2023 WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- September 4 – 9, 2023
- Netanya, Israel
- Wingate Institute
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- How To Watch
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap| Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Finals Heat Sheet (Start List)
When leading off Team USA’s 4×100 mixed freestyle relay at the 2023 World Junior Championships, 17-year-old Maximus Williamson swam a new best time of 48.38. That time makes him the fastest 18-and-under American in history, surpassing 18-year-old Jonny Kulow‘s mark of 48.47 from U.S. Nationals this summer.
SwimSwam has reached out to USA Swimming to confirm if Williamson’s time counts as a U.S.17-18 National Age Group Record or not. According to the 2023 USA Swimming rulebook, leadoffs from mixed free or medley relays do not count as U.S. Open or American records, but there are no rules specifically regarding the validity of NAGs from mixed relays. That being said, leading off a mixed relay specifically didn’t necessarily affect Williamson’s results, as he was racing against all males like he would in a single-gender race.
Fastest 18-And-Under U.S. Swimmers, Men’s 100-Meter Freestyle:
- Maximus Williamson — 48.38 (2023)
- Jonny Kulow – 48.47 (2023)
- Jack Alexy — 48.69 (2021)
- Caeleb Dressel — 48.78 (2015)
- Kaii Winkler — 48.81 (2023)
Notably, Williamson just turned 17 two days ago. His previous best time of 48.84 from Summer Juniors had made him ranked #2 all-time in the U.S. 15-16 age group behind Kaii Winkler.
Compared to Juniors, Williamson saw improvement on both his front and back half, dropping 0.22 seconds on his first 50 and 0.24 seconds on his second 50.
Splits Comparison:
| Maximus Williamson, 2023 World Junior Championships | Maximus Williamson, 2023 Summer Juniors | |
| 50m | 23.48 | 23.70 |
| 100m | 24.90 | 25.14 |
| Total | 48.38 | 48.84 |
Williamson previously recorded rolling splits of 47.78 and 47.74 on the men’s 4×100 free relay and mixed 4×100 medley relay respectively. He also swam a time of 1:57.29 in the 200 IM to become the fastest 17-year-old in the history of the event.
He comes from a great legacy. Both mom (Jenny Kurth) and uncle (Tony Kurth) were NCAA All Americans at Michigan, Olympic Trial Qualifying, and both competed at Pan-Ams. Way to go, Maximus!
Hope he uses Maximus. 1) It’s cool. 2) Differentiates him from retired AA Max Williamson from Kentucky.
I’ve seen rules in club swimming where your age on the first day of the meet applies to all swims that meet. Does anyone know if that applies here? As in is this technically the fastest US 16 year old 100 free? Or is that rule just for age group club meets.
It is interesting because there does not seem to be consistency in how this is handled when it comes to the all-time top 100 list is maintained by USA swimming. Either way, 48.38 is respectable ; )
Just when I thought that Nolan Dunkel had the best name in USA Swimming… Then along comes Maximus Williamson.
Incredible meet, BTW.
How could you just forget about Diggory Dillingham like that??
Someone was clearly upset they were ranked #2 in their high school class. Talk about consistent badass swims.
What’s the list for 16yo all time? Semi curious
Out of the top of my mind, the fastest by far would obviously be Popovici with a 47.30
Then there’s a solid group of guys who went 48: Winkler (48.81), Williamson (48.91), Haoyu (48.94), Pan (48.74), Chalmers (48.69), Southam (48.60), Whittle (48.11), that should be it
Matt Richards 48.88
Safe to say this youngster has been immunized against Popovicitis!
Amazing swim for someone who only just turned 17 years old. The US just churns out free sprinters year after year.