Ledecky, Finke & Gretchen Walsh Among Five Swimmers Named Semi Finalists for Sullivan Award

Thirty-nine athletes were announced as semi-finalists for the AAU Sullivan Award last week, including five swimmers.

Paris Olympic gold medalists Katie Ledecky, Bobby Finke and Gretchen Walsh were named semi-finalists, as was fellow Olympian Phoebe Bacon and two-time Paralympic medalist Abbas Karimi.

As well as honoring athletic excellence, the AAU Sullivan award also recognizes the chosen athlete’s character and honors their quality of leadership, citizenship, and sportsmanship.

Since 1930, the AAU Sullivan Award annually honors the most outstanding collegiate, Olympic or similar elite-level athlete in the United States. In addition to honoring athletic excellence, it also recognizes “chosen athlete’s character and honors their quality of leadership, citizenship, and sportsmanship.”

Basketball superstar Caitlin Clark was last year’s winner.

More About Each Swimming Semi-Finalist:

• Abbas Karimi — Karimi was a two-time Paralympic silver medalist in 2024.
• Bobby Finke — Finke gold medalist in the 1,500 freestyle and the silver medalist in the 800 freestyle at the Paris Olympics. His time of 14:30.67 in the 1,500 was a world record in what was the only individual gold medal performance by a U.S. male swimmer in Paris.
• Katie Ledecky — The legendary resume continues to grow with this honor. She won the gold medal in both the 800 and 1500 freestyle events at the Paris Olympics, won a bronze medal in the 400 freestyle and was a part of the silver medal-winning team in the 800 free relay.
• Gretchen Walsh — Walsh was a part of two gold medal relay teams at the Paris Olympics, the U.S. women’s and mixed 4×100 medley relays, and added an individual silver in the 100 fly and a fourth medal (silver) in the women’s 4×100 free relay. She was also dominant for Virginia at the NCAA Championships last year, winning gold medals in all seven events she competed in (4 relays, and 3 individual events). Her performance helped Virginia win its fourth straight team title. She closed out the year with seven gold medals at Short Course Worlds.
• Phoebe Bacon — Won her second straight NCAA title for Wisconsin in the backstroke and made the Olympic team in the backstroke last year.

Here are the 34 other non-swimming nominees:

• Aaron Brooks (Penn State), Wrestling
• Ace Bailey (Rutgers), Basketball
• Ashton Jeanty (Boise State), Football
• Charlie Condon (Georgia), Baseball
• Cole Hocker (Oregon), Track and Field
• Dylan Harper (Rutgers), Basketball
• Frederick Richard, Gymnastics
• Gable Steveson (Minnesota), Wrestling
• Grant Holloway, Track and Field
• Ilia Malinin, Figure Skating
• Jackson Kolvun (Auburn), Golf
• Jacob Fowler (Boston College), Hockey
• Jarryd Wallace, Para Track and Field
• Jessie Warren, Softball
• Juju Watkins (USC), Basketball
• Julia Lopez Ramirez (Mississippi State), Golf
• Julie Letal, Speedskating
• Lee Kiefer, Fencing
• Lexi Rodriguez (Nebraska), Volleyball
• Maddie Zimmer (Northwestern), Field Hockey
• Mondo Duplaintis, Track and Field
• Noelle Malkamaki, Para Track and Field
• Olivia Babcock (Pittsburgh), Volleyball
• Paige Bueckers (Connecticut), Basketball
• Phia Gladieux (Penn State), Field Hockey
• Roderick Townsend, Para Track and Field
• Ryan Crouser, Track and Field
• Ryder Dodd, Water Polo
• Stephen Nedoroscik, Gymnastics
• Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Track and Field
• Tahj Brooks (Texas Tech), Football
• Tatyana McFadden, Para Track and Field
• Travis Hunter (Colorado), Football
• Trey Augustine (Michigan State), Hockey

The stiffest competition for the swimmers who were nominated figure to be Travis Hunter (Heisman Trophy award winner), Holloway (Olympic gold medalist in the 110 hurdles), Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone (Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in the 400 hurdles), Juju Watkins and Paige Bueckers.

Past swimmers who have won the award have been Ann Curtis (1944), Don Schollander (1964), Debbie Meyer (1968), John Kinsella (1970), Mark Spitz (1971), Tim Shaw (1975), John Naber (1977), Tracy Caulkins (1978), Janet Evans (1989), Michael Phelps (2003), Jessica Long (2006), Missy Franklin (2012), and Caeleb Dressel (2020).

The award will be handed out on April 15 in New York.