New U.S. 50 Breast Champ Watson Nguyen to Compete at Vietnam National Sports Games
Watson Nguyen, who won gold in the men’s 50 breaststroke at U.S. Nationals in July, is set to compete at the National Sports Games in Vietnam in December.
Nguyen was also third in the 100 breast at Nationals in Irvine. He’s a dual citizen of Vietnam and the United States, born in Plano, Texas, to Vietnamese parents.
He has represented the United States internationally, winning medley relay gold and individual bronze in both the 50 and 100 breast for the U.S. at the 2023 World Junior Championships. Nguyen competed at Olympic Trials in 2024, finishing 53rd in the 100 breast and 32nd in the 200 breast.
Swimming at nationals is not limited to swimmers representing that country and would not necessitate any kind of allegiance switch. But in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvania, the student newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania, Nguyen said in March that he’s keeping his options open.
“I’m going to go to some meets in Vietnam and to see how I enjoy the experience and if I feel like that’s something I really want to continue in the future,” Nguyen told i then. “I think about the swimming, but outside of that, it’s more of a question of ‘Am I being true to myself?’”
Nguyen swam at NCAAs last year for Penn after winning the 100 and 200 breast titles at the Ivy League Championships. He will be a junior at Penn in the fall.
Nguyen’s best times in the 50 and 100 breast are quicker than Vietnamese national records (though he is not eligible to set them). He went 26.65 to win his crown at U.S. Nationals in the 50, a full second quicker than the Vietnamese mark of 27.70. It also made him the fourth-fastest performer in American history. He went sub-minute in the 100 breast at 59.79 for bronze, while the Vietnamese record is 1:00.97.
Vietnamese nationals will be held in December in the An Giang province.
