arena Swim of the Week: Wilson York Hits 4:22.20 400 IM At Austin PSS To Climb 15-16 Ranks

Swim of the Week is brought to you by arena, a SwimSwam partner.

Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.

Lakeside Swim Team standout Wilson York has been making headlines over the last few years for his record-setting performances in the breaststroke events, but he’s started to become an elite all-around swimmer, and that was on display at last week’s Pro Swim Series in Austin.

York, who turned 16 in November, took on a busy schedule at the meet, contesting six different events, and the biggest highlight came in the 400 IM.

After clocking 4:26.45 in the prelims, advancing 2nd into the final behind Leon Marchand, York used a blistering breaststroke split in the final to snag 3rd place on the podium and set a new personal best of 4:22.20.

York finished in the bronze medal position behind a pair of Olympic champions, with Marchand winning in 4:13.21 and Bobby Finke taking the runner-up spot in 4:18.35.

York’s swim lowered his previous best of 4:24.72, set last May at the 2025 Pro Swim in Fort Lauderdale.

Split Comparison

York, 2025 Fort Lauderdale PSS York, 2026 Austin PSS
27.71 27.26
59.83 (32.12) 59.09 (31.83)
1:35.91 (36.08) 1:34.35 (35.26)
2:11.25 (35.34) 2:08.28 (33.93)
2:46.37 (35.12) 2:43.68 (35.40)
3:22.95 (36.58) 3:20.30 (36.62)
3:54.06 (31.11) 3:51.43 (31.13)
4:24.72 (30.66) 4:22.20 (30.77)

Despite York’s 1:12.02 breaststroke split in Austin—second only to Marchand’s 1:11.76 in the final—the largest gain relative to his previous best came on the backstroke leg. York split 1:09.19 in Austin after going 1:11.42 at Fort Lauderdale last May.

The performance vaulted York from 57th to 28th all-time among Americans in the boys’ 15–16 age group.

All-Time Performers, U.S. Boys’ 15-16 400 IM (LCM)

  1. Carson Foster (Mason Manta Rays), 4:14.73 – 2018
  2. Michael Phelps (North Baltimore Aquatic Club), 4:15.20 – 2001
  3. Sean Grieshop (Nitro Swimming), 4:15.67 – 2015
  4. Luka Mijatovic (Pleasanton Seahawks), 4:15.91 – 2025
  5. Yi Zheng (Carmel Swim Club), 4:17.20 – 2025
  6. Gunnar Bentz (Dynamo Swim Club), 4:17.43 – 2012
  7. Maximus Williamson (North Texas Nadadores), 4:17.58 – 2022
  8. Sean Green (Long Island Aquatic Club), 4:18.62 – 2023
  9. Jake Foster (Mason Manta Rays), 4:19.40 – 2017
  10. Marci Barta (SwimAtlanta), 4:19.47 – 2016
  11. Cooper Lucas (Lakeside Aquatic Club), 4:19.95 – 2021
  12. Anthony Dornoff (La Mirada Armada), 4:20.65 – 2024
  13. Syunta Lee (West Coast Aquatics), 4:20.69 – 2025
  14. Jarod Arroyo (Pitchfork Aquatics), 4:20.96 – 2017
  15. Andrew Seliskar (Nation’s Capital Swim Club), 4:20.96 – 2013
  16. Landon D’Ariano (Germantown Academy Aquatic Club), 4:21.00 – 2022
  17. Bobby Finke (Saint Petersburg Aquatics), 4:21.04 – 2016
  18. Brayden Capen (Academy Bullets Swim Club), 4:21.21 – 2025
  19. Michael Mullen (Bolles School Sharks), 4:21.50 – 2022
  20. Josh Parent (Bluefish Swim Club), 4:21.73 – 2021
  21. Noah Cakir (Team Suffolk), 4:21.81 – 2023
  22. Gabriel Manteufel (Sandpipers of Nevada), 4:21.93 – 2024
  23. Baylor Stanton (Gwinnett Aquatics), 4:22.02 – 2024
  24. Ricardo Prado (Unknown), 4:22.06 – 1981
  25. Mikey Calvillo (Alamo Area Aquatic Association), 4:22.09 – 2017
  26. Corey Okubo (Aquazot Swim Club), 4:22.10 – 2012
  27. Ryan Erisman (Laker Swim), 4:22.12 – 2023
  28. Wilson York (Lakeside Swim Team), 4:22.20 – 2026
  29. David Sammons (SwimMAC Carolina), 4:22.26 – 2025
  30. Brennan Morris (North Baltimore Aquatic Club), 4:22.48 – 2007

York also placed 5th in the 200 breast (2:16.33), 9th in the 100 breast (1:02.38), 13th in the 200 back (2:06.78) and 18th in the 50 breast (29.11) in Austin, while he qualified 8th out of the prelims of the 200 IM (2:08.05) before scratching the semis.

The 400 IM result followed another breakthrough earlier this season in short course yards. In December, York set a new lifetime best of 3:47.72 in the 400 IM at Winter Juniors – East. The swim knocked four seconds off his year-old best of 3:51.76 and—mirroring his long course performance—ranked him 28th all-time in the boys’ 15–16 age group.

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About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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