Carson Foster Erases 500 Free American Record, Sets New (Unofficial) Mark of 4:05.81

Texas Hall of Fame Invite

• November 20-22, 2024
• Where: Lee and Joe Jamail Swimming Center — Austin, TX
• When: 10 am CT prelims/6 pm CT finals
• Participating Teams: Pitt, Stanford, Texas (host), USC, Wisconsin, BYU, Cal Poly
• Meet Info
• Live Results
• Results on Meet Mobile: “Texas Hall of Fame Swimming Invite”
• Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap

UPDATE: Texas Longhorn, Rex Maurer, later in the same meet swam 4:04.45 to become the first American under 4:05. Read more about that swim here.

After making his first Olympic Team over the summer, Carson Foster has returned to the short course yards pool on Wednesday in an exhibition swim at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite. There, he shattered the American Record in the 500 free, stopping the clock unofficially in 4:05.81.

Carson Foster ladies & gentleman 😤🤘

Carson unofficially breaks the American Record with his time of 4:05.81 ‼️#HookEm pic.twitter.com/Au0xSGmig3

— Texas Men’s Swimming & Diving (@TexasMSD) November 21, 2024

The time improves the old record of 4:06.32  by over half a second and makes Foster the second fastest performer ever, behind only French star Leon Marchand in the all-time rankings. The American Record was previously Kieran Smith‘s time of 4:06.32, which Smith swam twice, once at the 2020 SEC and then again a year later at the 2021 SEC as a Florida Gator.

When splits become available, we will update the chart below,

Splits Comparison:

The swim, besides being a new American record, holds some very interesting side stories. Foster, who swam collegiately in Texas, competed under Eddie Reese but is now part of the pro group under the new Texas Director of Swimming, Bob Bowman. Bowman, before taking over this position, was the ASU head coach and is the coach of Marchand, who, in addition to holding the NCAA and US Open record in the 500 (4:02.31) beat Foster in Paris in the 400 IM.

Marchand, however has not yet returned to Texas after his home Olympics, as the Frenchman has opted to train in his hometown of Toulouse, through the World Short Course Championships, which kick off in less than a month.

Foster as well as Smith will both represent the United States in Hungary at Worlds. Foster did not swim the 400 free at the Olympic Trials and did not qualify for the Worlds team in the 400, but with only Smith likely entered in it, Foster may find himself chasing after Smith and his American record of 3:34.38. Foster has a personal best of 3:45.29, dating back to 2022, and based on tonight’s results and the PB drop of over four seconds could be in line for a strong swim in Budapest. The men’s 400 Free does not conflict with either of the IM events.