Maximus Williamson Leads Upstart Male Teenagers Bound for Nationals
The United States men won only six individual medals in swimming at the Paris Olympics, and the swimmers who accounted for two of those medals are on the wrong side of 30 years old. Solid depth remains in the freestyle and individual medley events, but the team is looking for new standouts in the backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke events, ideally in advance of this summer’s Singapore World Championships but certainly well before the next Olympics take place on American soil in 2028.
In a rare development, a swimmer qualified for the U.S. Olympic team before graduating from high school. Thomas Heilman swam both butterfly events in Paris and earned a silver medal as a prelims relay swimmer, but he did not approach his best times at that meet. What other teenagers could join Heilman as key cogs on the team moving forward?
Maximus Williamson
The name often spoken alongside Heilman’s is Williamson, who trains at Lakeside Aquatic Club north of Fort Worth, Texas, and will soon become Heilman’s teammate at the University of Virginia. Williamson won six gold medals and a silver at the 2023 World Junior Championships. Williamson had just turned 17 when he clocked 48.38 in the 100 freestyle, making him the fastest American ever under 18 years old, and he also posted times of 1:57.29 in the 200 IM and 1:47.29 in the 200 free. Williamson was brilliant on relays at that meet, posting 100 free relay splits as fast as 47.57.
His Olympic Trials debut did not go as planned, with Williamson finishing well out of contention in the freestyle events before missing the 200 IM final by 15-hundredths. But his continued improvement in yards over the past two years indicate a long course breakthrough forthcoming. He was the National High School Swimmer of the Year in 2024, and his interscholastic finale in 2025 included a stunning 200 free performance. He swam a mark of 1:30.46, which crushed the national high school and 17-18 National Age Group records. Among swimmers of all ages, Williamson ranks 16th all-time in the 200 free, and only five men beat his time at the NCAA Championships.
Williamson also owns national high school records in the 50 and 100 free plus the 200 IM, and his list of NAG marks also includes the 200-yard IM for the 17-18 age group plus three for 15-16-year-olds (200 free and 200 IM in long course, 400 IM in short course). Fulfillment of his massive potential will put him in the crux of national contention, and his abilities in freestyle could mean quick elevation to senior-national-team status.
Luka Mijatovic
After years of clobbering distance freestyle age group records, Mijatovic is approaching contention on the senior level. Olympic Trials was a rare miss for the Northern California teenager, with a top finish of 12th in the 400 free, but two months later, he won gold in the event at Junior Pan Pacs. At that meet, Mijatovic broke 3:50 for the first time while taking down a National Age Group record that had belonged to Larsen Jensen for two decades.
Mijatovic has compiled an impressive list of NAG records in the freestyle events: in the 13-14 age group, he owns marks in the 500, 1000 and 1650 free in short course plus the 200, 400, 800 and 1500 free in long course. Having moved up to the 15-16 age group last year, he has records in all three longer freestyle events in yards as well as the aforementioned 400 mark in long course. In May, he added a national high school record in the 500 free, crushing the mark set by eventual NCAA champion Rex Maurer, even though Mijatovic was just a sophomore. His 500 and 1650 best times are already fast enough to score at the NCAA Championships.
He probably needs another year or two before he can seriously contend for spots on a senior-level U.S. national team, but Mijatovic is rapidly approaching major factor status..
Campbell McKean
McKean does not have the track record of blasting through age group records like the others on this list, but his massive improvements in the 100 breaststroke could allow him to help the United States in international competition sooner rather than later. McKean, an 18-year-old from Bend, Ore., heading to the University of Texas in the fall, won silver in the 100 breast at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships last year. He has shown upward improvement since.
He finished 21st in the 100 breast at last year’s Olympic Trials, but he is currently the top-ranked American for 2025, having improved his best time to 1:00.40 at the recent Pro Series in Fort Lauderdale. With only two swimmers from the Olympic Trials final having competed this season, McKean is being viewed as someone able to fill the American breaststroke gap..
Massive time drops over the last two years have put McKean in this position very quickly. In the summer of 2023, his best 100 breast time was 1:04.73, but he dropped two-and-a-half seconds in March 2024 before getting down to 1:01s at Trials and then 1:00 earlier this year. Additionally, his yards times project him as a multi-event scorer at the NCAA Championships, perhaps more if his rapid improvement continues.