10 Facts About Ryan Held

Ryan Held was born on June 27,1995 and is an American freestyle swimmer who specializes in the sprint events, and is currently sponsored by Arena.

Ryan Held holds the US Open record in the long course 100 meter freestyle and three world records in short course relay events.

Ryan Held attended Christ the King grade school in Springfield, Illinois, and attended high school at Sacred-Heart Griffin, where he graduated in 2014 and was coached by Dr James Stegeman.

At the 2018 World Short Course Championships in Hangzhou, China, Ryan Held won four gold medals and one silver medal.

At the 2019 Phillips 66 Summer National Championships in Stanford, California, Ryan Held ranked first in the 100 meter freestyle prelims heats with a time of 47.43 seconds on July 31, which broke the US Open record and Championships record of 47.58 seconds set by Jason Lezak over 11 years earlier on July 2,2008.

Later the same day in the final, Ryan Held won the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 47.39 seconds, breaking his own US Open and Championships records he set earlier in the day.

Ryan Held entered to compete in the short course 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter freestyle for his individual events at the 2021 World Short Course Championships in December in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Ryan Held ranked first in the semifinals later in the day with a 20.81, less than one-tenth of a second ahead of second-ranked Joshua Liendo of Canada.

Later in the same session Ryan Held won the silver medal in the 50 meter freestyle with a personal best time of 20.70 seconds, which was the first individual medal of his career at a World Championships.

In October 2021, Ryan Held publicly announced his engagement to Lexie Lupton, who he trained with during part of his time competing collegiately for the NC State Wolfpack.