Luka Mijatovic Takes Down Decade-Old American Record in 1000 Freestyle
For the first time in his budding career, Luka Mijatovic has broken an American record, not just an age group mark but the all-time best by any swimmer in an event. Sunday evening at a Sectionals meet in Rosedale, Calif., Mijatovic produced a time of 8:32.83 in the 1000 freestyle to break the previous national mark by more than a second.
This performance comes on the heels of an enormous effort in the 500 free Saturday, where Mijatovic swam a time of 4:05.76 to beat his previous best time (and National Age Group record) by more than three seconds while becoming the third-quickest performer in history. In the 500, Mijatovic was within 1.5 seconds of the national mark held by Rex Maurer, and now he has taken down a mark that belonged to another Texas Longhorn for the last decade. The previous mark belonged to Clark Smith, who went 8:33.93 at the Texas Invitational in December 2015. Smith went on to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team six months later.
Mijatovic dropped four seconds from his own 1000-yard best time and NAG record; he previously clocked 8:36.71 late last year. He was already well ahead of the NAG record in the 17-18 age group, which belongs to Max Carlsen at 8:41.12. Mijatovic currently owns 11 NAG records, with the top times in the 500, 1000 and 1650-yard free for the 13-14 and 15-16 age groups, the 400, 800 and 1500-meter free for 13-14 swimmers and the 400 and 800 for 15-16.
The Pleasanton Seahawks swimmer has already been to the World Championships, having finished second in the 400 free at last year’s U.S. Nationals. Last fall, Mijatovic verbally committed to swim at the University of Texas beginning with the 2026-27 season.
