By Madeline Folsom on SwimSwam
On day three of the 2025 World Junior Championships, the Americans, Aiden Hammer and William Mulgrew, finished 4th and 5th in the men’s 800 freestyle with huge best times in the event.
The American men have struggled with depth in the distance freestyle races for a while, culminating with this year’s World Championships where Bobby Finke was the only American in the 800 freestyle field after nobody else earned the FINA ‘A’ cut.
They haven’t always struggled in the event, though. This has been a phenomenon that has risen over the last 10 years. At the 2013 World Championships, Michael McBroom finished 2nd and Connor Jaeger finished 4th in the men’s 800 free. At the very next World Championships in 2015, Jaeger was 4th and McBroom was 8th. This was the last time that two American men made a World Championships or Olympic final in the event.
Bobby Finke has been a bright spot in the dark, winning multiple Olympic and World Championships medals over the last five years. At the U.S. Nationals in June, Finke won the 800 freestyle in 7:43.13, seven seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Rex Maurer, who touched in 7:49.53.
Despite finishing 2nd, Maurer was almost a second over the World Aquatics ‘A’ cut time in the event, and was not eligible to compete. With Luke Whitlock taking the summer off due to a shoulder injury, there were no other American men who swam the ‘A’ time within the qualifying period, leaving Finke to swim the event alone.
Despite the struggles at the senior level, the future is starting to look a little brighter in this event.
There are a host of young swimmers coming up who have the potential to break through the senior standards, starting with the two junior swimmers from today.
Aiden Hammer finished 4th in today’s World Junior Championships final, touching in 7:51.68. This was more than four seconds faster than his previous best of 7:55.94 that he set at the U.S. Nationals in June. Before this year, he had never broken 8:00 in this event, coming in at 8:01.23 from the 2024 Olympic Trials marking a near 10 second drop in just over 12 months.
William Mulgrew finished 5th with an even bigger time drop, touching in 7:51.99 to drop just over five seconds from his previous best of 7:57.08. He has dropped nearly six seconds this season, coming into the year with a lifetime best of 7:57.71 from last July.
They now sit in 5th and 7th in the 17-18 age group with Ryan Erisman squeezing in between them at 7:51.74. Erisman swam that time at the 2025 World University Games in July, winning the bronze medal and dropping almost exactly 10 seconds this year from his previous best of 8:01.65 from last July.
The trio is less than a second behind Bobby Finke’s fastest swim in the age group of 7:51.45, which is a good sign that at least one of them could develop very strongly going into the 2028 Olympics.
American All Time 17-18 800 freestyle rankings
Luke Whitlock– 7:45.19 (2024) Larsen Jensen– 7:48.09 (2003) Chad La Tourette– 7:49.90 (2007) Bobby Finke– 7:51.45 (2018) Aiden Hammer– 7:51.68 (2025) Ryan Erisman– 7:51.74 (2025) William Mulgrew– 7:51.99 (2025) Luke Ellis– 7:52.40 (2024) True Sweetser– 7:53.32 (2016) Andrew Abruzzo– 7:54.51 (2018)Five of the top 10 swims in the event were set in the last two years, showing a clear upward trajectory in the event across the country.
If we look an age group down at the 15-16 swimmers, we can see a similar trend emerging with three of the top 10 times coming from 2025, including the 2nd place swim from Luka Mijatovic, who made his international debut in the 400 freestyle earlier this month.
American All Time 15-16 800 freestyle rankings
Larsen Jensen– 7:52.05 (2002) Luka Mijatovic– 7:53.90 (2025) Bobby Finke– 7:55.16 (2016) Colin Jacobs– 7:55.50 (2025) Evan Pinion– 7:55.92 (2011) Luke Ellis– 7:56.40 (2023) Andrew Abruzzo– 7:59.76 (2016) Arthur Frayler– 7:59.77 (2010) Jeff Kostoff– 8:00.71 (1982) Ellis Crisci– 8:01.18 (2025)When we add these times into the American rankings this season, Hammer becomes 4th, Erisman moves to 5th, Mulgrew becomes 6th and 16-year-old Colin Jacobs becomes 10th. Only two swimmers across the whole top 10 will be older than 25 for the 2028 Olympics.
2025 Season Rankings American Men
Rank Swimmer Time Age Age for 2028 Olympics 1 Bobby Finke 7:43.13 25 28 2 Rex Maurer 7:49.53 20 23 3 David Johnston 7:49.85 23 26 4 Aiden Hammer 7:51.68 17 20 5 Ryan Erisman 7:51.74 18 21 6 William Mulgrew 7:51.99 18 21 7 Luka Mijatovic 7:53.80 16 19 8 Alec Enyeart 7:54.38 21 24 9 Gabriel Mantuefel 7:54.71 17 20 10 Colin Jacobs 7:55.50 16 19If we compare these numbers to every other event it is clear that the distance freestyle events are quickly becoming dominated by the younger swimmers in a way that no other events are.
Number of 18 & Under swimmers currently in the top 10 in the country this season
Event Number of 18 & Under Swimmers* 800 free 6 1500 free 5 200 breast 4 400 free 3 50 breast 2 200 free 1 100 back 1 200 back 1 100 breast 1 50 fly 1 100 fly 1 200 fly 1 400 IM 1 50 free 0 100 free 0 50 back 0 200 IM 0*As of August 21, 2025
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