Rising National Names To Watch For This Olympic Cycle – Women

The Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim Series—the last before 2025 U.S. Nationals—wrapped up last weekend, which means it’s just a few short weeks until American swimmers descend on Indianapolis to try and qualify for the 2025 World Aquatic Championship.

This will be the first international team in the new Olympic quad, the first typical four-year cycle since the one that ended with the Rio Games. It is an important moment for USA Swimming as the countdown is on to a home Olympics. There are new National Team directors in their first weeks on the job of charting a new course for the organization’s administration and multiple international teams to select for this summer and 2026 from this meet.

Meanwhile, the established American swimming stars are taking a range of approaches to the 2025 season. Katie Ledecky has peaked again, breaking her nine-year old 800 freestyle record at the Ft. Lauderdale Pro Swim Series. There, Gretchen Walsh continued to established herself as a long-course international threat, breaking her 100-meter butterfly world record twice and hitting the first 52-point 100 freestyle of her career.

As these established stars continue to shine, there are still several spots on the roster where rising stars can seize the moment and take the next steps in their careers. Ahead of 2025 U.S. Nationals, we are looking at some of the most likely candidates to do just that and establish themselves not only for this year but for the rest of the Olympic quad.

Teen Phenoms

The most obvious place to look for these swimmers is in the junior ranks, especially among the 2024 Junior Pan Pacific squad. It was a loaded squad, led by captains Teagan O’Dell and Lilla Bognar, the latter of whom raced at the 2024 Short Course World Championships. Madi Mintenko, Charlotte Crush, Kennedi Dobson, Elle Scott, and Kayla Han were on the roster as well.

To keep things fresh, let’s look beyond the high school upperclassmen. Even setting that limitation, there are several girls who have already asserted themselves as ones to watch, most obviously the 15-year-old Audrey Derivaux.

Derivaux made headlines at 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials by making the final of the women’s 400 IM. Later in the summer, she won double butterfly gold at the 2024 Junior Pan Pacific Championships (57.99/2:07.14) She started shedding time across multiple events in the buildup to Trials and now a year later, it feels like she is still doing just that. She fired off a 2:06.68 200 backstroke in March, then hit a lifetime best 2:06.64 200 fly racing against Regan Smith and Alex Shackell in Fort Lauderdale. Those times rank sixth and fourth in the world this season and while it will be an uphill battle to qualify for Worlds in either event, Derivaux has put herself in contention.

Rylee Erisman (photo: Jack Spitser)

Rylee Erisman also made finals at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, taking fifth in the 50 freestyle with a lifetime best 24.62. She has been impressive at the two Pro Swims she has swum at this season. In Westmont, she was second in the 100 free (53.83) and third in the 200 free (1:58.43). This past weekend, she was fourth in both, clocking a lifetime best 1:57.89 in the 200 freestyle.

With personal bests of 24.62/53.78/1:57.89 she is an interesting dark horse pick for a relay spot this year. But more importantly, she could develop from a dark horse pick into a relay cornerstone. That is the role she played at the 2024 Junior Pan Pacific Championships—after winning gold in the 100 freestyle, she was on all three of the American girls’ championship record-setting relays.

Moving away from Junior Pan Pacific medalists, Karina Plaza is another teenager worth watching. A high school freshman, Plaza became the youngest female swimmer in history to break 1:00 in the 100-yard breaststroke, lowering the American girls’ 13-14 age group record in the event with a 59.94 at the 2025 North Carolina Swimming Short Course Age Group Championship. The record had stood since 2015, held by Alexis Wenger at 1:00.02. Later, Plaza doubled down on NAGs, breaking the girls’ 13-14 200 breaststroke mark with a 2:09.40.

Finally, we mentioned Georgia commit Dobson already, but there is another Kennedi to keep an eye on, especially as we look at the spring Pro Swim Series results. 14-year-old Kennedi Southern took advantage of the smaller field at the Sacramento Pro Swim Series and make the ‘A’ final in the 50 freestyle and 50 backstroke. She swam lifetime bests across the board, moving up the American girls’ 13-14 age group rankings to 14^th in the 50 freestyle (25.82).

College Athletes

Now, let’s shift gears to the college athletes that could take the next step in their careers on the national stage.

2023 Worlds qualifier Jillian Cox took a redshirt year during the 2023-24 NCAA season to train for Olympic Trials. She did not make the team, but she made an immediate splash this NCAA season for the Texas Longhorns, rewriting the team and conference record books in the distance freestyle events on the way to two national titles. In the middle of the season, Cox won bronze in the 1500-meter freestyle at the 2024 Short Course World Championships.

Jillian Cox (photo: Jack Spitser)

Already a member of the U.S. National Team, Cox has already made herself known in American swimming. But she’s looking to further her presence, first by returning to the senior international squad this year and then moving forwards towards LA.

Leah Hayes aims for a similar trajectory as Cox this Olympic quad. Hayes, like Cox, is no stranger to a U.S. senior international roster, having won bronze in the 200 IM at the 2022 World Championships. She missed the team in 2023, though she earned an impressive medal haul at the 2023 World Junior Championships. Hayes just completed her freshman year at Virginia. She did not have the same success as Cox in her first NCAA season but helped the team to a fifth-straight national title. Now, she looks to bounce back from two years of disappointments and set herself up for success this quad. She was third in the 200 breaststroke (2:27.60), 200 IM (2:11.52), and 400 IM (4:38.78) last weekend in Fort Lauderdale.

Camille Spink has developed into Tennessee’s ace sprint freestyler in the NCAA over the past two seasons. The vast improvements she has made in the yards pool have not really shown up yet in the long-course pool; aside from a personal best 50-meter freestyle (25.21) at U.S. Olympic Trials, her long-course bests in the other sprint events—her specialty—are from 2022 (100 free, 54.33) and 2023 (200 free, 1:58.61). If she is able to make the translation, she could be another swimmer vying for a relay spot.

Then, there’s also the Wolfpack freshman duo of Leah Shackley and Erika Pelaez. Both were part of the aforementioned 2024 Junior Pan Pacific Championships roster and Shackley won double gold at the meet (59.05/2:08.19). Shackley was fourth in the 200-yard backstroke and sixth in the 100-yard backstroke at the 2025 NCAA Championships. Both have participated in a Pro Swim Meet this spring. Shackley won the 100-meter butterfly (58.75) and was top three in the three backstroke events plus the 50 butterfly. Pelaez made finals in the 50/100-meter backstroke in Fort Lauderdale, placing sixth in the former and eighth in the latter.

The Collegiate and Olympic Breaststrokers

The decorated Lilly King has been the American women’s reliable sprint breaststroker for more than a decade. But the Olympic champion and world record holder has been clear that she’s winding down her career. During an interview with NBC Sports last weekend, King affirmed that even with the 50s of stroke on the schedule, she will not be swimming at the LA Games.

So, who’s going to fill the holes in the lineup after King hangs up her goggles?

Skyler Smith (courtesy: Chris Pose)

Emma Weber was the surprise second qualifier for the Olympics in the 100 breaststroke last summer, popping a lifetime best 1:06.10 to touch second in the Trials final. Weber dropped off the radar during the NCAA season, but now that the schedule has rolled around to long-course, she has reasserted herself. She won the 100 breaststroke in Fort Lauderdale with a 1:06.63, .53 seconds from her personal best. Then, she was second in the 50 breaststroke behind Skyler Smith with a 30.57, her second personal best of the day.

Yes, Weber is already an Olympian—and a gold medalist from the women’s 4×100 medley relay, but we could see her take on a new role ahead of the next Olympics.

Then, there are two North Carolina-based breaststrokers from rivals UNC and Duke. The Tar Heel Smith won the 50 breaststroke in Fort Lauderdale with a 30.49, approaching her 30.41 personal best. She was a sixth in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.85) but only two-hundredths from her May 2024 personal best.

On the other hand, Kaelyn Gridley tends towards the 100/200 breaststroke. She was fifth in both events at the U.S. Olympic Trials, swimming 1:06.67/2:25.82. There is less of a clear path to a roster spot in the 200 breaststroke if Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh are both entered. Either (or both) could turn their attention to the 100 breaststroke, but as the field currently stands—especially with Lydia Jacoby’s plans unknown—that event’s field is chaotic enough that it’s not just Weber who could rise to the top.