2025 Paralympics Swimming Nationals Championships
- June 20-22, 2025
- Boise, Idaho
- Idaho Central Aquatic Center
- LCM (50 meters)
- Live Results (also available on Meet Mobile: “U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Champs”
- Live Stream
The 2025 U.S. Paralympics Swimming National Championships opened Friday at the Idaho Central Aquatic Center in Boise, Idaho. This marks the first time a major domestic Paralympic swimming competition has been held in the city. After two years at the Rosen Aquatic Center in Orlando, Florida, the championships have brought 64 top athletes and national attention to the Pacific Northwest.
Para swimming features athletes with a variety of physical disabilities, including limb loss, visual impairments, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, cognitive challenges, and more. To ensure fair competition, athletes are classified based on the nature and severity of their impairments into physical (S1-S10), visual (S11-S13), and intellectual (S14) categories.
Unlike traditional swimming, winners are not determined by fastest times alone. Swimmers compete in combined heats grouped by categories such as S2 through S7 or S6 through S14. At the end, a point scale based on their classification determines the final results. That’s why you might see someone with a slower time place higher than a swimmer who recorded a faster time. This system allows athletes with different impairments to compete fairly against one another.
While this meet is not a qualifying event for the World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore because the selection period has already ended and the roster announced, it still provides a valuable opportunity. Those not qualified get a chance to shine on a national stage, while those already selected can get some tune-up racing reps in before Worlds.
Day one featured several standout performances, led by Katie Kubiak, who broke her own world record twice in the women’s 50 butterfly S4. The 22-year-old from Cedarburg, Wisconsin posted a time of 39.66 in the prelims, besting her previous world and American records. She then improved on that time in the final, winning the event in 38.96 and lowering her world record by nearly a full second on the day.
Kubiak also produced a dominant swim in the 50 backstroke S4, finishing first with a time of 42.14. With Friday’s victories, she has now earned seven career national titles, an impressive total considering this is only her second appearance at a national meet.
Now a junior double majoring in journalism and film at NYU, Kubiak has a condition called late-onset congenital myopathy. Growing up in Mequon, Wisconsin, she experienced mild symptoms as a child, but by age 10 muscle weakness and spinal instability progressed rapidly. Additional health concerns made her condition more challenging.
Another highlight on the day came from Koehn Boyd, a relative newcomer to Para swimming from Ramsey, Minnesota. Boyd started his day in Boise by setting a world record in the men’s 400 individual medley SM10 during prelims with a time of 4:45.83. The previous world record of 4:53.24, held by American Paralympic gold medalist Ian Silverman, had stood for over 30 years.
Boyd built on his record-breaking swim by capturing two national titles in the men’s 400 freestyle S10 and 100 fly S10. He dominated both races, posting a time of 4:08.99 in the 400 freestyle—40 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor. He then nabbed the 100 fly win, touching in 57.85 to become the only S10 swimmer to finish under one minute.
Gray Rutledge of Frankfort, Kentucky, shattered her own American record in the women’s 50 back S2. The 24-year-old finished with a time of 1:07.78, which was four seconds faster than her previous best. When points were calculated, she was awarded 2nd place, behind only Kubiak.
