Luka Mijatovic Turns into Quickest 17-12 months-Previous Ever in 800m Free, Breaks US 17-18 Age Group Record

2026 Junior Pan Pacific Championships

American swimmer Luka Mijatovic has damaged the 17-18 National Age Group Record within the boys’ 800 meter freestyle.

Swimming within the first finals session of the 2026 Junior Pan Pac Championships in Vancouver, Mijatovic dropped a 7:44.52. That received the race by about 7.5 seconds.

It additionally broke Luke Whitlock‘s 17-18 National Age Group Record of seven:45.19 carried out on the 2024 US Olympic Trials when he was 18. That swim earned Whitlock a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.

Splits Comparison:

Mijatovic dropped about two seconds off his earlier private finest, and most of that got here within the again half of the swim. He negative-split the race by 2.2 seconds. His 55.69 cut up over the past 100 meters was greater than two seconds higher than the time that Whitlock closed his earlier record-setting race with and what pulled him nicely forward of report tempo.

Mijatovic was 2.47 seconds sooner over the past 400 meters on this swim than he was in his earlier private finest, which is bigger than the time drop.

Splits by 400:

• Front Half: 3:53.35
• Back Half: 3:51.17
• Total: 7:44.52

Splits by 200:

• First 200: 1:54.99
• Second 200: 1:58.36
• Third 200: 1:57.24
• Fourth 200: 1:53.93

Whitlock’s swim is the fastest-ever by a 17-year-old globally. The earlier finest in line with Nuoto Mondiale at that age was a 7:45.12 carried out by Turkish swimmer Kuzey Tuncelli final yr. Italian Lorenzo Galossi swam 7:43.37 at 16 in 2022, and hasn’t been sooner since.

The quickest 18 & below swim in historical past is a 7:39.16 carried out by Australian legend Ian Thorpe in 2001, which on the time was a World Record.

His time makes him the Sixth-fastest American at any age and would have earned bronze at Pan Pacs final week.

Top 8 Americans All-Time, Men’s 800 LCM Freestyle

1. Bobby Finke, 7:38.67 (2023)
2. Ryan Erisman, 7:43.53 (2026)
3. Michael McBroom, 7:43.60 (2013)
4. Zane Grothe, 7:43.74 (2018)
5. Connor Jaeger, 7:44.26 (2013)
6. Luka Mijatovic, 7:44.52 (2026)
7. (TIE)

Globally he’s now #36 all-time within the occasion.

Mijatovic’s 800 free was his 2nd swim of the session. He additionally received gold within the 200 free ultimate in 1:46.04, which matched his time from US Nationals and was .05 seconds shy of Michael Phelps‘ National Age Group Record within the occasion. Mijatovic was 1:45.92 final yr, sooner than the 17-18 National Age Group Record, when he was nonetheless 16.

He has remaining entries this week within the 100 free, 400 free, and 1500 free. Mijatovic already broke the 400 free National Age Group Record at US Nationals at 3:43.45.