Who Is Ryan Held

Ryan J Held is an American competitive freestyle swimmer who was born on June 27 1995. He got a splendid career both nationally and internationally. He’s the current holder of the U.S. Open record for the 100-meter freestyle long course, and three world records for the relay events.

He participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics when he won the first position in the 4 x 100-meter freestyle category. Five years later, he was in World Short Course Championships and won the silvers for both 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle.

Held also got a medal for his skill during the 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay with his teammates,

Background

As a kid, he studied in Christ The King grade school and continued to Sacred-Heart Griffing after he was a teen. After graduation in 2014, he was trained by Dr Hames Stegeman to become the State Swimmer of The Year of Illinois.

Career

2016 Summer Olympics

In 2016, he was participating in the Summer Olympics. He competed in the 4 x 100-meter freestyle relay with his team. During the heats, he impressed the coach by making the split time in 47.79.

His split was 47.73 during the final, which lead his team to the gold medal. And thanks to the team performance, he along with his team won the USA Swimming Foundation Golden Goggle Award for Relay Performance of The Year.

2018 World Championships

Two years later, he fought in the World Championships held in Hangzhou where he got not only one but four golds and one silver for various categories. During the 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay, he got his team the gold medal with a time recorded in 3:03.03.

At the 4 x 50 meter mixed freestyle relay, even, he split the 20.60, which helped the set to break a world record, and won the first position in 1:27.89.

His team got another gold again after winning in 1:21.80 in a 4 x 50-meter freestyle relay event, with Held splitting the fastest in 20.25. By doing so, he also set a new world record.

The team got an additional silver at that time in the 4 x 50-meter medley relay with the new American record of 1:30.90.

Held closed the Championship beautifully by winning another gold medal for the team during the 4 x 100 meter medley relay event with the split time recorded in 45.23, which helped the team to win by setting another new American and Championships record with the relay time of 3:19.98.

2019

During the 2018 Championships, he successfully finished first in the 100 meter freestyle event, while also breaking both of his U.S Open and Championships records with a time recorded in 47.39.

2021 World Championships

2021 was another shining year for Held. During that time, he participated in the World Championships, with the status of number two in The Week That Was Honor.

The short course experience in the championships helped him to be ready to fight against others in the World Championships. He started by breaking the Master’s World record by finishing in 21.28 for the 50-meter freestyle event.

Held won the silver on day 4 when he finished second in the 50-meter freestyle event in 20.70, which was his very first individual medal in World Championships.

The final event happened and held went strong by setting a new American record by finishing in 6:47.00 during the 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay with his teammates. During the 4 x 50-meter medley relay, his time split was 20.52, which helped the team to obtain another gold and break the Championships and American records.

During the rest of the days, he got the silvers for the 100 meter freestyle event by finishing in 45.63 seconds, and 4 x 100 meter medley relay in 3:20.50.

2022 World Aquatics Championships

In 2022, he joined the World Aquatics Championships when he won the gold medal by helping his team achieve the finished record in 3:09.34. During the seventh day, he also helped his team to win the bronze for the 4 x 100 meter mixed freestyle relay event.

During the 4 x 100 meter medley relay, Held and the team also got the silver medal for finishing second in 3:27.79.

Read also: