Ryan Held (born June 27, 1995) is an American retired freestyle swimmer who specializes in the sprint events, and is currently sponsored by Arena. He holds three world records in short course relay events. At the 2016 Summer Olympics he won a gold medal in the 4×100 meter freestyle relays, swimming in both the prelims and the final of the event. He won a second gold medal in the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 4×100 meter freestyle relays, though he did not swim in the finals of the event.
In 2021, he won silver medals in the 50 meter freestyle and the 100 meter freestyle at the 2021 World Short Course Championships. At his first FINA World Aquatics Championships, the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, he won a gold medal in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay.
Background He 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. During his senior year in 2014, Held was named Illinois State Swimmer of the Year. During his collegiate years, held attended North Carolina State University where he swam for Coaches Braden Holloway and Todd DeSorbo.
Career 2016 Summer Olympics
At the 2016 US trials he qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics as a member of the 4×100 meter freestyle relay team. In the Olympic heats, he swam a split time of 47.79 on the second leg, impressing the coaching staff enough to give him the nod to swim in the final. Although Held's time was not as fast as Anthony Ervin’s, head coach Bob Bowman made the decision due to youth since "Younger legs, coming back so quickly". In the final he split 47.73 on the third leg to preserve Team USA's lead, winning the gold medal together with Caeleb Dressel, Michael Phelps, and Nathan Adrian. Held and the other finals relay members won the USA Swimming Foundation Golden Goggle Award for "Relay Performance of the Year" for their performance.Griffus, Annette (November 21, 2016). "Adrian, 4x100 free win Relay Performance of the Year at Golden Goggles". Kitsap Sun. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
2024 Summer Olympics
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Held won the Gold medal with the American team in the Men's 4x100-metre freestyle relay, though he did not swim in the event finals. The American Gold medal relay team swam a combined time of 3:09.28 in the finals without Held. The Australian team placed second for the Silver and the Italian team finished third for the bronze.
2018 World Championships
At the 2018 World Short Course Championships in Hangzhou, China, Held won four gold medals and one silver medal. In the 4×100 meter freestyle relay, Held anchored the finals relay consisting of him, Caeleb Dressel, Blake Pieroni, and Michael Chadwick to a gold medal win in a world record time of 3:03.03.FINA (December 11, 2018). "14th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Hangzhou (CHN): Men's 4x100m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved October 30, 2021. For the 4×50 meter mixed freestyle relay, Held split a 20.60 for the second leg of the relay and helped the finals relay set a new world record and win the gold medal in the event with a finals relay time of 1:27.89.FINA (December 12, 2018). "14th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Hangzhou (CHN): Mixed 4x50m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved October 30, 2021. In the final of the 4×50 meter freestyle relay, Held swam the fastest split of his relay teammates, Caeleb Dressel, Jack Conger, and Michael Chadwick, with a time of 20.25 seconds, which helped the relay win the gold medal and set a new world record in the event at 1:21.80.FINA (December 14, 2018). "14th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Hangzhou (CHN): Men's 4x50m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved October 30, 2021. Gold eluded Held in the 4×50 meter medley relay where he swam the freestyle leg of the relay, earned a silver medal, and helped set an American record of 1:30.90 in the final with Ryan Murphy (backstroke), Michael Andrew (breaststroke), and Caeleb Dressel (butterfly).FINA (December 15, 2018). "14th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Hangzhou (CHN): Men's 4x50m Medley Relay Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved October 30, 2021. Concluding his competition at the Championships, Held swam the freestyle leg of the 4×100 meter medley relay, splitting a time of 45.23 seconds to help the finals relay win the gold medal and set a new Americas record and Championships record of 3:19.98 in the event.FINA (December 16, 2021). "14th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) Hangzhou (CHN): Men's 4x100m Medley Relay Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
2019 At the 2019 Phillips 66 Summer National Championships in Stanford, California, Held ranked first in the 100 meter freestyle prelims heats with a time of 47.43 seconds on July 31, which broke the U.S. Open record and Championships record of 47.58 seconds set by Jason Lezak over 11 years earlier on July 2, 2008.USA Swimming (July 31, 2019). "2019 Phillips 66 National Championships: Men's 100m Freestyle Preliminary Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved October 30, 2021. Later the same day in the final, Held won the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 47.39 seconds, breaking his own U.S. Open and Championships records he set earlier in the day.USA Swimming (July 31, 2019). "2019 Phillips 66 National Championships: Men's 100m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
2021 World Championships
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."2021 FINA Short Course World Championships Roster". USA Swimming. October 28, 2021. Retrieved October 30, 2021. As part of the United States team for the Championships, Held was number two on "The Week That Was" honor for the week of November 1, 2021, from Swimming World.Rieder, David (November 1, 2021). "The Week That Was: Chalmers Takes Down 13-Year-Old World Record". Swimming World. Retrieved November 1, 2021. Gaining racing experience in short course meters as preparation for the World Championships, Held competed at the 2021 Ron Johnson Masters Championship in Tempe, Arizona in November, where he swam a 21.28 and broke the Masters world record in the 50 meter freestyle for the 25–29 age group set at 21.37 by César Cielo in 2014.Keith, Braden (November 21, 2021). "Ryan Held Breaks Cesar Cielo's World Record In The 50 Free (Masters)". SwimSwam. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
On day one of competition, Held split a 46.17 for the anchor leg of the 4×100 meter freestyle relay, qualifying it to the final ranked second with prelims relay teammates Shaine Casas, Hunter Tapp, and Tom Shields.FINA (December 16, 2021). "15th FINA World Swimming Championships 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's 4x100m Freestyle Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved December 16, 2021. In the final, Zach Apple, substituted in for Tom Shields and the relay finished in a time of 3:05.42 to win the bronze medal.FINA (December 16, 2021). "15th FINA World Swimming Championships 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's 4x100m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved December 16, 2021.Moss, Bonnie (December 16, 2021). "U.S. Women Win Gold on First Day of 2021 FINA World Championships (25m)". USA Swimming. Retrieved December 16, 2021. The second day, Held achieved a fourth-place finish in the 4×50 meter mixed freestyle relay with his finals relay teammates in 1:29.04, splitting a 20.86 for the lead-off leg of the relay.FINA (December 17, 2021). "15th FINA World Swimming Championships 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Mixed 4x50m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved December 17, 2021. In the morning of day three, Held finished second in prelims heat ten of the 50 meter freestyle behind Ben Proud of Great Britain with a time of 21.01, which qualified Held for the semifinals ranking third overall.FINA (December 18, 2021). "15th FINA World Swimming Championships 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's 50m Freestyle Heats Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved December 18, 2021. 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.FINA (December 18, 2021). "15th FINA World Swimming Championships 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's 50m Freestyle Semifinals Results Summary". Omega Timing. Retrieved December 18, 2021.Sampl, Emily (December 18, 2021). "Fink, White Lead a Six-Medal Charge on #FINAAbuDhabi2021 Day Three". USA Swimming. Retrieved December 18, 2021. On day four, Held led-off the 4×50 meter freestyle relay with a personal best time of 20.72 seconds and helped the relay achieve a time of 1:23.81, which placed them fourth.FINA (December 19, 2021). "15th FINA World Swimming Championships 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's 4x50m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved December 19, 2021. Later in the same session 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.FINA (December 19, 2021). "15th FINA World Swimming Championships 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's 50m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved December 19, 2021.Rieder, David (December 19, 2021). "Ryan Held Breaks Streak of Bad Timing With Individual World Championships Medal and Relay Gold". Swimming World. Retrieved December 19, 2021. In his final event of the evening, Held helped set an American record of 6:47.00 and win the gold medal in the 4×200 metre freestyle relay with finals relay teammates Kieran Smith, Trenton Julian, and Carson Foster.FINA (December 19, 2021). "15th FINA World Swimming Championships 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's 4x200m Freestyle Final Results". Omega Timing. Retrieved December 19, 2021.Lohn, John (December 19, 2021). "Claire Curzan, Men's 800 Freestyle Relay Set American Records at Short Course Worlds Championships". Swimming World. Retrieved December 19, 2021.