Luke Hobson
Luke Hobson is an American swimmer, who competed for the University of Texas, and was a 2024 Summer Olympics team member for the United States, where he won a silver in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay and a bronze medal in the individual 200-meter freestyle events.
He holds the world record in the 200 meter freestyle, and the US Open and American records in the 200 yard freestyle.
Early life
Hobson was born in Reno, Nevada on June 5, 2003, and attended Reno High School, graduating in 2021. As both his parents were collegiate swimmers, beginning at the age of eight, Hobson swam for the Lakeridge Swim Team under Coach Sharon Weiss.Swimming career
High School
In May 2019, as a Reno High School sophomore, Hobson won both the 200-yard freestyle in a state record time of 1:38.53, and the 500-yard freestyle in 4:28.35 at the Nevada State Championship swim meet at the Carson Aquatic Center in Carson City.Hobson said he wanted to set a goal to continue to win the two events as a Junior and Senior. Continuing to achieve as a High School Senior, he swam a 45.22 in the 100 freestyle on May 22, 2021, which qualified him to compete at the "2020 U.S. Olympic Trials", which were held in June, 2021 due to COVID. In the Spring of 2020, when many pools were shut down due to COVID, Hobson trained by lifting weights and swimming in his parents' backyard pool while tethered to a pole.
College
From 2021 to 2025, Hobson studied advertising and competed on the swim team at the University of Texas. Swimming under Head Coach Eddie Reese and Coach Wyatt Collins, he was a five-time NCAA champion including the 200 yard freestyle in 2023, and 2024; the 500 yard freestyle in 2023; and the 4x200 yard freestyle relay in 2022, and 2023. At the 2024 NCAA Championships, Hobson helped establish an NCAA 200-yard freestyle record of 1:29.13 as the lead swimmer for the University of Texas 4x200 yard freestyle relay. Hobson also swam a 1:28.81 to win the individual 200 yard freestyle final, setting a new record. He graduated Texas as a twelve-time All-American.Olympic
Hobson qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics at the June, 2024 US Olympic Swimming Team Trials where he placed first in the 200m freestyle.Swimming in his Senior year at the University of Texas in the 2024 Paris Olympics, Hobson won a silver medal as a member of the Men's U.S. 4×200-meter freestyle Olympic relay team, taking silver with a combined team time of 7:00.78, around 1.35 seconds behind the gold medal time of the British team.
In individual competition, Hobson took the bronze medal with a time of 1:44.79 in an exceptionally close race in the 2024 Olympic Men's 200 m freestyle, with less than a tenth of a second separating the top three finishers. Romanian team member David Popovici captured the gold medal with a 1:44.72, with Great Britain's Matthew Richards won the silver with a time of 1:44.74. Hobson became the first University of Texas athlete to medal in the Men's 200-meter freestyle.
Achievements
Hobson has been a world championship medalist six times, taking one gold, one silver, and four bronze medals. In 2024, He won his first individual global medal.In 2023, he became only the fifth US swimmer to break 1:45 seconds for the 200m freestyle, with a time of 1:44.87 in the semifinals of the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
At the 2025 U.S. National Championships, he swam the 200 meter freestyle in 1:43.73 to become the first American to swim under 1:44 since 2009, and 5th fastest performer ever in the event.