{"id":649135,"date":"2026-07-31T19:20:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T02:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=649135"},"modified":"2026-07-31T19:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T02:40:07","slug":"u-s-nationals-day-four-mens-finals-alexei-avakov-pulls-away-in-100-breaststroke-joins-sub-59-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-nationals-day-four-mens-finals-alexei-avakov-pulls-away-in-100-breaststroke-joins-sub-59-club\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Nationals, Day Four Men’s Finals: Alexei Avakov Pulls Away in 100 Breaststroke, Joins Sub-59 Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Nationals, Day Four Men’s Finals: Alexei Avakov Pulls Away in 100 Breaststroke, Joins Sub-59 Club<\/strong><\/p>\n

This year’s U.S. Nationals has produced a new series of standout American breaststrokers, with\u00a0Josh Bey<\/strong> and\u00a0Gabe Nunziata<\/strong> going 2:07s in the 200-meter race before\u00a0Watson Nguyen<\/strong> pulled off a shock win in the 50. Now,\u00a0Alexei Avakov<\/strong> has joined that group with his big win in the 100 breast final. Avakov, heading into his junior season with the Indiana Hoosiers, became the latest swimmer to go sub-59 in the 100 breast Friday evening.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the session,\u00a0Luka Mijatovic<\/strong> had surpassed Ryan Erisman<\/strong> in a brilliant 400 freestyle performance, crushing his own National Age Group record in the process. The session finished with the 100 backstroke, where\u00a0Owen McDonald<\/strong> entered as the top seed.<\/p>\n