Claire Weinstein Making Inroads on World’s Best in Mid-Distance Freestyle
Each of the last three seasons has seen Claire Weinstein make a substantial jump in her ascent to international prominence in the freestyle events. In 2022, she was just 15 years old and less than a year removed from joining the Sandpipers of Nevada when she qualified for World Championships in the 200 free. A year after that, she scored a win over Katie Ledecky in the event at U.S. Nationals.
Weinstein struggled in her first two international appearances, but that changed in 2024 when she qualified for her first Olympic team. She qualified for the 200 free final and later swam a lifetime best leading off the American women’s silver-medal-winning 800 free relay. In December, she won her first individual medal at a global-level competition, claiming bronze in her signature event at the Short Course World Championships. At the same meet, she was the star of an American women’s team that won 800 free relay gold in world-record time.
Now 18 and in her final season before the start college career at Cal-Berkeley in the fall, Weinstein is continuing to make significant strides. She has already earned a spot at her third World Championships by virtue of her second-place finish in the U.S. national 10-kilometer open water race last month. She will head to U.S. Nationals favored to add swims in Singapore in the 200 free as well as the 400-meter event after she swam a massive best time at the final stop of the TYR Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale.
Claire Weinstein — Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Ledecky, of course, was the star of that race as she swam her fastest time since 2016 and fell less than four tenths shy of the American record. Before Ledecky’s furious finish, Canada’s Summer McIntosh had the lead the entire way, and she ended up eclipsing the mark she swam to win Olympic silver last year. Weinstein, meanwhile, sat in third place for the entire race and came to the wall in 4:01.26.
That time annihilated her previous personal best of 4:04.54, and it would have been good enough for fifth place in the Olympic final behind the star-studded group of Ariarne Titmus, McIntosh, Ledecky and Erika Fairweather. Moreover, the swim made Weinstein the third-fastest American in history, behind only Ledecky and Leah Smith and ahead of 2012 Olympic silver medalist Allison Schmitt and the swimmer who joined Ledecky in the event’s final at the last two Olympics, Paige Madden.
The next day, Weinstein would get the better of Ledecky in the 200 free, overcoming a small early deficit to take the lead on the third length and pull away down the stretch with a 28.87 closing split. Weinstein’s final time was 1:54.93, just five hundredths behind her best time. The time would have placed the teenager fourth in the Olympic final, less than four tenths behind bronze medalist Siobhan Haughey. Moreover, Weinstein is now the top-ranked swimmer in the world in for 2025, three hundredths ahead of China’s Liu Yaxin.
Given Weinstein’s performances, this year marks the first time in more than a decade that Ledecky will not be favored in the four-lap event entering the U.S. selection meet. In fact, if Weinstein can successfully navigate Nationals, she will enter this year’s Worlds positioned as a medal threat in both mid-distance events. And if the American women hope to return to the golden podium in the 800 free relay, it will be up to Weinstein to continue bringing her recent trend of best form in the big moments.
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