U.S. Age Group Performance of the Year: Thomas Heilman Reaches Big-Time in Worlds Debut
High-school aged swimmers played a key role for the United States at this year’s World Championships, with five such young swimmers earning spots in individual events in Fukuoka. Katie Grimes won a pair of individual medals while Bella Sims, Claire Weinstein and Jillian Cox were the other women in individual swims. Erin Gemmell and Alex Shackell played key roles helping the Americans win silver in the 800 freestyle relay.
All impressive but not quite as stunning as what Thomas Heilman pulled off this year in his jump from National-Age-Group record-breaker to elite international performer. His performances from age 14 through 16 suggested a bright future, but that came much quicker than expected as Heilman blasted his way into a pair of championship finals at U.S. Nationals — and he ended up making the team in both events.
Heilman arrived at U.S. Nationals with a 200 fly best time of 1:56.52, only to get down to 1:55.11 in prelims. A few hours later, Heilman swam in third place for most of the finals race behind Carson Foster and Trenton Julian, but on the final length, he overtook Julian and nearly chased down Foster, coming in only two tenths behind to earn a ticket to Fukuoka. Heilman’s mark of 1:54.54 was a best time, and he surpassed the NAG record that Michael Phelps set in 2001 when he won his first career world title.
Two days later, Heilman pulled off an even-more unexpected qualification in the 100 fly, dropping from 51.98 to 51.78 in prelims, tying for fifth in qualifying, before swimming a mark of 51.19 in finals to earn a second swim at Worlds.
And in his first appearance at a senior-level international competition, Heilman thrived. He snuck into the 200 fly final as the seventh seed, and in the final, he stayed close enough to the field to make a run down the stretch. In fifth place at the final turn, Heilman split 29.70 on the way to a final time of 1:53.82, tying with Ilya Kharun for fourth place and coming just 16-hundredths short of the podium.
Heilman finished just three hundredths off Kristof Milak’s world junior record (1:53.79), and he will have two more years to take down that mark. After dropping a whopping 2.70 seconds in 2023, we like Heilman’s chances of overcoming that tiny margin to claim the record for his own in 2024.
Heilman, who will turn 17 in February, did not advance out of the 100 fly prelims at Worlds, but later earned a gold medal by virtue of his prelims leg on the U.S. men’s 400 medley relay. Now, Heilman will be one of several young male swimmers, including future University of Virginia teammate Maximus Williamson, with a real shot at qualifying for next year’s Olympics and making a major impact in Paris.