Despite Relay Legacy, Luke Hobson Is First Olympic Medalist From Texas In Men’s 200 Free

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The University of Texas has a storied history of success in the men’s 200 freestyle under the guidance of legendary head coach Eddie Reese, who wrapped up his 46-year tenure in March after beginning his career with the Longhorns in 1978.

Texas’ 200 free excellence has come in both long course meters and short course yards.

Under Reese, the Longhorns have put at least one swimmer on the U.S. men’s 800 free relay at the Olympics at every edition of the Games dating back to 1988, with Luke Hobson and Drew Kibler qualifying for the team this year to make it 10 Olympics in a row.

In the NCAA, Texas has won eight of the past 16 national titles in the men’s 200 free, with Kibler (2022) and Hobson (2023, 2024) combining to claim the last three. Overall, they’ve won the 200 free 10 times dating back to 1963, while the 800 free relay didn’t win a title until 1988, but has won 16 of the past 34 titles, including four in a row from 2019 to 2023 before falling to 3rd this past season.

All of this is to say that Texas is a factory of men’s 200 freestyle swimmers, and yet, in claiming bronze on Monday in Paris, Hobson became the first Longhorn man to win an individual medal in the event in the Reese era.

Hobson, 21, has been the top American in the event over the past two years, placing 5th at the 2023 World Championships and then winning bronze at the 2024 Worlds in Doha.

His time of 1:44.79 in the Olympic final saw him finish just seven one-hundredths shy of gold medalist David Popovici, with Hobson having led a large portion of the race down the stretch before being pipped at the wall by the Romanian and silver medalist Matt Richards (1:44.74).

Prior to Hobson, Texas had a few close calls for Olympic medals from the likes of Townley Haas and Josh Davis, but never quite got onto the podium.

Texas Men’s Olympic Results, 200 Freestyle

Despite only cracking the podium for the first time on Monday, the Texas men have won medals in the 800 free relay in eight of the last nine Olympics, with the only miss coming in Tokyo when Haas and Kibler were on the team that finished 4th.

Texas Men’s Olympic Results, 800 Freestyle Relay

And although it might be a surprising stat that Hobson is Texas’ first Olympic medalist in the 200 free, the Longhorns only have two medalists in the event from the World Aquatics Championships since their relay streak started: Hobson in 2024, and Haas with a silver in 2017.