SwimSwam’s Official Ballot for the 2026 Golden Goggles Awards ...Middle East

By Braden Keith on SwimSwam

USA Swimming has opened public voting for the 2026 Golden Goggles Awards. Last year’s elimination of Race of the Year and the Perseverance Award has softened the debates for the annual awards show for the best in American swimming, leaving a relatively-clear winner for most of the awards.

There is often a gap between who we think should win it and who we think will win it. While the awards are labeled “of the year,” the committee that chooses the winners is hyper-fixated on the Operation Gold meet of the year, which this season is Pan Pacs. But increasingly, there are so many good swims done outside of that meet that it’s worth broadening the scope on what matters in these awards. Especially on the women’s side.

Below is the official SwimSwam ballot of how we’re voting (our votes count the same as yours) as a guide to making your decisions.

Fans can vote using the online ballot, which is open now through Sunday, September 6 at 11:59 PM (Mountain Time). The awards ceremony will take place in Denver, Colorado on September 26th.

Female Athlete of the Year

Nominees:

All four swimmers had great years for different reasons. For me, this award comes down to Gretchen Walsh (5 gold, 2 silver at Pan Pacs) and Kate Douglass (4 gold, 2 silver at Pan Pacs).

While on raw numbers at Pan Pacs, Walsh had more wins, Douglass’ best win, the World Record in the 50 free, was the highlight of American swimming this year. It’s not only that she broke the World Record, but she annihilated the former mark (across multiple swims) of the legendary Sarah Sjostrom.

Walsh got under that World Record too earlier in the year, but even that time is now .36 seconds shy of what Douglass did in the 50 free final at Pan Pacs.

Combined with missing the World Record in the 100 free by .01, and splitting 51.01 on the World Record-setting mixed 400 medley relay, the resume stacks up to support that one amazing swim.

Douglass didn’t have a perfect season or a perfect meet. But that 50 free was so far beyond that it lifts her to the clear pick for this award.

Male Athlete of the Year

Nominees:

It has been so long since the American men felt ‘on top’ in breaststroke races, and Van Mathias‘ one-of-a-kind story, swimming as sort of a ‘side hustle’ to the top of the World Rankings, just makes the excitement so much more palpable.

A minor back injury muddled the road to a 2nd individual gold medal at Pan Pacs, but silvers in the 50 breaststroke and 50 fly show that he’s an integral part of the American team headed toward LA28 after not really being on the Olympic radar for Paris.

He also swam a really good 57.30 split on the World Record-setting mixed medley relay.

The list is made up of the four American individual gold medalists at Pan Pacs, and I think the total resume of Mathias at that meet, and throughout the season, is the clear front-runner here.

Coach of the Year

Nominees:

This is a U.S.-focused awards show, so the success of Texas’ swimmers (Marchand, Kos), Virginia’s swimmers (Curtis), and Indiana’s swimmers (Sarkany) at meets like the European Championships don’t factor in.

Even without credit for the new World Record holder in the 50 back, Italian Sara Curtis, Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo is the clear winner here. Douglass and Walsh, in either order, are the two best things that USA Swimming has going right now, and both train under DeSorbo.

But lost in all of the success of his women’s program is that the Cavalier coach released a huge pressure valve when Maximus Williamson, one of the top prospects for the future of USA Swimming, hit huge improvements in his first year with the program. That included best times in all four 100 meter races, and the 200 IM, at US Nationals, and an NCAA title in the 200 yard freestyle.

It’s also worth acknowledging the work that Looze has done with Mathias. In many years, that success alone would make him a contender for this award, but Virginia is on such a hot streak right now, it’s hard to look away from DeSorbo.

Open Water Swimmer of the Year

Nominees:

Becca Mann flying in from off stage and finishing 4th at Pan Pacs in the 10km race, making her the top-placing American woman in the event, is exactly what American open water swimming needs.

Mann, formerly a member of international teams in the pool (including bronze in the 1500 at the 2019 Pan American Games), went quiet for years. She swam just one meet between those Pan American Games and January 2025.

But she has returned not only with a punch in the seas, but as a powerful content engine for open water swimming.

Already an author, Mann has turned her creative energy toward open water swimming, where she has become the best content creator on the American team. Open water swimming is not as popular as pool swimming, and she still regularly gets thousands of engagements on her posts.

She is the embodiment that investing energy into social media, personal brand, and sport promotion does not necessarily mean a distraction from the hard work that wins medals. The fact that she’s doing what she’s doing in the water, too, is a great vehicle to bring attention to what she’s doing out of it.

Relay Performance of the Year

Nominees:

There is always going to be a bias by a certain portion of the electorates (both the public and the committee) against mixed relays, but this was clearly the United States’ best effort. In Mathias, Walsh, and Douglass, the relay had three of the United States’ best performers all on the same relay.

The group broke the World Record by seven-tenths of a second, even while being 1.32 seconds off the pace after the backstroke leg.

The Douglass 51.01 anchor is one for the history books.

If the American men had broken the 800 free relay World Record, there would have been a really interesting debate for this honor. They were on line to do it, and probably will in the next two years.

Breakout Performer of the Year

Nominees:

These are all amazing choices, and the committee for once had the foresight to look away from just the Operation Gold meet and capture swimmers like Mijatovic, Moesch, and Stadden, who were not on the Pan Pacs team.

To me, evaluating breakout awards requires evaluating both the amplitude of the breakout and where the athletes landed.

In a year of breakout swims and swimmers for Team USA, this one is an absolutely brutal one to decide. Anna Moesch broke the American Record in the 100 free multiple times before Kate Douglass took it out at Pan Pacs. Mathias only returned to competition in July 2025 after a two-year hiatus and by June 2026 was the world #1 in the 100 breaststroke – where he still stands, by more than half-a-second.

Isabelle Stadden was on this path as a junior aged swimmer, but in her 6 months at Virginia went a best time at virtually every meet she raced.

Luka Mijatovic shattered 17-18 records and put himself into serious contention for podium spots at the Los Angeles Olympics, while McKenzie won her first major international medal, gold in the 100 breaststroke, at Pan Pacs.

There’s no wrong answer here, but for Van Mathias to go from fully off the radar to possibly America’s best male swimmer in a year is hard to ignore.

If you value not giving the same swimmer multiple awards, I think Moesch would be next on my list – just because of the amplitude of her breakthrough.

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