Sean Grieshop, born November 23, 1998, is an American medley swimmer from Texas. He swims for Nitro Swimming under Mike Koleber. Grieshop broke on to the international swimming stage in 2015 aged 16.
College (University of California)
2017-18
Grieshop finished 13th in the 500 freestyle (4:15.73) after swimming a 4:12.94 in the prelims at the NCAA Division I Championships in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He also placed 11th in the 1650 freestyle (14:42.97) and 17th in the 400 IM (3:42.02). Grieshop earned All-America honors in both the 500 and 1650 free. He set the Cal school record in the 500 free (4:12.94) and ranked third in the 1,650 and fifth in the 400 IM.
2018-19
His sophomore year, Grieshop made huge strides at the NCAA championships. He started his meet by breaking his own Cal record in the 500 free not once, but twice, clocking 4:11.11 in the prelims and then pushing it to 4:10.29 at night to place 2nd behind Texas’ Townley Haas. The next day, Greishop dropped a whopping 4 seconds in the 400 IM, first breaking 3:40 for the first time in prelims, then cutting 2 more seconds in finals to touch 2nd again at 3:37.03. On the final day, he dropped 9 seconds from his seed in the 1,650, touching at 14:35.82 to place 4th, just behind Cal teammate Nick Norman.
National/International Career
At just 16 years old, Grieshop took bronze at the U.S. Nationals in 400 meters medley in 4:17.02. That time placed him on the 2015-2016 U.S junior national team and booked his spot on Team USA for the World Junior Championships.
2015 FINA World Junior Championships
In Singapore, Grieshop pulled off a big upset in the 400 meter medley. Throughout the race, he sat behind Junior World Record holder in the event, Brandonn Almeida. At the 350 meter mark Grieshop turned within half a second of first. But he stormed home in an impressive 27.94 final split to take gold in convincing fashion. He finished in 4:15.67, almost 1.5 seconds ahead of silver.
Grieshop was also a member of the 4×200 freestyle relay that took gold in a new Junior World Record time of 7:13.76. He swam the third leg in 1:49.82. His other medal of the meet came in the 200 meter medley. In a close battle between second to fourth place, Grieshop took third in 2:01.83.
2016 FINA World Cup
Grieshop was part of USA’s 18 and under team selected for the part of the FINA World Cup Series. In Doha, he had his top finish in his specialty, 400 meter medley, taking silver in 4:18.63. Grieshop also raced in 200 meter medley finishing 8th in the final, 400 meter freestyle placing 14th and 200 meter freestyle finishing 24th.
2016 U.S Olympic Trials
Grieshop set a new Junior World Record in the heats of the 400 meter medley in 4:14.00 by 0.07. The time ranked him as the 4th fastest ever in the US for 17-18 year old age group. In the final he was just off his new record, finishing 5th in 4:14.08.
2018 U.S. Nationals
Grieshop finished third in the 400 IM with a personal best 4:12.72 at the Phillips 66 National Championships, qualifying him for both Pan Pacific Championships and World University Games (2019). He also placed 15th in the 400 freestyle (3:53.34), seventh in the B final, after posting a personal best 3:51.92 in the prelims. In the 200 IM, Grieshop was 26th overall with a 2:02.76.
2019 World University Games
At WUGs, Grieshop placed 2nd in the 400 IM in a time of 4:13.52, earning his first senior international medal. In the 4×200 free relay, Grieshop was called to swim in the prelims, where he split 1:48.43 to help Team USA earn a 1st seed heading into finals, which they ended up holding, earning Grieshop a gold medal. Grieshop also ended up swimming the 800 free individually, touching at 8:04.10 in the prelims to place 9th overall, just missing the final heat.
