By Sophie Kaufman on SwimSwam
2025 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Tuesday, June 3 – Saturday, June 7, 2025 Indianapolis, Indiana Indiana University Natatorium LCM (50 meters) Meet Central World Championship Selection Criteria SwimSwam Preview IndexWomen’s 50 Breaststroke – By The Numbers
World Record: 29.16 – Ruta Meilutyte, Lithuania (2023) American Record: 29.40 – Lilly King (2017) 2023 U.S. Nationals Champion: Lilly King – 29.77 2025 World Aquatics ‘A’ Cut:Lilly King has been clear that she has raced at her final Olympic Games. She reiterated that at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim when asked during an NBC Sports interview if the inclusion of stroke 50s at the Olympic Games would encourage her to stay in the water until LA 2028. She said the announcement has not changed her plans. But she has not completely hung up the goggles yet.
Not only is she still racing, but King has also ruled the national sprint breaststroke scene for a decade. She extended her streak of winning the 50 breaststroke at the U.S. qualification meet during the last Olympic cycle, winning at 2022 International Team Trials and 2023 U.S. Nationals. And while her American record is now eight years old, King has maintained her consistent speed by breaking 30 seconds for the win at both meets, swimming 29.76 in 2022 and 29.77 in 2023. She won silver at the 2023 World Championships, adding to her two golds in this event from the 2017 and 2019 World Championships.
King is in a different place in her career than she was even this time last year, but her ability to get under 30 seconds in this race and do so consistently when qualification is on the line makes her the favorite.
The ACC Steps Up
The national rankings in the women’s 50 breaststroke are quite tight at the top this season, as the next wave of American sprint breaststrokers aim to assert themselves as “what’s next” in American sprint breaststroke.
It’s UNC product Skyler Smith that leads the American rankings this season. She fired off a 30.46 season-best at the Monaco stop of the Mare Nostrum series, which also ranks her eighth globally. The swim improved her season-best by three-hundredths as she dropped from the 30.49 she swam at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim, beating King, Emma Weber, and Alex Walsh in what could be a preview of the 2025 U.S. National Championship final. She is steadily approaching her lifetime best 30.41 from 2023.
Smith was the U.S. Open Champion in the 100-yard breaststroke last December. She swam lifetime bests in the 50/100/200-yard breaststroke over the season and has hit the ground running in long-course season after a disappointing 2025 NCAA Championships.
Weber swam lifetime bests in all three breaststroke distances during the 2024-25 NCAA season, but where she shines is the long-course pool. She was a surprise addition to the 2024 U.S. Olympic team as she qualified for her debut Games with a lifetime best 1:06.10 in the 100 breaststroke.
After the Games, Weber was quiet during the yards season (at least in the context of some her her Virginia teammates), but quickly made her presence felt in long-course at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim. She won the 100 breaststroke at the meet with a 1:06.63. Then, she lowered her 50 breaststroke lifetime best twice, swimming 30.87 in prelims then a 30.57 in the final for second place.
That lifetime best puts her third in the national rankings this season, just two-hundredths off King’s pace. Fort Lauderdale was the only official long-course meet we’ve seen Weber at this spring, but just with those swims she’s made herself a strong contender to get back on the senior international roster following the Paris Games.
Walsh is another Virginia Olympian to keep an eye on. Walsh has carved out a space for herself the last four years mainly in the 200 IM and 200 breaststroke on the long-course stage. She was a versatile asset for the Cavaliers during her five years at the college season and showcased her breaststroke/butterfly sprint speed with fast times on the medley relays.
She showed a bit of that in Fort Lauderdale—like Weber, she swam two 50 breaststroke lifetime bests at the meet, swimming a 30.97 in prelims and then a 30.90 for fourth in the final. As Walsh seems to have left the 400 IM behind, there are no obvious conflicts for her on Day 3 of U.S. Nationals, when the 50 breaststroke takes place. She may want the day off between the 200 and 100 breaststroke, but if she enters this race, she should push the pace in the final.
Of course, the other big breaststroke star training at Virginia is 200 breaststroke Olympic champion Kate Douglass. She’s another versatile athlete and as such, there is always the question of where she’ll choose to place her focus. This event isn’t normally the answer, but with a 31.18 from the Westmont Pro Swim, Douglass is ranked in the 50 breaststroke top 8 nationally.
More College Stars
Siroky has been on fire since reaching a new level of her career at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. She had an excellent freshman season at the University of Tennessee and has wasted no time rolling the improvements she made in the yards pool to long-course. Siroky swam lifetime bests in the long-course 50/100/200 breaststroke at the Tennessee Open, her first meet since the 2025 NCAA Championships.
Siroky broke 31 seconds for the first time during the 50 breaststroke prelims in Knoxville, ripping a 30.68 that launched her past Walsh and into fourth in the national rankings (and the fourth American in the global top 25).
While Siroky aims for her first senior international roster, Piper Enge already has World Championship experience. Enge was part of the 2024 World Championship squad and finished fourth in this race with a lifetime best 30.53. They’ve been about a second off that time through the early returns from the long-course season and carry a season-best 31.51 from Fort Lauderdale into Indianapolis. However, if they can get back down to lifetime best form, Enge should be in the hunt for a roster spot for a second World Championship team.
It is essential for any swimmer that wants to be a factor in the final to be under 31 seconds. Stanford’s Lucy Thomas got close to breaking that barrier for the first time in Fort Lauderdale, swimming a lifetime best 31.10. It was her first lifetime best in the event in about two years, shaving seven-hundredths from the 31.17 she swam at the 2023 National Championships.
Caroline Larsen swam a lifetime best in Fort Lauderdale as well, clocking a 31.34. Larsen had a strong freshman season at Louisville in the sprint freestyle/breaststroke events and another few tenths drop could book her a lane in the final.
The Rest Of The 2023 U.S. National Final
We don’t expect Lydia Jacoby, the second-place finisher in 2023, in Indianapolis this year. Kaitlyn Dobler, the third-place finisher with a lifetime best 30.34, just finished her NCAA career with USC and has not raced since the NCAA Championships.
Further back, 2023 U.S. Nationals was Miranda Tucker’s last competition, and Rachel Bernhardt has not raced since Olympic Trials.
That leaves 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials semifinalist Hannah Bach, who got back in competition pool for the first time since Trials at the LESD Busbey Invitational earlier this month. She did not race the 50 breaststroke, but did swim 1:12.15 in the 100 breaststroke. Her opening 50 breaststroke split was a 34.12 but Bach is a 2023 U.S. Nationals championship finalist in this event. She placed fifth in 2023, swimming a 30.76 that remains her lifetime best.
Club Swimmers That Could Challenge For A Final Lane
Elle Scott, SwimMAC – The high school senior and Cal commit logged a lifetime best 31.68 at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim, improving from 31.73. She was in the ‘C’ final at the 2023 U.S. Nationals but could stand to move much further up the standings this year. Madyson Hartway, Sarasota Sharks – Another high school senior heading to a Power Four program (Alabama), Hartway touched two-hundredths ahead of Scott in Fort Lauderdale, swimming a lifetime best 31.66, which puts her in the same position of Scott. Eliza Wallace, Mecklenburg – Wallace broke 32 seconds for the first time at the Martha McKee Open, swimming a 31.95. It was a drop of about three-tenths and does mean she would need another significant drop to push for the final.SwimSwam Picks
Rank Swimmer Season Best Lifetime Best 1 Lilly King 30.55 29.40 2 Skyler Smith 30.46 30.41 3 Emma Weber 30.57 30.57 4 McKenzie Siroky 30.68 30.68 5 Alex Walsh 30.90 30.90 6 Piper Enge 31.51 30.53 7 Lucy Thomas 31.10 31.10 8 Caroline Larsen 31.34 31.34Dark Horse: Gabby Rose – Olympic Trials fan favorite Gabby Rose is still in the water and still hitting new heights in her career. Like so many of these swimmers, Rose swam a 50 breaststroke lifetime best at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim. She swam 31.63 in prelims, getting under the 31.70 opening split she swam at Olympic Trials that stood as her lifetime best until then. Another drop would make her a strong option for a spot in the final.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2025 U.S. World Trials Previews: Lilly King And The New Wave Of 50 Breaststrokers
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