U.S. Nationals, Day Two Men’s Finals: Josh Bey, Gabe Nunziata, David King Climb World Rankings
Four men’s finals took place Wednesday evening at U.S. Nationals in Irvine, Calif., including the 200 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 backstroke and 50 butterfly. With many veteran swimmers absent as they prepare to represent the United States at the Pan Pacific Championships, three newcomers put up times that rank in the top-four in the world rankings.
In the 200 breast, Josh Bey held off Gabe Nunziata as they moved to second and third, respectively, among all swimmers in 2026. David King followed that up with a dominant swim in the 200 back. Earlier in the session, Ryan Erisman sizzled on the back half for a national title in the 200 free, and the session concluded with a 50 fly matchup between Ilya Kharun and American-record holder Caeleb Dressel.
Men’s 200 Freestyle
The Nationals field in the 200 free went off without the top-five finishers from last year’s U.S. Nationals, all of whom are preparing for the Pan Pacific Championships in two weeks. Of that group, only Henry McFadden is even at Nationals, having scratched the event following a fourth-place finish in prelims. But that didn’t matter to the group racing for the title as the top-three finishers each put up lifetime bests to show off much-improved American depth in the 200 free.
For much of the race, Mitchell Schott was dominant. He split 50.93 at the 100-meter mark and extended the margin to a half-second with 50 meters remaining. But down the stretch, Ryan Erisman exploded with a 26.89 closing leg. That vaulted him past Schott and into the wall in 1:45.23.
The 19-year-old Erisman, who had just watched younger sister Rylee finish second in the women’s 200 free, finished in 1:45.23. That marked a slight drop from his prelims time of 1:45.40, which in turn cut more than a second from his pre-meet best of 1:46.43. Erisman is already in the midst of a phenomenal season, having gone 3:44.03 in the 400 free at the AP London International in May, and he will be the favorite for the national title in that event later in the meet.
Patrick Sammon also finished well to take second place in 1:45.67, more than a half-second drop from his best time of 1:46.22. Sammon was a World Championships finalist in the 100 free last year but plenty of range up to the 200. Schott held on for third in 1:45.78, also under his former best of 1:46.06. Brooks Curry just missed finishing in the top-three with a fourth-place mark of 1:46.09.
Luka Mijatovic put forth a dominant effort in the 18-and-under final. The 17-year-old secured his spot at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships with a winning mark of 1:46.04, just a tick off his best time of 1:45.92. Mijatovic will be in position for stellar efforts across the mid-distance and distance freestyle events at the junior-level meet, to be held next month in Vancouver.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
In two minutes, seven seconds, a pair of young breaststrokers made a statement of their intentions to soon represent the United States on the senior international level in their main event. Josh Bey and Gabe Nunziata each showed off massive improvement during their respective freshman seasons of college, Bey at Indiana and Nunziata at Tennessee, and the two swimmers have already jumped up into the top-three in the world.
Bey took control of the 200 breast final on the third length, splitting 32.50 to move from third place to first. On the last 50, Nunziata closed the gap, but Bey held on to win by four hundredths, 2:07.58 to 2:07.62. Both crushed their best times by more than two seconds over the course of the day, and now, they rank behind only world-junior-record holder Shin Ohashi (2:06.59) among all swimmers in 2026 while coming up just behind the 2:07.41 that Qin Haiyang swam to win the world title last year.
The two swimmers have now gone faster than any American has in two years. Among all-time performers in the United States, Bey now ranks sixth while Nunziata is tied with Will Licon in the seventh position. They are just over a second behind the American record of 2:06.54 from Matt Fallon at the 2024 Olympic Trials, a swim which made him the lone American to break 2:07.
Not to be forgotten in this race was Finnley Conklin, who clocked 2:08.94 for third place, capping off a day when he cut almost three seconds from his best time. Noah Cakir, also with a two-second best time between his two races Wednesday, was fourth in 2:09.17 with Luke Barr (2:09.98) capping off the list of sub-2:10 performers.
This landscape of this race has changed substantially for the United States since last year’s Nationals. Josh Matheny won that race in 2:08.87, and AJ Pouch joined him on the World Championships team with a mark of 2:09.31. Now, both Bey and Nunziata have gone more than a second quicker.
Men’s 200 Backstroke
Following in the footsteps of Bey and Nunziata in the 200 breast, David King stated his case to be among the country’s best 200 backstrokers with a dominant performance. The University of Virginia product trailed Gavin Keough by a tenth at the first turn before he proceeded to blow away the field on each remaining length. King stretched a lead of just over a second with 50 meters remaining to more than two-and-a-half seconds at the finish.
King touched in 1:55.01, lowering his previous best time by six tenths. In the process, he jumped to fourth in the world rankings for 2026 behind Apostolos Siskos, Pieter Coetze and Olympic champion Hubert Kos. King now ranks as the ninth-fastest American in history in the event.
A trio of swimmers touched in 1:57s to round out the places in the final. David Melnychuk held off a charging Michael Hochwalt at the finish by three hundredths, 1:57.56 to 1:57.59, while Keough ended up fourth (1:57.68).
Men’s 50 Butterfly
One night after winning a national in the 100 freestyle, Caeleb Dressel got off to his usual brilliant start in the 50 butterfly, but just after the halfway point, Ilya Kharun pushed ahead. Kharun, the Paris Olympic bronze medalist in the 100 and 200 fly, is using Nationals as his focus meet for the summer as he switches his sporting nationality from Canada to the United States, and he showed some incredible closing speed on the way to a time of 22.59.
That mark lowered the U.S. Open record, which Kharun previously set at 22.73 in June, and put him into a tie with Russia’s Egor Kornev as the fastest swimmer in the world this year and sixth-best in history. Kharun lowered his own best time of 22.68 by nine hundredths. While he is not yet officially eligible to represent the United States, there is only one American who has ever been faster, Dressel at 22.35.
Dressel also put himself into the global top-10 for 2026 with his second-place time of 22.86. Third went to Michael Andrew in 23.07, with Santo Condorelli fourth (23.21). Both of those swimmers will represent the U.S. at Pan Pacs in two weeks.
