In record-breaking fashion, rising fourth-year Matthew Fallon of the men’s swimming and diving team earned a spot in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games on Wednesday by placing first the 200-meter breaststroke at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis.
Fallon’s winning time of 2:06.54 set a new American record and is the fastest time in the world so far this year. He is the first American swimmer in Penn’s program history to qualify for the U.S. national team, and only the fifth men’s student-athlete in program history to qualify for the Olympics.
Leading up to the Trials, Fallon, a student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Wharton School, told Penn Engineering that earning a spot on the Olympic team would be a nice bow tie to all his super hard work competing in national meets and world competitions.
Last summer, Fallon won the national championship in the 200-meter breaststroke for the second year in a row at USA Swimming Phillips 66 National Championships in Indianapolis. He also won bronze in the 200-meter breaststroke at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, making him the first Quaker to medal at worlds. In December, he won gold in the 200-meter breaststroke at the U.S. Open Swimming Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina.
During the recent collegiate season, Fallon won the Ivy League title in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:49.75. At the NCAA Championships in March in Indianapolis, he placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:48.48, a new school record.
The Olympics will be held Friday, July 26, through Sunday, Aug. 11, in Paris. The swimming events will be held July 27-Aug. 4.
