2025 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, June 3 – Saturday, June 7, 2025
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Indiana University Natatorium
- LCM (50 meters)
- World Championship Selection Criteria
- SwimSwam Preview Index
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheets (Updated 6/2)
- Live Results
- How To Watch (USA Swimming Network)
- Prelims Live Recap: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
- Finals Live Recap: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
The 2025 U.S. National Championships continued tonight in Indianapolis with the penultimate night of action, highlighted by a youth-heavy men’s 400 freestyle final, an event the U.S. has struggled with internationally in recent years but is now showing promise in thanks to a surge of rising juniors.
How The Race Unfolded
It was Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Kieran Smith who took the quicket. He was in control at the 100 turn with Rex Maurer about two-tenths behind him in second. Smith still held the lead at the halfway mark, flipping in 1:50.09 to Maurer’s 1:50.48 with Luka Mijatovic in third.
Maurer made his move on Smith over the third 100 meters with a 56.81 split, pulling into the lead. He held a .95 second advantage over Smith with 100 meters remaining, with Luke Hobson now third. Maurer pressed his advantage, splitting 56.04 over the final 100 meters.
Maurer stopped the clock in 3:43.33, breaking the U.S. Open record Larsen Jensen held at 3:43.53 since 2008. It’s a huge lifetime best for Maurer, chopping 3.19 seconds off his lifetime best from last month as he becomes the third fastest American in history behind Jensen and Peter Vanderkaay. This swim moves Maurer into second in the world this season behind Lukas Märtens‘ world record performance.
After slipping off the podium with 100 meters to go, Mijatovic dug in with a 56.33 on the final 100 meters (28.74/27.59) to gain ground on the field and pull into second. He swam 3:45.71, lowering the 15-16 NAG he swam this morning by .18. He held off a late push from Ryan Erisman, who took third in 3:46.01. That breaks the boys’ 17-18 NAG that Jensen has held for over twenty years by 0.07.
Final Results:
- Rex Maurer (TXLA) — 3:43.33 *U.S. Open Record*
- Luka Mijatovic (PLS) — 3:45.71 *15-16 NAG Record*
- Ryan Erisman (LAKR) — 3:46.01 *17-18 NAG Record*
- David Johnston (TXLA) — 3:47.10
- Kieran Smith (RAC) — 3:47.17
- Luke Hobson (TXLA) — 3:47.47
- Alec Enyeart (TST) — 3:48.96
- Joey Tepper (UOFM) — 3:49.72
The NAG Records
Mijatovic’s swim tonight, marking his 18th National Age Group record, featured splits nearly identical to this morning, where he had set the previous mark. For example, he dropped 11 hundredths on the first 100 meters and closed the final 50 eleven hundredths faster, while some middle 50s saw slight increases of a few hundredths and others showed marginal improvements.
See a full splits comparison below between his previous record from March and his two swims from today.
| Mijatovic, March 2025 |
Mijatovic – Prelims
|
Mijatovic – Finals
|
| 26.48 | 26.21 | 26.15 |
| 55.25 (28.77) | 54.44 (28.23) | 54.33 (28.18) |
| 1:23.76 (28.51) | 1:22.81 (28.37) | 1:22.90 (28.57) |
| 1:52.85 (29.09) | 1:51.70 (28.89) | 1:51.67 (28.77) |
| 2:21.98 (29.13) | 2:20.46 (28.76) | 2:20.63 (28.96) |
| 2:51.34 (29.36) | 2:49.60 (29.14) | 2:49.38 (28.75) |
| 3:20.86 (29.52) | 3:18.19 (28.59) | 3:18.12 (28.74) |
| 3:48.95 (28.09) | 3:45.89 (27.70) | 3:45.71 (27.59) |
Mijatovic’s swim will likely earn him a spot on the senior World Championship team this summer, though SwimSwam cannot confirm this with certainty due to potential roster limitations that won’t be figured out until the conclusion of the meet.
The Pleasanton Seahawks swimmer, who turned 16 less than two months ago, followed up his 1:45.92 200 free NAG from Wednesday, which like his 400 swim also undercut the 17-18 standard set by Michael Phelps (1:45.99). Mijatovic went on to touch 8th in the ‘A’ final, recording a marignally slower 1:46.39.
As for Erisman, a Cal commit, this represents his first ever National Age Group record, breaking Jensen’s previous mark of 3:46.08 set nearly 21 years ago. He entered the meet with a career best of 3:58.57, then logged a slight improvement with a 3:48.19 in prelims before unleashing over two seconds tonight to claim the standard. See a full splits comparison between the new and old records at the end of this post, with Erisman showing much more early speed while Jensen displayed a stronger, more dominant back half.
You may have heard the name Erisman a lot this week. Not only has he been making waves, but his sister Rylee has already qualified for Junior Worlds in four events, with a strong chance to add the 50 free tomorrow.
| Jensen, August 2004 | Erisman – Finals |
| 27.11 | 26.40 |
| 55.92 (28.81) | 54.64 (28.24) |
| 1:24.21 (28.29) | 1:23.30 (28.66) |
| 1:52.89 (28.68) | 1:52.07 (28.77) |
| 2:21.51 (28.62) | 2:21.03 (28.96) |
| 2:50.01 (28.50) | 2:49.75 (28.72) |
| 3:18.37 (28.36) | 3:18.27 (28.52) |
| 3:46.08 (27.71) | 3:46.01 (27.74) |
Having the 15-16 NAG be faster than the 17-18 NAG is wild, having it happen in the same race is even more absurd. Setting a NAG while missing out on a National team because of someone younger than you feels like it shouldn’t be possible yet here we are
I know it gets old saying everyone needs to go to Texas, but I actually see Luka as a longhorn. Either way can’t go wrong. Training with Bob/Hammer and Crew or Durden/Erisman and crew
Because Bowman developed so many mid distance Freestyler top athletes???
He should better Go to Germany and train with the best Fresstyle mid Distance athletes in the world…
All 73 of them eh?
100% chance they take him. Future star, time to get some experience on the big stage.
Yes, they just can’t officially say that yet even though they (and us) know he will, until it’s official.
Jensen only has 1 record left…the American record which I think will be gone after this summer by Rex
He still has the 800 nags
Whitlock has the 17-18 800 NAG.