6 American Male Swimmers Who Could Break Out in Time For 2028 Olympic Games
No swimmer younger than 18 years old had qualified to represent the United States on the Olympic level for five consecutive cycles until Thomas Heilman did so in 2024, winning the 200 butterfly and taking second in the 100 fly at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Heilman was one of three teenagers to qualify for the men’s team this year, with Aaron Shackell winning the 400 freestyle and Luke Whitlock taking second in the 800 free.
Of the three, only Shackell replicated or surpassed his Trials performance at the Paris Games as he snuck into the 400-meter final on the first day of the meet. Of course, plenty of American men finished shy of their best times at the Olympics, with the team struggling mightily in the medal count. American men accounted for just six individual medals, and it took until the final individual race of the meet to avoid a gold-medal shutout.
What are the prospects for the next four years and the buildup to a home Olympics in Los Angeles? The men’s side is more difficult to project than the women’s, with most recent stars of the U.S. men’s team making enormous improvements during their college years to change the landscape of events. However, we do have some early favorites to keep an eye on.
Note that Kaii Winkler, a finalist in the 100 fly at the Olympic Trials, would have made this list, but shortly after Trials, he opted to switch his sporting nationality and represent Germany at the Olympics. He was permitted to make the switch because he had not previously qualified for a major U.S. team. Winkler is expected to remain with the German team moving forward.
Josh Bey
Bey was the youngest swimmer to qualify for the 200 breaststroke final at Olympic Trials by four years. He qualified seventh for the final, between a swimmer nearing his 30th birthday (Will Licon) and a swimmer who was already 30 (Nic Fink). Bey never contended in that final, finishing two seconds back of any other swimmer, but he picked up some valuable experience before traveling to Australia with the Junior Pan Pacific Championships team and taking silver in the 200 breast.
Bey is set to compete for Indiana University beginning in the fall of 2025, joining a program that has produced breaststroke Olympians Lilly King, Cody Miller and Josh Matheny, and he could continue to make improvements to position himself well for 2028.
Daniel Diehl
He was best known for his sprint backstroke skills during his high school years, but Diehl now looks like a potential multi-event star. His decision to enroll early at NC State looks brilliant after a strong Olympic Trials in which he tied for eighth in the 200 freestyle semifinals at 1:47.00, missing out on the final only thanks to a stunning effort from Shackell in a swim-off, and he took sixth in the 200 backstroke.
Diehl is carrying momentum from his strong performance at Trials, particularly in the freestyle events after he dropped a whopping two-and-a-half seconds from his best time in the 200 free. The versatile 18-year-old also swims a strong 200 IM, and he has multiple pathways to the senior-level U.S. team in the coming years.
Luke Ellis
Luke Ellis — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
This Sandpipers swimmer qualified for a pair of distance finals at Olympic Trials, placing fifth in the 1500 free and fifth in the 800 free prelims before pulling out of the top heat to conserve energy for the mile. Ellis was also 14th in both the 400 free and 400 IM at Trials, and then he posted significant time drops at Junior Pan Pacs on his way to two medals.
In Canberra, Ellis set a meet record of 7:52.40 to win the 800 free and finishing with silver in the 1500 free, his time of 15:00.24 leaving him less than three tenths behind Japan’s Kazushi Imafuku. Ellis will join Bey in Indiana’s incoming class next fall, and he is part of a young group of freestylers that could build some distance depth behind three-time Olympic champion Bobby Finke.
Luka Mijatovic
Here is another of those potential future distance aces, with Mijatovic recently completing an overall of the 13-14 National Age Group record books and beginning his quest to do the same in the 15-16 age group. After struggling at Trials, Mijatovic broke a 22-year-old NAG mark on the way to 400 free gold at Junior Pan Pacs. Mijatovic ended up with three golds at that meet, including in the 200 free and in the 800 free relay, and he posted strong times in the distance events despite swimming in the early heats as the third-fastest American.
Mijatovic might be a bit further away from the senior level than his Junior Pan Pacs teammates but only because he is younger, not set to graduate high school until 2027. We’ll see if he can continue to make inroads, but note that the 400 free might be the weakest event in the country currently while six relay spots are available in the 200 free.
Will Modglin
This former National High School Swimmer of the Year had a strong freshman campaign at the University of Texas, but his long course swimming appeared to lag behind his success in the 25-yard pool — at least until Olympic Trials, when Modglin found his way into a pair of finals. He took sixth in the 100 back and then, after getting scratched into the 200 IM semifinals, blasted his way to an eighth-place result in semis to earn a second swim under the bright lights in Lucas Oil Stadium. Delivering on potential with unprecedented long course results puts him in a good spot entering the new quad.
Maximus Williamson — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Maximus Williamson
This swimmer might be the most likely of the bunch to make an impact Team USA in the coming years, and Williamson was in contention to do so prior to Olympic Trials. Williamson struggled at the selection meet, explaining that an illness had zapped him of some energy in the previous few weeks, but he still almost qualified for the 200 IM final. In 2023, however, Williamson won six gold medals and one silver at the World Junior Championships, including impressive individual wins in the 100 free and 200 IM and multiple sub-48 relay splits.
Williamson earned National High School Swimmer of the Year honors this past season as a junior at Keller High School, knocking off national records in the 200 IM and 100 free in the yards pool, and he and Heilman will team up at the University of Virginia beginning in the fall of 2025. His skills in the 100 free could give him an avenue onto a senior-level team soon.