Seventeen-year-old American swimmer Thomas Heilman came in second at the men’s 100-meter butterfly in the 2024 Olympic Swimming Trials, adding the event to his list for the Paris Olympics. What made his feat even more impressive was the fact that he broke a two-decade-old record once held by the legendary Michael Phelps.
Heilman finished the 100-meter butterfly in 50.80 seconds, beating Phelps’ 17-18 National Age Group record of 51.10 set in the 2003 World Championships. Heilman’s time was only 0.04 seconds better than that of Dare Rose, who barely missed the cut for Paris.
The Virginia native qualified for his first-ever Olympics on Friday, winning the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1:54.50. He is the youngest male Olympic swimmer since Phelps, who made the Sydney Games when he was 15 years old.
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“Looking up at the board and seeing my name up at the top, it was really special,” Heilman said Friday. “That’s a goal I’ve had for years now, and to kind of see it up there, there was a little bit of disbelief.”
The 100-meter fly is not the only Phelps record that Heilman has broken, though. He previously beat the decorated Olympian’s 15-16 National Age Group record in the 200-meter fly at last year’s Phillips 66 National Championships, finishing second with a time of 1:54.54.
Olympic swimming begins July 27, with the men’s 200-meter fly heats starting July 30 and the men’s 100-meter fly heats starting Aug. 2.