Following Bergen Breakthrough, Van Mathias Becoming Newest U.S. Breaststroke Star
Three years ago, Van Mathias finished off a strong collegiate career at Indiana in style, scoring in all three individual events plus four relays at the NCAA Championships. After spending most of his career as a butterfly and individual medley specialist, Mathias placed second nationally in the 100-yard breaststroke while also scoring in the sprint freestyle races at his final national meet. That should have been it for his story in swimming.
Not so fast, however, as Mathias found his way back into training. Working as Indiana’s director of operations, Mathias found inspiration to return to the pool, and the results came quickly. At the TYR Summer Championships last August, Mathias achieved the country’s top time in the 50-meter breast, his time of 26.76 qualifying him for the U.S. team at the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships.
That was only the beginning. Suddenly, Mathias has become one of the fastest sprint breaststrokers ever thanks to a stunning performance over the weekend at the Bergen Swim Festival. At age 25, a swimmer preparing to represent his country for the first time now looks like a gold-medal hope and relay difference-maker.
In the 100 breast, Mathias posted a time of 58.19 to blast his way into No. 5 all-time in the event, behind only Adam Peaty, Qin Haiyang, Arno Kamminga and fellow American Michael Andrew. A day later, Mathias took down the American record in the 50 breast, becoming the eighth-fastest man in history at 26.39. In between his breaststroke scorchers, Mathias won the 50 butterfly in a best time of 22.99, surpassing two-time World Championships finalist Dare Rose in the process.
The unlikelihood of his breakthrough cannot be overstated. Prior to his initial retirement from the sport, Mathias had effectively never raced long course breaststroke at a major competition. His best time in the 100 stood at 1:03.48, set before he arrived at Indiana. The emergence into this elite form began last summer with a 1:01.43 in his initial return to competition in June, then 1:00.28 and then 59.74 at the Summer Championships.
To begin 2026, Mathias out-dueled Worlds bronze medalist Denis Petrashov at USA Swimming’s Pro Series in Austin, Texas, improving his best to 59.45. His maiden voyage under 59 seconds came in prelims in Bergen with a 58.98.
The finals swim took things to a much higher plane of competitiveness, surpassing the time Qin swam to win last year’s world title and beating anything 2024 Olympic champion Nicolo Martinenghi has ever done. Mathias sits almost a half-second clear of Shin Ohashi, the second-ranked swimmer in the world at 58.67. Among Americans, no one has been that quick in almost five years since Andrew swam 58.14 at the 2021 Olympic Trials.
Likewise, Mathias was ahead of the world-title-winning pace in the one-lap event, clearing the 26.54 from Italy’s Simone Cerasuolo by 0.15. Most of the seven men ahead of him remain active competitors, but Mathias is only two tenths away from the second-fastest performer ever (Qin at 26.20).
The 100-meter events carry an extra importance for relay purposes, and the American men have been seeking an elite 100 breaststroker in the absence of Nic Fink, who last competed at the Paris Olympics. Fink held down the breaststroke leg for both the men’s and mixed-gender medley relays for three years, a stretch that culminated with his 58.29 split on the gold-medal-winning, world-record-setting mixed 400 medley relay at the Games. Fink also tied for silver in the individual event in Paris.
In 2025, the results in the 100 breast were far less inspiring. Campbell McKean dipped under 59 to win the national title, but he struggled at the World Championships. Josh Matheny did reach the global final in the event before managing a 59.00 split on the American men’s medley relay, which had to overachieve just to earn bronze. The mixed medley relay team failed to even reach the final.
The staff at USA Swimming has to be salivating at the notion of Mathias stepping into role of top 100 breaststroker. A 58-low flat-start swim indicates that he may be capable of a 57-second relay effort, good enough to rival any other country. Add that to a men’s medley relay with sprint star Jack Alexy on the anchor duties and Olympic bronze medalist Ilya Kharun eligible to represent the U.S. in the butterfly events beginning next year? That should provide some long-awaited hope.
As for the mixed medley relay, pairing Mathias and eventually Kharun with two members of the deep, experienced women’s team would create an instant gold-medal contender.
All this thanks to one incredible weekend of breaststroke racing. Mathias has already crushed even the wildest of expectations for his swimming return. If he can maintain this speed or perhaps improve further, he becomes an unexpected game-changer for the United States men.
