Thomas Heilman (born February 7, 2007) is an American competitive

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. He is a world junior record holder in the

long course An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...

4×100 meter freestyle relay. He is also a 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships gold medalist in the 100 meter butterfly, 4×100 meter freestyle relay, and 4×100 meter medley relay, and a silver medalist in the 100 meter freestyle, 200 meter butterfly, and 4×200 meter freestyle relay.

Background

Heilman attends

Western Albemarle High School Western Albemarle High School is a public high school located in Crozet, Virginia. Western Albemarle is often simply referred to as Western or WAHS (pronounced "wAz") by students and locals. The school opened in September 1977. Due to the COVID-1 ...

Crozet, Virginia Crozet is a census-designated place (CDP) in Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It sits along the I-64 corridor, about west of Charlottesville and east of Staunton. Originally called "Wayland's Crossing," it was re ...

and trains with the swim club Cavalier Aquatics. He has an older brother, Matthew, who is a competitive swimmer as well.

Career

2021–2022

By the start of 2022, Heilman had amassed over ten National Age Group records, fastest times ever swum by an American swimmer under 18 years of age and bracketed into age groups, including setting a record of 53.27 seconds in the 100 meter butterfly, which broke the former record that had been set by Michael Andrew.Martin, Lisa (January 6, 2022)
"Crozet Swimming Phenom Sets National Records"
''The Crozet Gazette''. Retrieved August 25, 2022.Reider, David (January 4, 2022)
"Thomas Heilman A Rising Star After National Age Group Record Blitz"
''

Swimming World ''Swimming World'' is a US-based monthly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'', (known ...

''. Retrieved August 25, 2022. In December of 2021 alone, he set fourteen National Age Group records in a time span of 11 days.Penland, Spencer (December 11, 2021)
"Thomas Heilman Swims 1:42.77 200 Fly to Break 14th 13-14 Boys NAG in 11 Days"
''

SwimSwam ''SwimSwam'' news is a swimming news organization covering competitive swimming along with diving, water polo and synchronized swimming. SwimSwam launched as a website in March 2012 and quickly became the most-read swimming website in the world. ...

''. Retrieved December 10, 2022. At the 2022 USA Swimming International Team Trials, held in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

, he qualified for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

roster for the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in the 50 meter freestyle, 100 meter butterfly, and 200 meter butterfly."USA Swimming Announces Rosters for 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships and Mel Zajac Jr. International Swim Meet"
''

USA Swimming USA Swimming is the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. It is charged with selecting the United States Olympic Swimming team and any other teams that officially represent the United States, as well as the overa ...

''. May 16, 2022. Retrieved August 25, 2022."2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships U.S. Roster – Version 2"
''

''. 2022. Retrieved August 25, 2022. Following his addition to the team roster, he was announced as a nominee for the "Boys Rising Star of the Year", a High School Sports Award by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virg ...

''.

(July 27, 2022)
"Meet the nominees for All-USA Today HSSA Boys Rising Star of the Year"
''

Yahoo! Sports Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from STATS, Inc. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. Be ...

''. Retrieved August 25, 2022. The following month, in August at the 2022 Junior National Championships, he won the 100 meter freestyle with a time that made him the first 15-year-old male American swimmer in history to swim the race faster than 50 seconds.Hudtloff, Marty (August 19, 2022)
"Record-breaking performance from Cavalier Aquatics swim team at 2022 Junior National Championships"
''

WVIR-TV WVIR-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW Plus. Owned by Gray Television, the station has studios on East Market Street ( US 250 Business) in downtown Charlottesvil ...

''. Retrieved August 25, 2022. 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships The first day of competition at the

2022 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships The 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships were held from 24 to 27 August 2022 at Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.

, contested in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...

at the

Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

, Heilman won the silver medal in the 200 meter butterfly with a personal best time of 1:56.52, which ranked him as the fourth-fastest American 15 to 16 years of age in history in the event, behind

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold med ...

Luca Urlando Gianluca Urlando (born March 16, 2002) is an American competitive swimmer. He is a world junior record holder in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay and the 4×100 meter mixed freestyle relay. He is the American record holder in the 100 yard back ...

, and Andrew Seliskar.

(August 24, 2022)
"Day 1 Finals , Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships"
''

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

''. Retrieved August 25, 2022.Penland, Spencer (August 24, 2022)
"15-year-old American Thomas Heilman Blasts 1:56.52 200 Fly For Jr Pan Pacs Silver"
''

''. Retrieved August 25, 2022.Hy-Tek (August 25, 2022)
"2022 Jr Pan Pacific Swimming Championships: Results"
''swmeets.com''. Retrieved August 25, 2022. The second day, he ranked first in the preliminaries of the 100 meter freestyle with a personal best time of 49.06 seconds.

(August 25, 2022)
"Day 2 Prelims , Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships"
''

''. Retrieved August 25, 2022. His time set a new National Age Group record for the boys 15-16 age group, lowering the former mark set by

Caeleb Dressel Caeleb Remel Dressel (born August 16, 1996) is an American professional swimmer who specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. He swims representing the Cali Condors as part of the International Swimming League. He wo ...

in 2013 at 49.28 seconds by over two-tenths of a second.Lohn, John (August 25, 2022)
"Thomas Heilman Shatters NAG Record (15–16) Of Caeleb Dressel in 100 Freestyle"
''

''. Retrieved August 25, 2022. In the evening final, he won the silver medal with a time of 49.34 seconds, finishing 1.11 seconds behind gold medalist

Flynn Southam Flynn Southam (born 5 June 2005) is an Australian swimmer. At the 2022 Junior Pan Pacific Championships, he won gold medals in the 50 metre freestyle, 100 metre freestyle, and 200 metre freestyle. In the 4×100 metre freestyle relay, he won a go ...

of Australia.

(August 25, 2022)
"Day 2 Finals , Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships"
''

''. Retrieved August 25, 2022.Sagendorph, Kyle (August 26, 2022)
"U.S. Grabs One Relay, Three Individual Titles on Junior Pan Pacs Night Two"
''

''. Retrieved August 26, 2022. The start of the race was delayed from the initially set start time due to heavy rain, competition was conducted at an outdoor pool. With a split of 1:47.98 for the second leg of the 4×200 meter freestyle relay later in the same finals session, he helped win the silver medal in a time of 7:15.18.De George, Matthew (August 25, 2022)
"Junior Pan Pacs: Day 2 Finals – Flynn Southam Outduels Thomas Heilman in 100 Free"
''

''. Retrieved August 25, 2022. On the third morning, Heilman swam a 52.75 in the preliminary heats of the 100 meter butterfly, qualifying for the final ranking second behind Jesse Coleman of Australia. He edged out Jesse Coleman in the final by 0.25 seconds to win the gold medal in a Championships record and personal best time of 51.98 seconds.

(August 26, 2022)
"Day 3 Finals , Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships"
''

''. Retrieved August 26, 2022.Gibbs, Robert (August 26, 2022)
"15 Year-Old Thomas Heilman Becomes Youngest US Swimmer Ever To Go Sub-52 100 Fly"
''

''. Retrieved August 26, 2022. His time marked the fastest time ever swum by a male American swimmer in the 15–16 age group, lowering the former National Age Group record of 52.40 set by Luca Urlando.Lohn, John (August 26, 2022)
"Thomas Heilman Blasts NAG (15-16) Record in 100 Butterfly at Junior Pan Pacs; Goes Stunning Sub-52"
''

''. Retrieved August 26, 2022. Later in the session, he led-off the 4×100 meter freestyle relay with a 49.14 to help win the gold medal in a world junior record and Championships record time of 3:15.79.Lohn, John (August 26, 2022)
"United States breaks World Junior Record in 400 Freestyle Relay at Junior Pan Pacs"
''

''. Retrieved August 27, 2022.Penland, Spencer (August 27, 2022)
"U.S. Breaks Boys 4×100 Free Relay World Junior Record (3:15.79), Diehl Splits 48.6"
''

''. Retrieved August 27, 2022.Sagendorph, Kyle (August 27, 2022)
"U.S. Captures World Junior Record in 4x100 Free Relay at Junior Pan Pacs"
''

''. Retrieved August 27, 2022. Sprinting to a finish in a time of 23.05 seconds in the preliminary heats of the 50 meter freestyle on the fourth and final day, he qualified for the b-final ranking first, 0.17 seconds ahead of fellow American and second-ranked Daniel Diehl.

(August 27, 2022)
"Day 4 Prelims , Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships"
''

''. Retrieved August 27, 2022. He withdrew from competing in the b-final prior to the start of the race. Splitting a 51.71 for the butterfly portion of the 4×100 meter medley relay, he contributed to a new Championships record of and gold medal-win in 3:36.65.

(August 27, 2022)
"Day 4 Finals , Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships"
''

''. Retrieved August 27, 2022.Penland, Spencer (August 28, 2022)
"Heilman Throws Down 51.71 Fly Split As U.S. Breaks 4×100 Medley Jr Pan Pac Record"
''

''. Retrieved August 28, 2022. 2022 Swimming World Cup For his first

FINA Swimming World Cup The FINA Swimming World Cup is an international series of short course () swimming meets organized by FINA, the International Federation for swimming. Launched in 1988, the FINA Swimming World Cup gathers world-class swimmers in a series of two-d ...

, Heilman chose a home-country debut, entering to compete in the 100 meter freestyle, 200 meter freestyle, and the 50 meter, 100 meter, and 200 meter butterfly events at the 2022 Swimming World Cup in Indianapolis.

FINA FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

(November 1, 2022)
"FINA Swimming World Cup 2022: Indianapolis (USA): Entries Book"
''

Omega Timing Omega SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Founded by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, the company formerly operated as ''La Generale Watch Co.'' until incorporating the name ''Omega'' in 1903, becoming ' ...

''. Retrieved November 1, 2022. Day one of three, he placed eighteenth in the morning preliminary heats of the 100 meter butterfly with a personal best time of 51.68 seconds, not qualifying for the evening final.

(November 3, 2022)
"FINA Swimming World Cup 2022: Indianapolis (USA): Men's 100m Butterfly Heats Results Summary"
''

''. Retrieved November 3, 2022. The second day, he started off with a rank of twenty-second in the 100 meter freestyle with a personal best time of 48.32 seconds, which was 0.05 seconds behind twenty-first ranked fellow American

Hunter Armstrong Joseph Hunter Armstrong (born January 24, 2001) is an American swimmer. He is the world record holder in the long course 50 meter backstroke. At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, he won a silver medal in the 50 meter backstroke, a bronze med ...

and 1.71 seconds behind first ranked

Kyle Chalmers Kyle Chalmers, (born 25 June 1998) is an Australian competitive swimmer. He is a world record holder in the short course 100 metre freestyle, 4×100 metre medley relay, and long course 4×100 metre mixed freestyle relay. He is the Oceanian ...

of Australia.

(November 4, 2022)
"FINA Swimming World Cup 2022: Indianapolis (USA): Men's 100m Freestyle Heats Results Summary"
''

''. Retrieved November 4, 2022. Later in the same session, he ranked twelfth in the preliminary heats of the 200 meter butterfly, 4.40 seconds slower than first ranked fellow American

Trenton Julian Trenton Jeffrey Julian (born December 9, 1998) is an American competitive swimmer. He is a world record holder in the short course 4×200 meter freestyle relay and 4×100 meter medley relay. He won a gold medal in the 4×200 meter freestyle re ...

with a personal best time of 1:55.44.

(November 4, 2022)
"FINA Swimming World Cup 2022: Indianapolis (USA): Men's 200m Butterfly Heats Results Summary"
''

''. Retrieved November 4, 2022. On the third and final day, Heilman placed thirteenth in the 50 meter butterfly with a personal best time of 23.34 seconds, which was 0.40 seconds behind eighth-rank final qualifier Matthew Temple of Australia.

(November 5, 2022)
"FINA Swimming World Cup 2022: Indianapolis (USA): Men's 50m Butterfly Heats Results Summary"
''

''. Retrieved November 5, 2022. Later in the morning, he placed thirty-second in the 200 meter freestyle with a personal best time of 1:48.75.

(November 5, 2022)
"FINA Swimming World Cup 2022: Indianapolis (USA): Men's 200m Freestyle Heats Results Summary"
''

''. Retrieved November 5, 2022. 2022 Winter Junior National Championships Day two of the East edition of the 2022 Winter Junior US National Championships, held in December in Greensboro, Heilman won the 200 yard individual medley with a boys 15–16 National Age Group record time of 1:41.71.Lohn, John (December 8, 2022)
"Thomas Heilman Takes Down NAG Standard Of Michael Andrew In 200 Individual Medley"
''

''. Retrieved December 8, 2022."2022 East Speedo Winter Junior Championships: Results"
''

''. December 10, 2022. Retrieved January 1, 2023. The following day, he won the 100 yard butterfly with a boys 15–16 National Age Group record time of 44.67 seconds that was almost one second faster than the former record of 45.62 seconds set by

approximately four years earlier.Lohn, John (December 9, 2022)
"Thomas Heilman Destroys 15-16 NAG In 100-Yard Butterfly As He and Scotty Buff Go Sub-45"
''

''. Retrieved December 9, 2022. He finished his individual events off with a National Age Group record for the same age group on day four of four, this time winning the 200 yard butterfly and lowering the former record of 1:40.91 from Luca Urlando by 0.05 seconds with a personal best time of 1:40.86.Gibbs, Robert (December 10, 2022)
"Thomas Heilman, Only 15, Gets Third 15-16 NAG Record This Week With 1:40.86 200 Fly"
''

''. Retrieved December 10, 2022.Lohn, John (December 10, 2022)
"Thomas Heilman Snares Third NAG Record Of Winter Juniors-East; Latest Mark Arrives In 200 Butterfly"
''

''. Retrieved December 10, 2022.

2023

Competing at the 2023 Virginia High School Class 4 State Championships in February as a sophomore, Heilman won individual titles in the 50 yard freestyle, with a 19.69, and the 100 yard butterfly, with a 46.06, which contributed to a win for the men's team of his school Western Albemarle.Harvey, John (February 18, 2023)
"Western Albemarle boys swimming and diving team wins its sixth straight state championship"
''

The Daily Progress ''The Daily Progress'' is the sole daily newspaper in the vicinity of Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It has been published daily, since September 14, 1892. The paper was founded by James Hubert Lindsay and his brother Frank Lindsay. ...

''. Retrieved February 19, 2023. In March, he lowered his personal best time in the 100 yard freestyle to a 42.61 from his former personal best of 42.96 attained on a relay lead-off leg at the 2022 Winter Junior National Championships.Keith, Braden (March 6, 2023)
"15-Year-Old Nathan Szobota Breaks Virginia LSC Record in 1000 Free to Close Sr Champs"
''

''. Retrieved March 20, 2023.

International championships

Personal best times

Long course meters (50 m pool)

Short course meters (25 m pool)

Legend: h – preliminary heat

Short course yards (25 yd pool)

World records

World junior records

Long course meters (50 m pool)

Awards and honors

* ''

'', High School Sports Awards, Boys Rising Star of the Year, nominee: 2021–2022

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heilman, Thomas 2007 births Living people Swimmers from Virginia American male butterfly swimmers American male freestyle swimmers American male medley swimmers 21st-century American people World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming