Rylee Erisman Targets Multi-Medal Haul at World Junior Championships, Bigger Goals Awaiting
The past 14 months have seen Rylee Erisman become an Olympic Trials finalist and then win six medals, five of them gold, at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships. During the short course season, Erisman claimed a national high school record as a sophomore and a 15-16 National Age Group mark previously belonging to Claire Curzan. Now, she is aiming to build her international résumé as a central figure for the American women at this week’s World Junior Championships in Otopeni, Romania.
At this week’s competition, the 16-year-old Erisman is the strong favorite for gold in the women’s 100 freestyle, her entry time of 53.75 two-thirds of a second clear of the field. She is tied with American teammate Annam Olasewere for first entering the 50 free, and only China’s Yang Peiqi is ahead in the 200 free. She is expected to handle legs on five relays over the course of the weeks. Erisman is also a talented backstroker, earning spots in the 50 and 100-meter races at the international level, but she dropped those from her already-packed schedule.
As she pursues a potential eight medals, Erisman will also chase improved status in the American women’s freestyle hierarchy. Erisman swam at U.S. Nationals in early June as a contender to reach the senior-level Worlds team, but the fastest fields ever assembled on U.S. soil denied her spots in the top-eight in the 50, 100 and 200 free. Erisman responded with a trio of consolation-final wins, her time of 1:57.29 in the 200 free only 0.11 behind the sixth-place time of Bella Sims in the top heat. Erisman did make one appearance in a final that week, coming in eighth in the 100 back.
Rylee Erisman — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
How fast can Erisman swim this week? She was just off her best efforts in the sprint events at Nationals, but she showed improved performance in her second taper meet of the summer last year when she raced at Junior Pan Pacs. In the 100 free, she owns a best time of 53.75, and a drop of a quarter-second could put her in position for a senior-level international appearance next year. The U.S. Pan Pacs team in 2026 will include the top-five women in the 100 freestyle based on times from finals at championship meets, so if Erisman will need to eclipse the 53.51 of Erin Gemmell in the individual final in Otopeni to book her ticket.
There’s less of a chance she can break into the mix in the 200 free just yet, not with five American women clocking 1:55 or better in the Nationals final, but consider the ridiculous improvement Erisman has already posted in the four-lap event. At the start of the year, she had ever broken 2:00 from a flat-start, with her best-ever swim a 1:59.10 relay split at Junior Pan Pacs last August. But since March, Erisman has gone sub-2:00 on eight different occasions, topping out with a 1:57.29 at Nationals.
In her final tune-up for World Juniors, she went 1:57.44 in the 200 free at USA Swimming’s Futures Championships in Ocala, Fla. At that same meet, her time of 53.80 in the 100 free was only five hundredths behind her personal best. All the indicators suggest that Erisman is poised to show her dominance over her same-age peers this week while cementing a future as a key contributor for the United States in competitions of even greater significance.
That’s with the American women already in their best spot in years in the shorter freestyle events. Silver medals in the 400 and 800 freestyle relays at the World Championships in Singapore were not reflective of the major jumps already seen this year as gastrointestinal illness proved to be a major setback for the senior team in tight races against Australia. Still, Erisman is quickly approaching the established stars, and this showcase in Romania might be her last before she graduates to the big leagues.
