U.S. Nationals, Day 4 Finals: Rex Maurer Clocks U.S. Open Record For 400 Free Win; Luka Mijatovic Lowers NAG Record to Reach Worlds
Get ready for the arrival of Rex Maurer to international mid-distance swimming. The 20-year-old Longhorn signaled his talent to the rest of the world with an emphatic win in the 400 freestyle final at U.S. Nationals. After spending the first half of the race swimming even with Kieran Smith, the top-ranked American in the event for the last five years, Maurer turned on the jets and to take the lead, and he pulled away from the field by more than two seconds.
“This season, I’ve been really focusing on jumping on it a little bit earlier,” Maurer said of his race strategy. “Earlier in my career, I liked to go with 125 left, and (Texas coach) Bob (Bowman) has really tried to push going at the 200. Really tried to put my legs into it more. I think those two combined have really catapulted me to the (best) times.
The result was the fastest time recorded by an American in 17 years. Maurer posted a time of 3:43.33, taking down the U.S. Open record of 3:43.53 established by Larsen Jensen at the 2008 Olympic Trials. Maurer’s time ranks as the third-fastest in U.S. history, with only Jensen (3:42.78) and Peter Vanderkaay (3:43.11) swimming quicker marks at the Beijing Olympics.
“If you see my short course times, I think I was due for a big drop in the long course pool, and I’m glad I was able to put it together,” Maurer said. “I was definitely expecting something around there.”
And joining Maurer on the World Championships team in the event will be a 16-year-old. As Maurer pulled away, a group consisting of 200 free winner Luke Hobson and teenagers Luka Mijatovic and Ryan Erisman closed the gap on a fading Smith. In the end, the two teenagers were the last swimmers left in contention for the second spot, and Mijatovic had enough to hold on.
Mijatovic posted a time of 3:45.71, lowering his own 15-16 National Age Group record set in prelims. Erisman came in third at 3:46.01, clipping Jensen’s NAG record in the 17-18 age group (3:46.08).
David Johnston, already on the Worlds team after finishing second in the 1500 free, took fourth in 3:47.10, while Smith fell to fifth in 3:47.17. Hobson’s time of 3:47.47 was good for sixth.
Rex Maurer — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Over the past year, Maurer has transformed his career. He was a high-school-record breaker but struggled in his lone season at Stanford, only to start firing off massive drops during his first season racing for the University of Texas. In November, he broke the American record in the 500 free, and he went on to capture NCAA titles in the 500 free and 400 IM while finishing second in the 400 IM.
His efforts were critical in the Longhorns’ return to the No. 1 spot in the college rankings, and the Texas program has been ideal for Maurer’s own swimming. He credits Bowman’s intense training and culture of excellence as the primary driver of his improvement.
“In order to go to the places I want to go, you have to put in the work, so I’ve really loved it,” Maurer said. “You have to face a lot of your demons in practice every day. He puts you through really challenging stuff, and if you can get through those workouts, I think the races won’t be nearly that hard. You get a lot of confidence training with him.”
Maurer seemed like a safe bet to translate his improvements to long course given his strong form in the 1650-yard race and lack of dependency on his turns in the 25-yard course, and that has come true since his arrival at Nationals. In the 200 free, he dropped 1.66 seconds on the way to a third-place finish and a ticket to World Championships for relay purposes. A three-second best time in the 400 IM resulted in a third once again, with stellar efforts of Bobby Finke and Carson Foster necessary to deny Maurer.
Now, he has claimed an individual swim with this dominant effort over eight lengths of freestyle.
“I think just training with some of the best people in the world has been a super fulfilling experience for me,” Maurer said. “That’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and being able to be with guys who break world records, medal in international meets, show you what it takes to go those times, I think that’s the big difference.”
Maurer and Mijatovic will be trying to overcome a poor international track record for the U.S. in the men’s 400. No American has won a medal at a global long course competition since 2016, when Smith won Olympic bronze, and the World Championships dry spell dates back to 2013. Maurer will have a legitimate chance of breaking that trend as he became the second-fastest swimmer in the world, trailing only German Olympic champion and world-record breaker Lukas Martens.
As for Mijatovic, this runnerup finish takes him to a senior-level international meet for the first time after three years of crushing National Age Group records in the distance events for the 13-14 and 15-16 age groups. Mijatovic stated his intention to contend when he crushed his best time by two seconds in the 200 free prelims to reach his first final at a selection meet. He ended up finishing eighth in an extremely deep field where all seven others went 1:45.73 or quicker, but he was back in the pool the next morning for the 400 IM and cut eight seconds from his best.
In the 400 free, the event in which Mijatovic won gold at last year’s Junior Pan Pacific Championships, he knocked three seconds off his own NAG record in prelims, swimming a quicker time than the existing record in the 17-18 age group. More importantly, he qualified No. 1 for the final to give himself a chance against a field stacked with mid-distance veterans, and he converted on that opportunity to earn his trip to Singapore.
