Van Mathias breaks American report in 50m breaststroke in swimming comeback

Van Mathias broke the American report within the 50m breaststroke — a brand new Olympic occasion — after sitting out swimming competitors for 2 years.

Mathias, 25, clocked 26.39 seconds within the preliminary heats on the Bergen Swim Festival in Norway, taking six hundredths off Nic Fink’s American report from the 2022 World Championships.

Mathias swam for Indiana University from 2018-23, highlighted by a second-place end within the 100-yard breaststroke on the 2023 NCAA Championships, although he was primarily a butterflier in school.

He then left competitors for 2 years, taking a job as director of swimming operations at Indiana.

Then final yr, Mathias told SwimSwam he was impressed to return after seeing the U.S. Championships in Indianapolis and believing he might be aggressive.

Two months later, he made the workforce for this August’s Pan Pacific Championships, posting the quickest 50m breast for an American in 2025 after final contesting the occasion in 2013 (per USA Swimming’s database).

“It’s been a new lease on life in swimming,” he said after winning a 50m breast at a Pro Swim Series meet in Austin, Texas, in January.