{"id":613100,"date":"2025-06-04T16:35:49","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T23:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=613100"},"modified":"2025-06-04T18:41:56","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T01:41:56","slug":"u-s-nationals-luke-hobson-blasts-143-73-200-free-becoming-fifth-fastest-man-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-nationals-luke-hobson-blasts-143-73-200-free-becoming-fifth-fastest-man-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Nationals: Luke Hobson Blasts 1:43.73 200 Free, Becoming Fifth-Fastest Man Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Nationals: Luke Hobson Blasts 1:43.73 200 Free, Becoming Fifth-Fastest Man Ever<\/strong><\/p>\n

The world record in the men’s 200 freestyle has been untouched since the era of full-body polyurethane suits, the 1:42.00 belonging to Germany’s Paul Biedermann<\/strong> considered among the most untouchable marks on the books. Few swimmers have come close since the return to textile-only swimsuits in 2010:\u00a0Yannick Agnel<\/strong> clocked 1:43.14 in 2012, and then it was a decade until\u00a0David Popovici<\/strong> finally surpassed that with a 1:42.97.<\/p>\n

Now, add Luke Hobson<\/strong> to that exclusive club.<\/p>\n

In a dominant performance in the U.S. Nationals final, Hobson became the fifth-fastest performer in history, joining Biedermann,\u00a0Michael Phelps<\/strong>, Popovici and Agnel. The 22-year-old swam the 10th-quickest performance in history and the fastest overall in three years.<\/p>\n

In the opening meters of the race, Chris Guiliano<\/strong> jumped on the pace from lane eight, but Hobson quickly asserted himself and moved under world-record pace at the first two splits, with a halfway time of 50.05. Biedermann’s suit-aided back-half pace quickly extinguished any possibility of a world record, and Hobson did fade slightly down the stretch, but he never lost his signature monstrous kick. The result was historic.<\/p>\n

Hobson touched in 1:43.73, busting through the U.S. Open record of 1:44.10 that Phelps set at the 2008 Olympic Trials. He beat his previous best time, the 1:44.78 he posted in prelims, by more than a second. The time is by far the fastest in the world this year, surpassing the 1:44.25 posted by Germany’s Lukas Martens<\/strong> last month.<\/p>\n

Hobson continues his ascent through the world rankings in the 200 free. After finishing fifth in his global debut in 2023, Hobson won bronze in an extremely tight Olympic final. In the year since, Hobson has broken a 15-year-old world record in the short course meters 200 free, earning a world title in the process, and at the NCAA Championships, he crushed his own American and NCAA records in the 200-yard free.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s obviously not the fastest time long course meters, and that\u2019s the overall goal in my lifetime,” Hobson said. “All the racing experience and knowing where I\u2019m at in a 200, they\u2019re all a little different, but it\u2019s very similar in a lot of aspects. I think the more I do it, the more I get good reps racing really good competition like we had here and the more I\u2019m prepared for meets like Worlds and the Olympics.”<\/p>\n

As for the race for second place, Gabriel Jett<\/strong> will swim at a major international competition for the first time after he placed second in 1:44.70, becoming the third-fastest performer in the world for 2025 behind Hobson and Martens. That time made him the fourth-fastest American ever behind Phelps, Hobson and Ryan Lochte<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Third went Rex Maurer<\/strong> in 1:45.13, while\u00a0Henry McFadden\u00a0<\/strong>was fourth in 1:45.22. Those swimmers now rank eighth and ninth in the world, respectively. Like Jett, Maurer is set to make his debut on a senior-level U.S. team next month while McFadden returns to the World Championships after he was previously a prelims relay swimmer in 2023.<\/p>\n

Hobson knocked more than a second off his lifetime best, but the drops for the other three automatic relay qualifiers were even larger:<\/p>\n