Another year, another national team.
On Monday, USA Swimming announced the 2025-26 United States national team, and Wharton and Engineering senior, 2024 Paris Olympian, and former Penn breaststroke specialist Matt Fallon was named to the roster for the fifth-consecutive year.
“We’re excited for this year’s roster,” USA Swimming National Team Managing Director Greg Meehan said in a release. “We witnessed some strong performances across national and international events this past summer, reinforcing that our team is set up well for the Pan Pacific Championships and future competitions as we look towards LA28.”
Fallon swam his last collegiate meet representing the Red and Blue at the 2025 NCAA Division I championships last March — finishing second in the 200-yard breaststroke for the second year in a row.
The Warren, N.J. native last competed professionally in April at the 2025 TYR Pro Swim Series in Sacramento, Calif. and posted what was then the world’s sixth-fastest time. He currently holds the American record in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:06.54, set at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, and finished 10th at the 2024 Paris Olympics in that same event.
The six athletes with the fastest times in each individual Olympic event are selected for the team each year. Fallon had the fourth-fastest time during the selection period with his 2:09.58 performance at the TYR Pro Swim Series in April.
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Over the summer, Fallon decided to pursue an engineering internship at Axle — a technology startup — instead of competing at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. Fallon won a bronze medal at the 2023 World championships in the 200-meter breaststroke.
“Many thanks to my coaches (Mike, Andrew, and Maddie) and of course all of my teammates at Penn who made last season so successful,” Fallon wrote in an Instagram story in May. “For this summer, I’ve decided to step away from major national competitions as I pursue an internship. I plan to continue to train throughout the summer.”
Fallon’s decision also notably leaves him out of the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships, since the selection process for that competition included meets from this past summer. In 2022, Fallon also prioritized his academics, skipping the 2022 International Team Trials due to a final exam conflict.
Fallon told The Daily Pennsylvanian in April that he is set to graduate in spring 2026 and is interested in pursuing quantitative finance as a future career.
