5 Men’s Olympic Medalists Poised For Big College Seasons
International swimming is largely the domain of older, stronger swimmers, with American and foreign stars using the college level as a jumping-off point to reach World Championship and Olympic stardom. Leon Marchand surely did that, with three dominant years at Arizona State leading into his four-gold performance this summer. Marchand is now a professional swimmer, with the Frenchman choosing to eschew his final year of NCAA eligibility.
Still, there typically are one or two individual gold medalists to return from their moments of glory to compete for NCAA titles the following season. Bobby Finke returned to the University of Florida for the 2021-22 season while Ryan Murphy was back at Cal following his backstroking success at the Rio Olympics.
This time, the lone Olympic champion from Paris heading back to NCAA competition will have a new destination, with Hubert Kos having followed coach Bob Bowman from Arizona State to Texas. Kos will not be the only Olympic-medal winner on the Longhorns’ squad, and there are five total Paris medalists expected to race for their schools this year. Chris Guiliano would be a sixth, but Guiliano is currently in the transfer portal with Notre Dame having suspended its season.
Hubert Kos, Texas
Kos was already a European champion before joining Bowman at ASU, but he has since become the world’s best 200 backstroker, pulling away to win gold in Paris after first topping the podium in the event at the 2023 World Championships. Interestingly, Kos has never captured an individual NCAA title, although he was part of the Sun Devils’ NCAA-record-setting 400 medley relay at last year’s national meet. Kos entered NCAAs favored or co-favored in all three of his events, the backstrokes plus the 200 IM, but he ended up finishing second, third and fourth as Cal rival Destin Lasco shined.
This year, Kos will again look to bring his short course swimming on par with his results in the 50-meter pool, and we’ll see to what sort of boost he can provide the Texas men’s program in Bowman’s first season. The Longhorns fell to seventh in Eddie Reese’s final season with the program, but an influx of talent plus strong returnees should help.
Josh Liendo, Florida
Canadians Ilya Kharun (left) and Josh Liendo celebrate their Olympic-medal-winning swims in the men’s 100 butterfly — Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Insidefoto / Deepbluemedia
The star sprinter of the 2024 NCAA Championships got his Olympic medal in Paris as he became just the fifth member of the 49-second club in the 100-meter fly. He fell nine hundredths short of gold, but that was largely a credit to the exploits of Hungary’s Kristof Milak rather than his own disappointment. Liendo also got into the final of the 50 free, benefitting from the decision of French rival Maxime Grousset to scratch, and he ended up fourth, only two hundredths out of the medals. He also took 11th in the 100 free and led off Canada’s sixth-place-finishing 400 free relay place.
In college, though, Liendo has been dominant. At last year’s meet, he out-dueled Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks for the title in the 50 free, his time of 18.07 making him the third-fastest performer ever behind Florida training partner Caeleb Dressel and Crooks, and then he clocked incredible times of 43.07 in the 100 fly and 40.20 in the 100 free, with both marks checking in behind only Dressel on the all-time list. He also helped both Gators’ 200-yard relays win titles, and he is the central figure on a Florida squad returning every key piece from last season.
Ilya Kharun, Arizona State
Bowman, Kos and many others have departed the defending national champions, but Kharun remains with the Sun Devils and new head coach Herbie Behm following his own breakout Olympic summer. Kharun scored two individual medals, taking bronze in the 200 fly as Marchand and Milak engaged in an epic gold-medal showdown and then moving up from seventh to third in the closing meters to reach the podium again in the 100 fly. With Liendo taking silver, the race marked the first time ever two Canadian men had won Olympic medals in the same event.
Now, Kharun becomes the leading man for Arizona State in his sophomore season. He has already claimed an individual NCAA title in the 200-yard fly, and he will be the clear favorite for a repeat this year. With the departures of key contributors Marchand, Kos, Jack Dolan and Julian Hill also will take on a much greater relay role this time around, but his range throughout the sprint and middle-distance races make him a perfect central figure around which to build a college roster.
Luke Hobson, Texas
Luke Hobson — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Finally, we come to the only American male collegian to reach the individual podium in Paris, with Hobson swimming an impressive race to join David Popovici and Matt Richards on the medal stand in the 200 free, locking off British veteran Duncan Scott. The next day, Hobson swam the leadoff leg of the U.S. men’s 800 free relay that returned to the Olympic podium following a disastrous fourth-place finish in Tokyo.
Hobson is the biggest name returning to the Texas roster from Reese’s final season, and he had a big year in 2023-24, winning the national title in the 200 free while swimming the fastest time in history (1:28.81) and taking second to Marchand in the 500 free. Bowman will be undoubtedly thrilled to have Hobson’s freestyle prowess available in his first year in Austin.
Jack Alexy, Cal
The final Olympic medalist back in college swimming this year did not have the Games he hoped for, although Alexy did lead off the U.S. men’s 400 free relay team that won gold before swimming in prelims for the silver-medal-winning medley relay squad. Alexy’s significant international experience also includes the 2023 World Championships, where he notched individual silver medals in the 50 and 100 free as well as three relay medals. Alexy entered the Paris Games ranked third in the world in the 100 free at 47.08, but he fell to seventh in the individual final.
Now, he is the leading sprinter on a Cal team once again in contention for the national crown after previously winning his freshman and sophomore seasons before taking second to ASU last year. At the 2024 NCAA Championships, Alexy was second in the 200 free and third in both the 50 and 100. He took part in four relays that placed within the top-four, and he swam the third leg of Cal’s NCAA-record-setting 800 free relay.