Last week, 16-year-old phenom Luka Mijatovic turned heads with his historic performances at his CA sectionals. After clocking a 3:40 400 IM, he decimated his own 15-16 NAG in the 500 free with a 4:05.76, becoming the 3rd fastest performer in history. He followed that up with an American record in the 1000 free (8:32.83) to become the fastest ever in the event.
SwimSwam caught up with Mijatovic after his Saturday morning practice to get his perspective on the weekend. The Pleasonton Seahawks product said that he had a few days of rest for this meet and was shooting for some fast times, but didn’t exactly see 4:05 coming.
However, after that swim, he was shooting for a sub-8:30 1000, which he’s now confident he will be able to swim in the future after breaking the American record.
Running out of space with all those awards hanging about. Gonna need a bigger room soon 😉
My god he is gonna become the youngest American under 15:00 in the 1500 isn’t he? Bros going for a buzzer beater
He’s definitely going for the 1500 NAG in April.
If he does, the 2 oldest NAGs in history would be broken by him.
oh hes definetly going for the bobby hackett 15-16 nag
When would he swim it tho? He turns 17 next month
he said in the interview he had a sc and lc meet in april before he turns 17 and at the sc hes doing off events and at the lc hes doing the mile first day and then off events the rest so i bet hes doing it at the meet just to try to break the record or he wouldve just done all off events
the SC one should be Far Westerns
Is Far Westerns the LSC his club is in?
It’s what we in Pacific Swimming partake in
It’s a big meet on the west coast.
Perhaps the best age group meet in the country.
Ha I sure hope not. I really hope there are better age group meets out there.
you must be new here
Far Western used to be a great meet before Covid. Since then, there are no swimmers out of state, or out of Bay Area. One of the reasons why is the awful competition pool – even local teams try to find better meets. Pac Swim should do a better job here.
It has a very long history as being one of the best age group meets in the country. 50+ years ago is was consistently the fastest age group meet in the country every year for decades.
Yup, in the early 90s I had a kid get 4th in 4IM and ended the year 5th in the country. Very deep
50+ year old record in swimming is crazy
When was the last time a winning time at Junior Pan PACs was faster than Pan PACs? Because after this summer, that clock will be reset.
you think Mijatovic will be faster than Maurer? I don’t think he’s quite there yet
i think he will be, hes right on the guy in sc and i think hes better at lc then maurer
I’ll be curious to see. Maurer went 3:43 last summer not fully peaked
Uh, Sam Short won’t be swimming at pan pacs?
Hasn’t been 3:40 in a while….
did u see him at this pss also we will see what he goes today but i think itll be better then 3:43
probably. gonna wait and see first
muahahaha
Mijatovic is not swimming 3:40 this year.
? I agree
Neither is Rex Maurer
yeah until he does
looked back as far as I could and he has always been faster in the 400 free later in the summer than the trials meet in April/May. That streak ended last year. 3:43.3 was not the fastest time he had in store last year.
Idk what he will ultimately end up going by the end of the LC season but I can see him getting to within a second of the time Thorpe went at 17. It is bold yes but that’s also no longer impossible that this kid could potentially surpass Thorpe’s age group times. The chance of that isn’t zero.
Thorpe swam 3:41.8 at the age of 16 wearing speedo briefs.
Mijatovic is not swimming 3:41 in the next few weeks.
What? I’m not talking about the next few weeks. I mean the whole summer. Summer Nationals, and ultimately Jr Pan Pacs.
I wish there was enough data history to make a progression for Thorpe. Like how big of a drop was that 3:41.8 over his previous best? I’m sure someone remembers.
I think Thorpe went 3:46 the year before he went 3:41. Here is the video, from 1998 worlds. He dramatically runs down Grant Hackett to win.
https://youtu.be/drNr_emj9Fo?si=pThN8H7lJZ0vlyVR
Thorpe was 3:49.64 at 14, 3:44.35 at 15, 3:41.83 at 16, 3:40.59 at 17 then started to get bored https://www.swimming.org.au/events-results/results/rankings-and-records
That is nice way to say that Thorpe plateaued, aka early peaked?
Thanks for the more precise answer! At least I still got to watch a fun Thorpe video. 🙂
So apparently the answer is on Wikipedia but he was previously a 3:43.85 in March of 99 at the Australian championships. That being said there’s no source unless someone has a video/results from that meet?
With a 4:05 in the 500 a sub 8:30 1000 seems pretty doable.
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/michael_phelps_167139