Mulgrew swims sub 15-min 1500m free at nationals
William Mulgrew (14:58.50) touched the wall nearly 10 second ahead of the second-place finisher to secure the national title in the men's 1500m freestyle at the USA Swimming National Championships.
Video Transcript
William Mulgrew, Shawmut Aquatic Club at Harvard has had a strong spring, even beating Olympic gold medalist Bobby Finke at a couple of meets.
Continuing his rise, the 19-year-old from Walpole, Mass, there in lane three.
Luka Mijatovic from Pleasanton Seahawks in California.
Last year at age 16 became the youngest American man to make a world championship team since Michael Phelps in 2001.
He'll be in lane four.
Aiden Hammer, he'll be in lane five.
18-year-old repping Longhorn Aquatics, Carson Pick from Kentucky Aquatics.
Sixth at the World University Games for the United States last summer in Germany.
Another Texas recruit from Tsunami Swim Team of Kansas City, Ellis Creachy.
Lane eight, representing Sandpipers of Nevada And Joshua Brown from Sandpipers of Nevada.
23-year-old championships, Joshua Brown He's got world championship open water experience to his credit as well.
Mijatovic setting all sorts, Rowdy, of age group records, including breaking those of Michael Phelps.
He continues to be a thrill to watch any time he hits the pool, and there's one of his future teammates at Texas when Mijatovic eventually gets there in Aiden Hammer.
Yeah, yeah, when you talk about Mijatovic and you talk about Michael Phelps in the same sentence, it's pretty good stuff, man.
I mean to be mentioned with the greatest, in my opinion, athlete in history, that's pretty good company.
And, and, and this guy's the real deal.
There's no doubt about it.
This might be a little long for him right now.
I think that sweet spot is probably the 4 and 800.
Great 200, great 1500.
He can swim everything from the 200 to the 1500, no doubt about it, but I, I think when you talk about two years from now, I think that 400 is gonna be one magical race, and he's gonna be really, really good in two years.
Once he gains a little strength, puts some meat on his bones, he's, he's gonna be much stronger in the water.
Right now, he's just doing it with just pure guts, instinct, not a care in the world.
Got nothing to prove.
Only swimmer in this field, Jason, to have broken 15 minutes.
Did that a couple of months ago, which is also still to this day, believe it or not, a, a magical barrier.
So underway here, Mijatovic looking to be one of the early pace setters.
Above him is Mulgrew, who Rowdy really continued to do some good things.
We saw his progress throughout the spring in a bunch of big time meets here in the US.
If you look at the last few splits, 30.4, .5, .3, .3.
I mean he's, he's just right there at breaking 15 minutes.
I mean, he's gonna flip literally at this 1300 mark at 13 minutes.
I mean, he's right there.
12:59:6, that's a 30.1 right there with 200 meters left to go.
It's not a big crowd here tonight- No but this deck needs to will him- Yes to get under that 15 minutes because he will be much more excited about a 14:59 than he would be a 15:01.
Even though 15:01 would be a PB by four seconds.
It's- His best time ever is 15:05 that's huge.
He's feeling it.
First night, too, of the meet.
Yeah I think that's, it, it's a lot to say and to have the 1500 on the first night and getting adjusted to- Yeah the environment, the weather.
Yeah.
It's go time.
And you think about his progress for a guy that finished seventh at the Olympic trials finals two years ago in Indy, went 15:17 there, and maybe the chance to break 15 minutes for the first time here in the 1500.
Here we go.
Yeah, there's the bell lap again.
Look at this split right here.
He was 30.6, so he's over 14 minutes .2.
I think he's getting under.
Yeah.
I, I think he knows exactly where he's at.
The coaches and the deck are kind of spurring him on right now.
I think he knows he's got this chance.
He's not gonna waste it.
I don't, I don't think he's gonna be under at the thir- at the 1450.
I think he's gonna wait until that last 50, put the legs into it.
He, he still has that great DPS, that great distance per stroke.
Let's see this split.
This'll tell us a little bit.
30.1, so he's gotta be 29:05 on the way home.
Well, William Mulgrew's done some wonderful things here in 2026.
Some big meet wins.
Gonna grab himself a Toyota National Championship.
And can he set a lifetime best in the process?
Looks like he'll do that.
Can he crack 15 minutes for the first time?
Yes.
And he will.
15:58:50 for Mulgrew and the gold at Irvine.
Congratulations, William Mulgrew.
Sean Green, 15 Sean Green holds on for second.
Mijatovic ends up in third.
Aiden Hammer there in fourth.
15:08.4 And Mulgrew with a magnificent swim, going faster than he ever has here in the 1500 Ah, it's just a, that's a great swim.
You know, he, he never panicked whatsoever early on because Mijatovic took it to him early on in the race, Jason.
And, you know, once he kind of got the feel for the water and got into some rhythm, again, very consistent, very consistent as far as those splits go.
He just maintained that, those blinders, so to speak, where you just do nothing but concentrate on the task at hand.
Erica Sullivan talked a little while ago about maintaining that great stroke count, and that's what he did throughout this race.
And he gets under.
It's still a pretty cool thing, right?
I mean, 15 minutes, it's, it's not what it once was, but it's still pretty cool to do it for the first time.
Our thanks to great Olympic medalist, Cait- Kaitlin Sandeno for stopping by and chatting with us as we watched William Mulgrew race his way to the win.
Again, through all the time heats, Mulgrew the fastest, grabs the national championship, and breaks 15 minutes for the first time.
William, congratulations.
It feels like it's been really kind of a breakthrough 2026 for you.
What do you attribute all that success to?
Yeah, I mean, I gotta give that success to, like, my teammates back home, Pablo, Andrew Duke, training with me this summer.
And yeah, just, like, great, great Harvard training this summer.
You know, William, it's funny because we, we kept talking about that barrier and how important it is for you to get over that hump to get under 15 minutes, but I think what we got lost in is the fact that you went your best time by seven seconds.
That had to mean a lot as well.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, that swim was lovely.
I'm just, I'm happy with how I was able to execute.
I mean, the great heat of guys I was able to race against, that really helped me push to break 15.
Ah, way to go, buddy.
Congratulations.
Thank you
