Two-Time Ivy League 100 breaststroke champion and former NCAA All-American Jack Kelly has announced that he intends to represent Ireland rather than the US.
In an interview on the Swimming World podcast, Kelly talks about competing for both the US and Ireland, including racing at the Irish Open and Olympic Trials in Dublin in 2024, where he finished runner-up in the 100 breast (1:00.95) and 3rd in the 200 breast (2:13.11). Less than a month later, Kelly made the semifinals of the 200 breast at the US Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, finishing 11th in 2:11.81.
“Just based on how I grew up, and being from Yonkers (NY), and having the Irish-American background… I have a strong connection to Ireland. I feel like I have a pretty strong connection to Ireland, and I think representing them in the future is a pretty cool way to honor that,” Kelly said in the interview. “I’m going Irish.”
Kelly’s hometown of Yonkers, NY, is home to McLean Avenue, also known as “Little Ireland,” which stretches through Yonkers and the Woodlawn Heights in the Bronx.
He also mentions that his mother grew up in Dunmanus, County Cork, a rural town in Southwest Ireland. Kelly even shares that he has visited a family farm in Ireland on multiple occasions.
The former Brown University standout moved to Austin in August to train with the pro group at the University of Texas under Head Coach Bob Bowman. Just five months prior to the move, Kelly placed 8th in both the 100 and 200 yard breaststrokes at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, earning All-American honors in both.
At the 2025 Ivy league Championships, Kelly lowered his own Ivy League record in the 100 breast from the year prior (51.25) to earn gold in 50.60. He also clocked his fastest 200 breast in 1:49.80 to finish runner-up, just behind Penn’s Matt Fallon (1:48.85).
Kelly had originally planned to pursue a career in finance after graduating from Brown, having completed internships with banks throughout college. He now works as a research assistant in the engineering department at the University of Texas.
“As the weeks went by after NCAAs, I kept thinking, ‘What if I just went for it?’ I have the rest of my life to work in the corporate world. What’s 37 years of working versus 40?” Kelly said in an October interview with SwimSwam about the decision to move to Austin to train professionally.
“My plan is to see how far I can go in the sport over the next three years with the awesome environment Texas has…it’s been a great experience so far to swim with these guys and to just experience Texas, even as a swimming fan,” Kelly said to SwimSwam.
Kelly has since set all three of his fastest long-course breaststroke times at the US Open in December, winning the 200 breast (2:09.90), finishing 3rd in the 100 breast (59.72), and touching 5th in the 50 breast (27.47) at that meet.
Jack Kelly’s Best Breaststroke Times In SCY and LCM:
| Event | SCY | LCM |
| 100 Breast | 50.6 | 59.72 |
| 200 Breast | 1:49.80 | 2:09.90 |
Comparing those newly minted career-bests to the current Irish National Records, Kelly would hold both the 100 and 200 breaststroke marks, held by Darragh Greene in 59.76 (2021) and 2:10.05 (2019), respectively.
Traitor !
I was wondering who that was in the list of bowman swimmers….
Yeah, quite expected. When the news broke he was swimming at Texas it seemed this was the most obvious outcome as he did swim Irish trials in 2024
Not to be the skunk at the party, but is he shutting out an actual Irish swimmer for World or Olympic slots by doing this? He seems like he has a pretty good shot at getting one of the American 100 breast spots as it is.
No – most likely that is not the case. At 2025 Worlds, Ireland only fielded one breaststroker, Corby, who swam the 100/200. They did not have a second qualifier. Kelly probably views this situation as a sure thing for Ireland vs a dog fight for the 2nd spot in the USA (if you assume McKean and Fallon are the heavy favorites for the top spots.
Is Fallon still swimming?
Ehh. For the most part, if you’re Irish and you hit the standard, you make the team. It’s pretty rare to have 2 or 3 swimmers under the standard in any event. Not unheard of, but uncommon.
Think they only have three 50 meter pools on the island. Looked it up when the Irish seemed to have more medalists at the last Olympics. Believe they have training centers in Dublin and Limerick, and then a pool in the north, maybe outside Belfast. Think the Wiffen brothers trained outside Belfast before college, and that was a new(ish) facility. Seemed to show if you build the facilities, you’ll see results.
There are 4 “proper” LC pools where you can hold a meet (8 lanes+); Limerick, Dublin, Craigavon and Bangor. There are others which are “unique” builds, e.g. a 6-lane 50m pool in Magherfelt, N.I.
If you look at the A-cuts, if you look outside the top 3-4 countries in the world it is very rare that a country has more than 2 swimmers with an A-cut, and then you have a few countries that make up their own time standards that are much faster than the A-cut (ex. Australia, Japan and a few in Europe).
The WA Breaststroke A-cuts for the 2025 World Championships was 27.33, 59.75, 2:10.32
Here are all the cuts – Time Standards Released For 2025 World Championships in Singapore
This is a bummer for USA breaststroke depth, but I’ll take a Kharun for Kelly trade
He and Dean Ferris will make a strong front half of the medley relay for Ireland.
They have Shortt on back. Farris will anchor in 45.9 for the gold.
45.9 feels slow
#bringdeanback
We miss him… our legend
He’s too busy protecting the world….
Something like this I’d imagine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Planet_and_the_Planeteers
LA28 for the most deserving guy
Smart move! Best of luck jack!