USA Swimming has named six captains for its 2025 World Aquatics Championships team.
Carson Foster, Bobby Finke, and Michael Andrew are the men’s captains, while Phoebe Bacon, Simone Manuel, and Lilly King are the women’s captains. After naming only four captains for both the Paris 2024 Olympics and the 2023 World Championships, and only five for the 2022 World Championships they have returned to the old standard of six.
None of the six were captains at either the Olympics or the 2023 World Championships, though Manuel (2020 U.S. Olympic Team) and King (2022 World Championships team) have served as captains for Operation Gold meets in the past.
The list includes four of the six oldest members of the pool swimming team, excluding American debutant Santo Condorelli (the only 30-something on the team) and Katie Ledecky.
While historically, captains have been voted on by their teammates, new USA Swimming National Team Director Greg Meehan installed a new process where he chose captains from among a set of athletes who expressed interest.
Carson Foster, 23
One of the world’s most-versatile IMers and a 2024 U.S. Olympian, Foster is entered in the 200 fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM individually – though a 200 fly/200 IM schedule conflict looms.
Foster won two medals – bronze in the 400 IM and silver in the 800 free relay – at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. He also has eight World Championship medals in long course and 11 in short course.
This is his 4th consecutive World Aquatics Championship team.
Bobby Finke, 25
Finke is the world reigning distance king, having won the 800 and 1500 free at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (in 2021), and gold in the 1500 and silver in the 800 at the Paris 2024 Olympics. In Paris, he finished a tepid American performance with a high note, setting a World Record in the 1500 free on the final day of competition.
He has one World Championship as well, winning gold in the 800 free in Budapest in 2022. He won medals of other flavors in the other men’s distance races at both the 2022 and 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
He is scheduled to swim the 800 and 1500 free individually.
This is his 4th World Aquatics Championship team.
Michael Andrew, 26
The swimmer who first gained fame for his age group exploits and turning pro at age 14 is now one of the veteran members of Team USA at 26. A sprinter who could cash in big with the Olympics adding stroke 50s, Andrew is entered in the 50 breaststroke and 50 fly in Singapore.
Andrew swam the breaststroke leg of the American 400 medley relay at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games that won gold and set the World Record He also has seven World Championship medals in long course and 13 in short course.
Andrew missed the Paris 2024 Olympic Team, but after moving to Tempe, Arizona to train under Herbie Behm, his first time not training under his father, Andrew has shown early signs of progress in one of the country’s best sprint groups.
This is his 3rd World Aquatics Championships team.
Phoebe Bacon, 22
The youngest of the six captains, Bacon is a fan favorite. Primarily known for her exploits in the 200 backstroke, after missing this year’s team in that event, Bacon came back later in the meet and grabbed a surprise spot in the 200 IM, where she is the 8th seed.
Bacon won a silver medal in the 200 back at the 2022 World Championships and competed at both the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic Games for Team USA.
Bacon recently completed her college career at Wisconsin and decided that she will continue to train there, in spite of her head coach Yuri Suguiyama leaving for a position within USA Swimming.
This is her 2nd World Aquatics Championship team.
Simone Manuel, 28
The oldest woman on Team USA, Manuel will turn 29 during the meet. The veteran of three Olympic teams and four World Aquatics Championships teams, Manuel and King are the most experienced swimmers in this group.
Manuel was one of the stars of the 2016 Rio Olympics, winning gold in the 100 free among four medals. After a battle with overtraining syndrome limited her participation in the Tokyo Olympics (she still won a relay bronze), she took a break from the sport – but returned in time to win two relay silver medals in Paris.
Manuel’s World Championship resume is her most impressive, earning 11 gold and 16 total medals while competing at every Worlds from 2013 through 2019. Singapore marks her return to the meet after a six year absence.
This is Manuel’s 5th World Aquatics Championship team.
Lilly King, 28
Singapore will be the swan song for one of history’s great breaststrokers.
King has six Olympic medals, including gold in 2016 in the 100 breaststroke and golds in the 400 medley relay in 2016 and 2024.
Like Manuel, she is also an 11-time World Champion in long course. That list includes winning back-to-back titles in the 50 and 100 breaststroke at the 2017 and 2019 World Championships and a 200 breaststroke gold in 2022 to complete the career crown. She adds to that 7 short course World Championship titles.
This is King’s 6th World Aquatics Championship team. She has announced that 2025 will be her last year of competitive swimming.
They had to apply. Seems like Katie didn’t!
Not having Ledecky be a captain seems proposterous
I think she was a captain in Paris, and she also has a pretty packed schedule at Worlds. It’s entirely possible that she simply said “let’s give someone else a chance this time.”
Geez. Are they drawing up X’s and O’s on a tablet? Making relay lineup changes? A pep talk here and there, yeah but they’re going to swim good or bad either way.
People question why so many captains are necessary, but they almost evenly cover the major strokes and distances…
Sprint free – Manuel
Distance free – Finke
Backstroke – Bacon/Foster with IM
Breastroke – King, Andrew
Butterfly – Foster, Andrew
IM – Bacon, Foster
Lmao
The reigning worlds distance king is actually Hafnaoui (gold in 800 and 1500 in 2023) not Finke. But I suppose that’s not quite what the author meant.
The author wrote “world reigning distance king” and not “worlds’ [as in World Championships] reigning distance king.” Given that the Olympics is a world-wide event I think Braden got it right.
True. But Wiffen won the 800 in Paris.
This is kind of cool for Michael Andrew. His whole swimming career up until recently has been a very one-swimmer endeavor. It’s neat that he joined the team at ASU, and it also seems like he’s been embraced by his Team USA teammates.
(PS — I don’t know the guy at all, this is entirely what I’ve inferred based on media coverage.)
Why not 12 captains
I thought Finke would be taller. It looks like he only wears a M in t-shirts too.
Height only matters for guys when they are laying down you know what I mean?
Laying down in the pool y’know
Smedium
Well you gotta remember most female swimmers are close to 6 foot, I believe Simone is 6 foot even so Bobby is probably around 6’1″ or 6’2″.
Simone is officially listed at 5’11, Bobby at 6’1. Comparatively, that feels about right from the picture.