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Florida has picked up British Olympian and sprint freestyler Alexander Cohoon.
Olympian 🤝 Gator
Welcome to the Florida Family, Alex 🐊#GoGators pic.twitter.com/UBcFQXsBF9
— Gators Swimming & Diving (@GatorsSwimDv) January 28, 2025
Cohoon is a 22-year-old sprinter out of Loughborough University, who has made a significant improvement in the last year. He placed 4th in the 50 and 100 freestyle events at the U23 European Championships in 2023, swimming 22.07 in the 50.
He made it under 22 seconds for the first time at the British Swimming Trials in April, placing 3rd at 21.90. He finished behind Matt Richards and Ben Proud, but, due to Richards not swimming the event, Cohoon was given the spot in the individual 50 free for his first individual Olympic event.
He was already on the team at this point, due to his 4th place finish in the 100 freestyle, he went 48.44 dropping six tenths from his previous best time, but as a relay only swimmer.
At the Games, Cohoon finished 33rd in the 50, coming in at 22.31. He also swam on the prelims version of the men’s 4×100 freestyle relay, where his 47.91 split helped Great Britain qualify 3rd. They ultimately finished 5th in the final.
His coach recently left Loughborough which could be a contributing factor in his decision to come to the U.S.
Cohoon’s LCM/ (Converted SCY) Best Times
- 50 free- 21.90/ 19.01
- 100 free- 48.44/ 42.02
Florida has a history of recruiting British swimmers, and Cohoon joins a men’s roster with three other British swimmers. Pair of freshman Matthew Cairns and Alexander Painter and class of 2025 commit Charlie Hutchinson.
Florida competes in the SEC, and in 2024 they won the conference title by over 400 points. Their continued victories are going to get more difficult, however, with the addition of Texas to the SEC and it is important they add to their depth with swimmers like Cohoon.
Cohoon’s converted times would have qualified 7th in the 50 and 5th in the 100 free at last year’s meet. He also would have appeared on both the 200 and 400 freestyle relays.
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Cohoon’s LCM/ (Converted SCY) Best Times
50 free:
21.90/ 19.01
—
Lol. What a joke of conversion.
Have they changed the rules about British Swimmers who’ve done 3 years of University in the U.K.? It used to be they could come to the US for 1-2 years, like Anna Hopkin at Arkansas.
I was told in the past that for D1 swimming the 5 year clock started to tick when you graduated HS so you had someone in the past like Omar Pinzon (from Bolles schools in Jacksonville/Columbia) who was a 16 year old Freshman at UF and now we are talking about 22/23 year old swimmers that might be considered Freshman? There is a big difference between someone who is 16 and someone who is 22/23.
I feel like too many people continue to be upset about the age difference. This is always the case. There is an age difference between typical freshman and seniors. It is never fair. That is why we have JV and freshman football teams in addition to varsity in high school. It has long been common practice for college football players to take a redshirt year (so much that we have to have a term for those who don’t- “true freshman”). Nobody is taking anything away from someone who deserves it. If you are fast enough, then the roster spot is yours. It feels worse when an older international joins in spring or for a final year only. That feels like… Read more »
That’s basically how it works, but there are a handful of things that can start and stop the clock.
First congratulations to Alex and Coach Nesty. The landscape of college swimming generally and in the SEC specifically is rapidly evolving. As a fan of the sport and athletes (who undertake amazing endeavor) it is wonderful to see this catharsis. Florida, Texas, Tennessee and Auburn are all under magnificent leadership. It will be fun to watch both the SEC and NCAA finishes over the next four years! Change is inevitable.
One element of swimming for which I continue to hope is a combined NCAA Championship – Now that would be FUN!
23 year old freshman.
Nill Cadevall from Spain, breastroker and imer specialist, has singed with Florida too
Serious question: don’t the SEC roster limits start in the Fall as previously reported? If so, do all of these international signings simply take the place of potential Americans who could be swimming at these Universities? I realize this has been happening for years, but with a tightening of numbers it seems this will be pretty much be a battle of schools to basically use other country’s Olympians to fill out their rosters…
Yes they do and winning is what matters. You want experience for kids there are other divisions to looks at. You want big time college swimming you better be a big time swimmer.
NIL just made the universities more attractive to foreign swimmers
And remember there are still D1 schools that they don’t necessarily gravitate towards either. I think we’ll see a rise in mid major representation in the years to come. I recall the men’s 100 breast at 2016 NCAAs being more mid major heavy than usual and that was a big deal.
YEP!
Before it was a choice of being a ‘pro’ at home (making some money but nothing crazy, and likely relying on the fact you are of age to live at home still) OR go to the US and get an education and likely a bit better training structure.
Now they can get paid likely more money, pocket all of it cause the rest is covered by scholarship anyway, have a professional support staff for free AND get an education at schools that are likely at least equivalent to top 5 in the country they are from originally.
At this point i wouldnt even be surprised if Jimmy Guy Slammo Matty Rich and Deano commit to UF
UF just liendo at this point and a few sprinters and GB dudes