The Accidental Ascent: How Late-Bloomers are Disrupting the Breaststroke Hierarchy
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From hockey rinks to distance butterfly, a new wave of unconventional talents is threatening the established order heading into the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
As the swimming world looks toward the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the traditional pipeline for elite breaststrokers is being upended by a chaotic influx of converts and late-bloomers. While the sport often relies on established powerhouses, recent results suggest that the breaststroke is uniquely susceptible to disruption by athletes who arrive from completely unexpected backgrounds.
As Sports Illustrated first reported, two primary examples of this phenomenon are McKenzie Siroky and Van Mathias. Both athletes have transitioned from nonfactors to prime Olympic threats through non-traditional paths.
Siroky, a 21-year-old who had previously committed to play collegiate hockey at Minnesota-Duluth, only abandoned her hockey dreams for swimming in 2023. According to Sports Illustrated, her experience prior to this shift was limited to high school and summer club teams, and she had never competed in a long-course pool. After a gap year and training in Michigan, she shocked the field by making the eight-woman final at the Olympic Trials, finishing seventh.
Siroky's ascent culminated at the Pan Pacific Championships, where she won the gold medal in the women's 100 breaststroke with a lifetime best of 1:05.32. In doing so, she defeated a field of established stars, including five-time Olympic medalist Kate Douglass, Japan's Satomi Suzuki, and Paris Olympic silver medalist Tan Qianting of China. Siroky also secured a silver medal in the 50 breaststroke.
Similarly, Van Mathias has emerged as a dominant force despite a fragmented career path. Sports Illustrated reports that Mathias was once a distance butterflyer of modest renown. He did not transition to sprint breaststroke until his fifth year at Indiana University, and subsequently quit the sport for two years. He returned as a part-time competitor while serving as the full-time director of operations for the Indiana University swimming program.
Mathias's impact was felt immediately at the Pan Pacific Championships. He won the men's 100 breaststroke in a championship-record time of 58.02, missing his own American record by just .01. He also earned a silver medal in the 50 breaststroke—a feat achieved despite suffering from back spasms that left him unable to walk six hours before the race. Additionally, Mathias took silver in the 50 butterfly and contributed to a world-record-breaking gold medal performance in the mixed medley relay.
This volatility is inherent to the discipline. Ray Looze, a coach at Indiana who has mentored multiple Olympic medalist breaststrokers, told Sports Illustrated that he keeps an open mind regarding technique and training because the stroke can "come and go for no reason." Looze notes that the coaching staff is constantly searching for under-the-radar talent.
Physical predisposition also plays a role in these sudden rises. Sports Illustrated notes that breaststrokers often possess a specific ankle pronation, characterized by feet that naturally splay outward when standing, making the stroke a poor fit for those who are pigeon-toed.