Korean Swimming Federation and a doping scandal that left Park with an 18-month ban from FINA -- which resulted in very lackluster performances in Rio -- Park has had to overcome a lot.

According to The Korea Times, Park will use the arena Pro Swim Series at Atlanta as a qualification meet for the 2017 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Park's agency, Team GMP, has said that the freestyle ace will be swimming the 100m, 200m, 400m, and 1500m freestyle events. If he qualifies, it will be his first World Championships in six years.

3.) Men's 200m Butterfly

With ​Michael Phelps​ retired (or is he...), the men's 200m butterfly is ripe for a fresh face to take over the top spot for the Americans. ​Tom Shields ​claimed the #2 spot on Team USA at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials last summer; however, ​Jack Conger​ and ​Chase Kalisz​ are serious contenders as well. As a matter of fact,​ Conger (1:54.54) has the fastest time of all three from the 2015 Summer National Championships. All three of these guys will be in action in Atlanta this weekend, along with ​Joseph Schooling.​ Schooling has been 1:55 in the 200m fly, but will he make a push to challenge for World Championship medals in Budapest this summer?