Ahead of the Tokyo Summer Olympics, USA Swimming is stopping in Knoxville Thursday to feature some of the world's top swimmers.
The TYR Pro Swim Series will be here now through Jan. 19 at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center on UT's campus. It is just one of five stops as swimmers compete for a spot in the Olympics.
The series of swim meets will include both veteran swimmers and those new to the international stage hoping to make their way to the Olympic trials on June 21-28 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Each stop in the series attracts between 400 to 600 of the world's top swimmers hoping to meet qualifying times in their event, including USA Swimming National Team members, Junior National Team members and top-50 world-ranked swimmers
The first was in Greensboro, N.C. on Nov. 6 - 9. Knoxville is second on the list, then things ramp up March 4 - 7 in Des Moines, Iowa. On April 16 - 19, the series heads to Mission Viejo, California, and on May 6 - 9 it wraps up in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Olympic swimmer Cammile Adams said she thinks Knoxville is a city to keep an eye on.
"There's gonna be lots of athletes that haven't really nailed down... they're not stopping travel yet, and those types of things, so I think you guys are going to get a lot of athletes that end of making that team right here in Knoxville, which is really exciting," she said.
The 3 and a half day-long course events will be televised on NBCSN, the Olympic Channel, WBIR Channel 10 and live on usaswimming.org.