Canada’s Matea Gigovic, 2x World Junior Semifinalist, Set to Join Tennessee Next Fall (2026)

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McGhee Tyson Airport in the Knoxville, Tennessee area should perhaps look to expand their reach to our neighbors to the north as yet again Matt Kredich and the University of Tennessee have nabbed yet another commitment from a Canada up-and-coming star, as Matea Gigovic, a recent two-time World Junior Semifinalist, will make her NCAA debut for the Volunteers next fall. Her appearance at Rocky Top is just one of several Canadians joining the program in 2026 as fellow Canadians, Madison Kryger and Leah Tigert are expected to join her there.

 

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Most recently Gigovic, who swims for Killarney Swim Club, which is in Alberta, Canada, represented her nation at the 2025 World Junior Championships in Otopeni, Romania. A butterflier, Gigovic placed 13th in the semifinals of the 50 fly and 14th in the semifinals of the 100 fly, recording times of 26.67 and 1:00.04, respectively. She also split 1:00.28 on Canada’s prelim mixed 4×100 medley relay, which failed to advance to the final, placing 10th overall.

Neither of her times from Otopeni were personal bests as posted a best of 26.50 in the 50 fly at the 2025 Pro Swim Series meet this past March in Westmont, placing 6th overall behind the likes of Kate Douglass, Lily Price and Penny Oleksiak. Her PB in the 100 fly came a few months later at the 2025 Canadian Swimming Trials, where swam an impressive 59.34 in prelims to qualify 3rd into the final, sitting behind only Mary-Sophie Harvey (58.40) and Ella Jansen (59.22).

In the final, Gigovic, was just a touch slower, hitting the wall in 59.61 (her second fastest swim ever) to finish 4th overall, but first among all junior swimmers, and under the qualifying time for World Juniors. In addition to her 4th place finish in the 100, Gigovic, placed 2nd in the 50 at 26.52, just .05 back of four-time Olympic Medalist Taylor Ruck, who won the event in 26.47.

Her talents are not just confined to the sprint butterfly events however, as she made the finals in both the 50 and 100 free. In the 50 she placed 5th in the junior final with a time of 26.06, a result that was just .12 off her PB from the year before. In the 100, she again made the junior final, finishing 6th overall with a time of 56.62.

Gigovic does have some yards results, having in April of 2024 traveled from Alberta to Hawaii to participate in the Swim Kauai Age Group meet, where she went 24.19 in the 50 free, 51.67 in the 100 free and 55.50 in the 100 fly.

Best Converted SCY Times:

• 5o Free LCM – 25.94 converts to 22.64
• 100 Free LCM – 56.10 converts to 49.09
• 50 Fly LCM – 26.50 converts to 23.24
• 100 Fly LCM – 59.34 converts to 52.19
• 5o Free SCM – 25.50 converts to 22.91
• 100 Free SCM – 54.52 converts to 49.11
• 50 Fly SCM – 26.31 converts to 23.70
• 100 Fly SCM – 58.57 converts to 52.76

While the results of this season obviously are not out yet, Gigovic will be joining a Tennessee squad that this past season finished 3rd at SECs and 5th at NCAAs and her best converted times, would immediately make an impact for the Volunteers. Gigovic’s best 100 fly converted time of 52.19 would have qualified her 13th in the prelims at SECs. The 100 fly for Tennessee has been one of their weaknesses as they qualified just one swimmer into the final, with the not alumni Sara Stoler taking 5th place in a time of 51.50.

With Stotler gone, Gigovic, whose converted time sits just .23 off the NCAA invited time from 2025, would appear to be a strong favorite to step in for her had it not be for Tennessee’s monster of a recruiting class this year. While just ranked 9th in our rankings, the Volunteers 2025 class is headlined by Olympic Finalist and World Junior World record Holder Mizuki Hirai, who best time of 56.33 in the 100 fly converts to 50.16, which would have placed 5th at NCAAs, but we won’t see the Japanese star until January, as she has deferred her enrollment until the 2nd semester.

It is not just Hirai and Gigovic that are bring firepower to the sprint fly events as Kredich and the coaching staff have landed the #1 and #4 ranked swimmers in the class of 2026 as both Charlotte Crush and Molly Sweeney are bringing their talents to Tennessee. The pair who own PBs of 50.00 and 52.10 are both strong contenders to stabilize the fly group, but with Sweeney owning the best 200 IM and 200 breast times in the class, and with Crush the fastest in the 50/100/200 free, 100/200 back and 100 fly, they may have to use their talents elsewhere and allow Hirai and Gigovic represent the sprint fly events.

Joining Gigovic in the class of 2025, besides the aforementioned Kryger, Tigert, Crush and Sweeney are #16 ranked Eliza Wallace and “Best of the Rest” Mia Buff.

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