At 7:30 every morning, Van Mathias has a decision to make: the pool or the office? For most elite swimmers, there would be no second option. Mathias, however, has somehow made both part of his life.

The 25-year-old is Indiana’s director of swimming operations, a job that keeps him busy with travel plans, recruiting and the daily work behind one of America’s top collegiate programs. Then he puts the paperwork aside and returns to being one of the fastest breaststrokers in the country.

It is an unusual routine for someone who now has his eyes on Los Angeles 2028. Just a year ago, Mathias was barely swimming at all. Today, he holds the American records in the 50-meter and 100-meter breaststroke and is one of the biggest names on the U.S. roster heading into the Pan Pacific Championships.

And perhaps the strangest part? He never planned any of it. Perhaps, if anyone is going to set fire to conventional thinking in the sport, it might as well be Van Mathias.

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He is a part-time swimmer with a full-time job, a former distance butterflyer turned sprint breaststroker and, somewhat famously, an athlete who refuses to shave his mustache before major meets. “I’m scared that if I shave it, I might lose all my powers,” Mathias joked. “Look good, feel good. So for now it’s going to stay.”

Mathias’ comeback has been almost as unexpected as his training schedule.
He left competitive swimming after the 2023 NCAA Championships and returned to Portland, where he worked odd jobs and coached a high school team. He also spent plenty of time in the weight room, training alongside his mother, Nancy Maxwell, a competitive bodybuilder.

“I was not touching the water at all,” he recalled. “Only the weights.” Then came a call from Indiana coach Ray Looze.

Looze offered Mathias a director of operations role, bringing him back to Bloomington. The plan wasn’t for another swimming career. Mathias was returning to help run the program, not chase another national team. But being around the pool changed something.

In the summer of 2025, he decided to get back into the water and see what happened. The timing was particularly interesting because Los Angeles 2028 will introduce 50-meter events in strokes other than freestyle at the Olympic level, opening another door for sprint specialists.

Mathias had also returned with considerably more muscle. He had reached roughly 235 pounds at one point before settling around 220, giving him the power his new sprint-focused approach demanded. Looze noticed immediately.
“If he’s not the strongest guy in USA Swimming, I would be surprised,” the Indiana coach said. “He is a monster.”

What followed was not supposed to happen so quickly…

The comeback of Van Mathias that nobody saw coming

Mathias made the U.S. Pan Pacific team last summer after winning the 50-meter breaststroke at the U.S. Pro Championships in 26.76 seconds. That earned him his first senior national team appearance since the 2018 Junior Pan Pacific Championships.

Then 2026 turned his comeback into something much bigger. At the Bergen Swim Festival in April, Mathias lowered his 100 breaststroke personal best to 58.19 seconds in the final, narrowly missing the American record. Two days later, he delivered the breakthrough he had been chasing.

His 26.39 in the 50 breaststroke erased Nic Fink’s American record of 26.45.
It wasn’t a one-off. At the U.S. Championships in Indianapolis, Mathias lowered the 50 breaststroke record again to 26.30 and followed it by setting the American record in the 100 at 58.01.

He had gone from stepping away from the sport to becoming its fastest American in both events. And he did it without returning to the traditional grind.

Looze, hardly an advocate for taking it easy, has become one of the biggest believers in Mathias’ approach. “I’m the last person on the face of the coaching earth that people would’ve thought would sign off on this,” he said. “But this is perfect for him. He keeps getting better.”

For Mathias, the results speak loudly. In 33 official swims this year, he has produced 21 lifetime-best performances. But how does he manage to balance a 9-5 job with his swimming routines?

Perhaps surprisingly, the office job hasn’t become a distraction. Mathias believes it may actually be helping him.

His responsibilities include organizing Indiana’s team travel, helping with recruiting and arranging campus visits. During the season, there’s plenty to keep him occupied. That means he doesn’t spend every waking hour thinking about his times or his growing reputation.

“I’ve tried to distract myself with work and other things to not let that feeling set in,” Mathias said. “I think that’s when I swim my best.” That mindset could prove valuable as expectations rise.

And if the American record holder keeps progressing at this pace, he’ll not only become a big contender for gold at the LA Olympics, but also his day job may soon become the least surprising thing about him.