Matt Fallon is the 2023 National Champion and a 2022 NCAA All-American in the 200 breast. He has been a member of the US National Team since 2021.
High School
Matt Fallon showed up in SwimSwam at the age of 14. He made headlines when he negative-split his 400 IM at YMCA Nationals. He also broke the 400 free SCM national high school record during his senior year. At the 2021 Olympic Trials, Fallon had a huge breakout swim, swimming a 2:08.91 to take the top seed coming out of semi-finals.
Fallon was ranked #8 in the boys Class of 2021, then jumped to #5 in the re-rank of that class. On July 2, 2020, Fallon committed to swim for Penn in college.
College (Penn)
2021-22
Fallon continued his meteoric rise as a breaststroke, when at the mid-season Zippy Invite he went 1:49.71 in the 200 breast, becoming the second-fastest freshman in history. SwimSwam also took a trip to Penn to film a practice, which Fallon was a part of.
At his first Ivy League Championships, Fallon won the 200 breast in an Ivy record of 1:51.44, took 2nd in the 100 breast, and 8th in the 200 IM. At NCAAs the following month, Fallon tied for 10th in the 100 breast and placed 3rd in the 200 breast.
2022-23
At his 2nd Ivy League Champs, Fallon placed 10th in the 500 free, 3rd in the 100 breast, and 3rd in the 200 breast. He skipped the NCAA Championships due to injury.
National/International Competition
2021 Olympic Trials
Matt Fallon made a big statement at the 2021 Olympic Trials, taking the top seed out of prelims (2:10.13) and semi-finals (2:08.91) with personal bests in both. He ended up placing 8th in the final.
2023 National Championships
At the World Champ trials in Indianapolis, Fallon made his first US international team, winning the 200 breast using his patented second 100 to touch first in 2:07.71.
2023 World Aquatics Championships (Fukuoka, Japan)
With just the 200 breast, Fallon had all his focus on one event for the whole meet. In prelims, he was 2:09.32 for 3rd. In semis, Fallon remained 3rd with a 2:07.90, just .19 off his best time from trials. Fallon’s finals performance was the quintessential Fallon swim. He was 8th at the 50, 8th at the 100, but ramped things up with an absurd 31.86 3rd 50 to pass 4 guys by the 150. Down the stretch, only Anton McKee stood between Fallon and a medal and McKee proved to be no problem (McKee split 35.19 on the last 50 to Fallon’s 33.21) and Fallon took the bronze in 2:07.74.
