Olympic Gold Medalist Ryan Held & NC State Swim Alumna Lexie Lupton Get Married

2016 Olympic gold medalist Ryan Held and fellow NC State swimming alumnus Lexie Lupton got married on December 3, 2022. Held proposed to Lupton in October 2021 in Scottsdale, Arizona, where the couple moved to initially for Lupton’s previous position as an account executive for the Arizona Diamondbacks MLB team.

Due to the timing of the wedding, Held did not attend Short Course Worlds in Melbourne which occurred in mid-December. Over the previous two SC World Championships in 2018 and 2021, Held combined to win 11 medals for the United States.

Held and Lupton shared their first collection of wedding photos on December 6, and the newlyweds followed with a video post of their special day on December 21.

On December 3, 2021, Lupton announced via Instagram that the wedding would take place on that day next year.

Lupton transferred to NC State from Texas A&M for her junior year during the 2017-2018 season. She became a two-time All-American there as a member of the 200 and 400 freestyle relays in 2018. In 2019, Lupton retired from swimming and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in sport management. She currently works as an account executive at 160over90 in Phoenix, per her LinkedIn profile.

Held’s most notable international performance is his 2016 Olympic gold medal that he earned swimming on the 400 free relay with Caeleb Dressel, Michael Phelps, and Nathan Adrian. At his second Olympic Trials in 2021, Held placed sixth in the 100 free but narrowly missed claiming a spot on the U.S. team due to USA Swimming’s 12-Relay Only swimmer limit on the Olympic team.

Held remains the U.S. Open Record holder in the 100 LCM freestyle (47.39) since the 2019 USA Nationals. Dressel tied the record at the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2021.

After moving to Phoenix last year, Held began training at Arizona State with Associate Head Coach Herbie Behm, who specializes in coaching sprinters. Held earned a spot as a relay swimmer on Team USA at the 2022 Budapest World Championships. His qualification marked his first summer World Championship appearance. Swimming to a career-best split of 46.99, Held won gold in the men’s 400 free relay. He then went on to collect two silver medals in the men’s 400 medley relay and the mixed 400 free relay.

Having earned 25 All-American honors and won four NCAA relay titles, Held remains one of NC State’s greatest swimmers. As a 23-time ACC champion, Held was named the ACC Most Valuable Swimmer for men in 2017 and 2018.