U.S. Olympian Matt Fallon will skip the U.S. World Championship Trials this summer in order to focus on an internship, he posted on his Instagram channel on Monday evening.
“Many thanks to my coaches (Mike, Andrew and Maddie) and of course all of my teammates at Penn who made last season so successful,” he said in the post. “For this summer I’ve decided to step away from major national competitions as I pursue an internship. I plan to continue to train throughout the summer.”
Fallon told SwimSwam that the internship will be in software engineering for a startup company in New York City. Fallon, 22, is from Warren, New Jersey, only about 35 miles west of Manhattan, and attends college at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, about a 75 minute train ride south of the city.
This isn’t the first time that Fallon has prioritized his academic pursuits over swimming. He skipped the 2022 International Team Trials because of a conflict with his final exams. This summer’s absence, however, also rules him out of next summer’s top-flight Team USA meet, the Pan Pacific Championships, because USA Swimming is picking that team along with the 2025 World Championships team this summer.
Fallon is double-majoring in Economics, Finance and Computer Science at Penn, scheduled to graduate in 2026, though his NCAA eligibility concluded at March’s NCAA Championship meet when he placed 2nd in the 200 yard breaststroke.
The 2025 US National Championships run from June 3-7 in Indianapolis, while the Summer Championships will be held August 5-8 in Irvine, California.
Fallon, 22, was named the PhillySIDA Academic All-Area Mea’s Swimming & Diving Performer of the Year last summer and is a multi-time CSCAA Academic All-America Award winner.
Fallon won the 200 breaststroke at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in an American Record time of 2:06.54. He placed 10th in the semi-finals at the Olympic Games in 2:09.96.
At Penn, he was the Ivy League Champion in the 200 breaststroke three of his four seasons and finished in the top three of that event at the NCAA Championships three times. He missed the 2023 NCAA Championship meet with an injury.
The American men’s breaststroke ranks are very thin and in need of fresh blood headed toward the 2025 World Championships and beyond. Neither Charlie Swanson nor Nic Fink, the two representatives in the 100 breaststroke, have competed since the Olympic Games. The only breaststroker who seems suited for the National Championships is Josh Matheny, who finished 7th at the Olympics in the 200 breaststroke.
Matheny has raced once since the NCAA Championships, swimming 1:00.90 in the 100 meter breaststroke and 2:15.60 in the 200 meter breast at a meet at Ohio State in April.
Fallon is the U.S. leader this season in the 200 meter breaststroke in long course (2:09.58). 18-year-old Josh Bey, who will start his college career at Indiana next season, is the next-best American with a 2:12.61 from the Pro Swim Series meet in Westmont in early March.
Watch out for Josh Bey…
Do we even have two men to get the breaststroke A cuts? The 100 is 59.75 and the 200 is 2:10.32, which aren’t world beater times, but may be a surprisingly big obstacle. Only 5 guys were under that in the 100 at Trials and 4 haven’t posted a time since last year and are on breaks or retired (Fink, Swanson, Bell, and Nichols). The 200 has most of the final under 2:10, but is missing Fallon, Licon, Roy, Fink, and Foster.
Matheny is the only clear successor if he gets back near any of his best times. Otherwise, maybe Pouch in the 200? For the 100, McLean maybe if he has another 3/4 of a second to drop… Read more »
Lame
No surprise, given everything that has happened recently…
What has happend recently?
good move
A Wharton-Engineering dual degree at Penn and an internship worth more than swimming. That’s the reality.
even though were heading into la i wouldnt be surprised to see some more notable retirements in the next year or so
it seems like we might be heading into a consumer goods driven recession which will put downward pressure on ad dollars and commercial athletic partnerships, particularly in a marginal sport like swimming… and theres clearly been some recent suit contract shakeups — our top backstroker nearly retired bc of a contract expiration and there were a lot of interesting suits debuted at ftl…
The S&P just went up 16% in 21 days
which backstroker are you referring too?
Hunter Armstrong. See his Instagram post.
AJ Pouch time?
A very good chance for him.
Pouch and Matheny feels like the best bet.
Man I was looking up that 2022 article earlier today with the finals conflict just because I was thinking about it (without knowledge of the internship this is the first I am learning about it) and man I cant believe its happening again lol but I get it. Good luck with the internship and am looking forward to seeing who is vying for spots on the team this summer.