2025 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, June 3 – Saturday, June 7, 2025
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Indiana University Natatorium
- LCM (50 meters)
- Meet Central
- World Championship Selection Criteria
- SwimSwam Preview Index
Women’s 50 Breaststroke – By The Numbers
- World Record: 29.16 – Ruta Meilutyte, Lithuania (2023)
- American Record: 29.40 – Lilly King (2017)
- 2023 U.S. Nationals Champion: Lilly King – 29.77
- 2025 World Aquatics ‘A’ Cut: 30.75
Lilly King has been clear that she has raced at her final Olympic Games. She reiterated that at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim when asked during an NBC Sports interview if the inclusion of stroke 50s at the Olympic Games would encourage her to stay in the water until LA 2028. She said the announcement has not changed her plans. But she has not completely hung up the goggles yet.
Not only is she still racing, but King has also ruled the national sprint breaststroke scene for a decade. She extended her streak of winning the 50 breaststroke at the U.S. qualification meet during the last Olympic cycle, winning at 2022 International Team Trials and 2023 U.S. Nationals. And while her American record is now eight years old, King has maintained her consistent speed by breaking 30 seconds for the win at both meets, swimming 29.76 in 2022 and 29.77 in 2023. She won silver at the 2023 World Championships, adding to her two golds in this event from the 2017 and 2019 World Championships.
King is in a different place in her career than she was even this time last year, but her ability to get under 30 seconds in this race and do so consistently when qualification is on the line makes her the favorite.
The ACC Steps Up
The national rankings in the women’s 50 breaststroke are quite tight at the top this season, as the next wave of American sprint breaststrokers aim to assert themselves as “what’s next” in American sprint breaststroke.
It’s UNC product Skyler Smith that leads the American rankings this season. She fired off a 30.46 season-best at the Monaco stop of the Mare Nostrum series, which also ranks her eighth globally. The swim improved her season-best by three-hundredths as she dropped from the 30.49 she swam at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim, beating King, Emma Weber, and Alex Walsh in what could be a preview of the 2025 U.S. National Championship final. She is steadily approaching her lifetime best 30.41 from 2023.
Smith was the U.S. Open Champion in the 100-yard breaststroke last December. She swam lifetime bests in the 50/100/200-yard breaststroke over the season and has hit the ground running in long-course season after a disappointing 2025 NCAA Championships.
Weber swam lifetime bests in all three breaststroke distances during the 2024-25 NCAA season, but where she shines is the long-course pool. She was a surprise addition to the 2024 U.S. Olympic team as she qualified for her debut Games with a lifetime best 1:06.10 in the 100 breaststroke.
After the Games, Weber was quiet during the yards season (at least in the context of some her her Virginia teammates), but quickly made her presence felt in long-course at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim. She won the 100 breaststroke at the meet with a 1:06.63. Then, she lowered her 50 breaststroke lifetime best twice, swimming 30.87 in prelims then a 30.57 in the final for second place.
That lifetime best puts her third in the national rankings this season, just two-hundredths off King’s pace. Fort Lauderdale was the only official long-course meet we’ve seen Weber at this spring, but just with those swims she’s made herself a strong contender to get back on the senior international roster following the Paris Games.
Walsh is another Virginia Olympian to keep an eye on. Walsh has carved out a space for herself the last four years mainly in the 200 IM and 200 breaststroke on the long-course stage. She was a versatile asset for the Cavaliers during her five years at the college season and showcased her breaststroke/butterfly sprint speed with fast times on the medley relays.
She showed a bit of that in Fort Lauderdale—like Weber, she swam two 50 breaststroke lifetime bests at the meet, swimming a 30.97 in prelims and then a 30.90 for fourth in the final. As Walsh seems to have left the 400 IM behind, there are no obvious conflicts for her on Day 3 of U.S. Nationals, when the 50 breaststroke takes place. She may want the day off between the 200 and 100 breaststroke, but if she enters this race, she should push the pace in the final.
Of course, the other big breaststroke star training at Virginia is 200 breaststroke Olympic champion Kate Douglass. She’s another versatile athlete and as such, there is always the question of where she’ll choose to place her focus. This event isn’t normally the answer, but with a 31.18 from the Westmont Pro Swim, Douglass is ranked in the 50 breaststroke top 8 nationally.
More College Stars
Siroky has been on fire since reaching a new level of her career at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. She had an excellent freshman season at the University of Tennessee and has wasted no time rolling the improvements she made in the yards pool to long-course. Siroky swam lifetime bests in the long-course 50/100/200 breaststroke at the Tennessee Open, her first meet since the 2025 NCAA Championships.
Siroky broke 31 seconds for the first time during the 50 breaststroke prelims in Knoxville, ripping a 30.68 that launched her past Walsh and into fourth in the national rankings (and the fourth American in the global top 25).
While Siroky aims for her first senior international roster, Piper Enge already has World Championship experience. Enge was part of the 2024 World Championship squad and finished fourth in this race with a lifetime best 30.53. They’ve been about a second off that time through the early returns from the long-course season and carry a season-best 31.51 from Fort Lauderdale into Indianapolis. However, if they can get back down to lifetime best form, Enge should be in the hunt for a roster spot for a second World Championship team.
It is essential for any swimmer that wants to be a factor in the final to be under 31 seconds. Stanford’s Lucy Thomas got close to breaking that barrier for the first time in Fort Lauderdale, swimming a lifetime best 31.10. It was her first lifetime best in the event in about two years, shaving seven-hundredths from the 31.17 she swam at the 2023 National Championships.
Caroline Larsen swam a lifetime best in Fort Lauderdale as well, clocking a 31.34. Larsen had a strong freshman season at Louisville in the sprint freestyle/breaststroke events and another few tenths drop could book her a lane in the final.
The Rest Of The 2023 U.S. National Final
We don’t expect Lydia Jacoby, the second-place finisher in 2023, in Indianapolis this year. Kaitlyn Dobler, the third-place finisher with a lifetime best 30.34, just finished her NCAA career with USC and has not raced since the NCAA Championships.
Further back, 2023 U.S. Nationals was Miranda Tucker’s last competition, and Rachel Bernhardt has not raced since Olympic Trials.
That leaves 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials semifinalist Hannah Bach, who got back in competition pool for the first time since Trials at the LESD Busbey Invitational earlier this month. She did not race the 50 breaststroke, but did swim 1:12.15 in the 100 breaststroke. Her opening 50 breaststroke split was a 34.12 but Bach is a 2023 U.S. Nationals championship finalist in this event. She placed fifth in 2023, swimming a 30.76 that remains her lifetime best.
Club Swimmers That Could Challenge For A Final Lane
- Elle Scott, SwimMAC – The high school senior and Cal commit logged a lifetime best 31.68 at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim, improving from 31.73. She was in the ‘C’ final at the 2023 U.S. Nationals but could stand to move much further up the standings this year.
- Madyson Hartway, Sarasota Sharks – Another high school senior heading to a Power Four program (Alabama), Hartway touched two-hundredths ahead of Scott in Fort Lauderdale, swimming a lifetime best 31.66, which puts her in the same position of Scott.
- Eliza Wallace, Mecklenburg – Wallace broke 32 seconds for the first time at the Martha McKee Open, swimming a 31.95. It was a drop of about three-tenths and does mean she would need another significant drop to push for the final.
SwimSwam Picks
| Rank | Swimmer | Season Best | Lifetime Best |
| 1 | Lilly King | 30.55 | 29.40 |
| 2 | Skyler Smith | 30.46 | 30.41 |
| 3 | Emma Weber | 30.57 | 30.57 |
| 4 | McKenzie Siroky | 30.68 | 30.68 |
| 5 | Alex Walsh | 30.90 | 30.90 |
| 6 | Piper Enge | 31.51 | 30.53 |
| 7 | Lucy Thomas | 31.10 | 31.10 |
| 8 | Caroline Larsen | 31.34 | 31.34 |
Dark Horse: Gabby Rose – Olympic Trials fan favorite Gabby Rose is still in the water and still hitting new heights in her career. Like so many of these swimmers, Rose swam a 50 breaststroke lifetime best at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim. She swam 31.63 in prelims, getting under the 31.70 opening split she swam at Olympic Trials that stood as her lifetime best until then. Another drop would make her a strong option for a spot in the final.
Frankly I do not believe any of these listed have a chance. It will take someone like Kate Douglas or the Walsh sisters to get below 25.5 seconds, and it will take a 29.1 to win at the next Olympics. Most USA coaches do not teach sprint breaststroke. Please look up my “Rethinking Sprint Breaststroke” first published in 2004 in Swimming Techmique and reprinted a couple of years ago.
WTF?
The World Record in the W 50 BR currently stands at 29.16 seconds.
Hilarious that you say coaches don’t know how to teach sprint breaststroke and then you bring up Douglass as a potential future record breaker. She has the least sprint oriented breaststroke of any of the elite breaststrokers world wide.
By the way,does anyone know where the 2026scw will be held?
Instead of wasting money on the Enchanced Games, it would be put to better use hosting the Short Course World Championships.
Siroky will end up being a WR holder.
in what event? 50 breast?
*duplicate*
dont sleep on joleigh crye. 26.72 50 split and 25.75 on the relay
Good one.
50s are a huge waste of time and energy. They are the dumbing down of American swimming. We have one men’s distance freestyler to speak of. None of our men are in the top 10 all time of the 400m free, yet we still worry about Dressel and whether he can last a 100 fly without collapsing.
And our open water swimmers? Where are they?
Maybe Meehan can do something about the state of swimming in the U.S. and its misguided focus on 50s.
For this reason, I really hope they don’t add stroke 50s to the NCAA program
Aiden Hayes and Quintin McCarty are perfect examples of how you don’t even need to be able to swim a stroke well to be successful in 50s. A good start and underwaters can carry you for all 3 stroke 50s. There’s aspects of that for the 100s, but it’s harder to fake.
I also don’t think coaches proposing that from the CSCAA have considered how much further you’ll need to differentiate training groups if you have an athlete that swims multiple individual 50s and there aren’t a lot of staffs equipped to do that without punting on some other training group. May as well say goodbye completely to distance swimming in the US and just leave that to the… Read more »
Aiden Hayes was a NCAA national champion in the 200 fly and almost made Olympics in 100 fly long course. You cannot do either without being one of the best in the world in your stroke.
You sound like someone who is jealous of speed and probably have not won anything but the parent relay in cabana club.
Stop hating
“Parent relay in cabana club” is an absolutely devious accusation
Hayes and McCarty are great swimmers, full stop. But McCarty being the fastest 50 backstroker at NCs while getting 13th in the 100 and Hayes being the fastest ever in the 50 yard back when his best finish in the 100 is 10th speaks to a flattening of skills for the 50s.
It’s the collapse of the men’s domestic swimming landscape.
The medal table at the Olympics doesn’t distinguish between the 1500m free or the 50m breast.
They will pair well with the dumbing down of American society.
Hartway is listed as a Canadian (unattached) on Swimrankings… and Canadian Trials start on June 7.
The meet entry rules for US Nationals state that foreign swimmers not eligible to represent USA are ineligible to compete.
Curious to know what is her true nationality.
She’s Canadian
So is why is she being discussed at the IS Trials?
I would assume because the writer didn’t know she is Canadian and the psych sheets weren’t out yet so they didn’t know she’s not swimming at US Trials.
If so, she can’t swim at this meet based on the meet package rules.
I predict Lilly King has one last taper left.
Hot Take:
Lilly takes 12-18 months off… misses it… comes back all in for 50 breast at LA in 2028 with intense focus on strength training….
Qualifies… and takes the bronze….or better…. (tag it)
She’s probably gonna finish in the top 2 and qualify for this event .
Where’s the pick em ??
Can’t do a pick ’em without entry lists 🤷♂️
Oof. True, didn’t even think about that 🤣
If I’m not mistaken, the registration deadline was today at noon (mountain time). Please confirm. Thanks in advance.
Don’t be surprised if the psych sheets don’t come out until the end of the week.
Yeah probably Thursday ☹️