He attended Christ the King grade school in Springfield, Illinois, and attended high school atSacred-Heart Griffin,[5] where he graduated in 2014 and was coached by Dr. James Stegeman.[6] During his senior year in 2014, Held was named Illinois State Swimmer of the Year.[6] During his collegiate years, held attendedNorth Carolina State University where he swam for CoachesBraden Holloway andTodd DeSorbo.[2]
At the2016 US trials he qualified for the2016 Summer Olympics as a member of the4×100 meter freestyle relay team.[1] In the Olympic heats, he swam a split time of 47.79 on the second leg, impressing the coaching staff enough to give him the nod to swim in the final. Although Held's time was not as fast asAnthony Ervin’s, head coachBob Bowman made the decision due to youth since "Younger legs, coming back so quickly".[7] In the final he split 47.73 on the third leg to preserve Team USA's lead, winning the gold medal together withCaeleb Dressel,Michael Phelps, andNathan Adrian. Held and the other finals relay members won theUSA Swimming FoundationGolden Goggle Award for "Relay Performance of the Year" for their performance.[8]
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Held won the Gold medal with the American team in theMen's 4x100-metre freestyle relay, though he did not swim in the event finals. The American Gold medal relay team swam a combined time of 3:09.28 in the finals without Held. The Australian team placed second for the Silver and the Italian team finished third for the bronze.[9]
At the2019 Phillips 66 Summer National Championships inStanford, California, Held ranked first in the 100 meter freestyle prelims heats with a time of 47.43 seconds on July 31, which broke theU.S. Open record andChampionships record of 47.58 seconds set byJason Lezak over 11 years earlier on July 2, 2008.[15] Later the same day in the final, Held won the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 47.39 seconds, breaking his own U.S. Open and Championships records he set earlier in the day.[16]
Held entered to compete in theshort course 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter freestyle for his individual events at the2021 World Short Course Championships in December inAbu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates.[17] As part of the United States team for the Championships, Held was number two on "The Week That Was" honor for the week of November 1, 2021, fromSwimming World.[18] Gaining racing experience in short course meters as preparation for the World Championships, Held competed at the 2021 Ron Johnson Masters Championship inTempe, Arizona in November, where he swam a 21.28 and broke theMasters world record in the 50 meter freestyle for the 25–29 age group set at 21.37 byCésar Cielo in 2014.[19]
On day one of competition, Held split a 46.17 for the anchor leg of the4×100 meter freestyle relay, qualifying it to the final ranked second with prelims relay teammatesShaine Casas, Hunter Tapp, andTom Shields.[20] In the final,Zach Apple, substituted in for Tom Shields and the relay finished in a time of 3:05.42 to win the bronze medal.[21][22] The second day, Held achieved a fourth-place finish in the4×50 meter mixed freestyle relay with his finals relay teammates in 1:29.04, splitting a 20.86 for the lead-off leg of the relay.[23] In the morning of day three, Held finished second in prelims heat ten of the50 meter freestyle behindBen Proud ofGreat Britain with a time of 21.01, which qualified Held for the semifinals ranking third overall.[24] Held ranked first in the semifinals later in the day with a 20.81, less than one-tenth of a second ahead of second-rankedJoshua Liendo ofCanada.[25][26] On day four, Held led-off the4×50 meter freestyle relay with a personal best time of 20.72 seconds and helped the relay achieve a time of 1:23.81, which placed them fourth.[27] Later in the same session Held won the silver medal in the 50 meter freestyle with a personal best time of 20.70 seconds, which was the first individual medal of his career at a World Championships.[28][29] In his final event of the evening, Held helped set an American record of 6:47.00 and win the gold medal in the4×200 metre freestyle relay with finals relay teammatesKieran Smith,Trenton Julian, andCarson Foster.[30][31]
In the morning of day five, Held ranked fifth in the prelims heats of the100 meter freestyle with a 46.72, qualifying for the semifinals along with fellow American Zach Apple.[32] Held anchored the4×50 meter medley relay in the evening final, splitting a 20.52 to contribute to the gold-medal-winning time of 1:30.51, which tied the Russia relay team, set a new American record, and tied theChampionships record and Americas record.[33][34] For the semifinals of the 100 meter freestyle Held swam a 46.36, ranked fourth, and qualified for the final.[35] In the final the following day, which was the final day of competition, Held won the silver medal with a personal best time of 45.63 seconds.[36][37] On the freestyle leg of the4×100 meter medley relay in the final, Held split a 45.43 to help achieve a time of 3:20.50 and a silver-medal-win.[38][39]
On April 2, at the 2022Pro Swim Series atNorthside Swim Center inSan Antonio, Texas, Held tiedDrew Kibler for third in rank in the prelims heats of the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 49.46 seconds and qualified for the final later in the day.[40] He swam a 49.20 in the final to place third, finishing seven-hundredths of a second behind first-place finisherAndrej Barna.[41]
Day one of the2022 US International Team Trials in late April inGreensboro, North Carolina, Held qualified for the final of the 100 meter freestyle ranking second from the prelims heats with a time of 48.20 seconds.[42] He placed third in the final with a time of 48.18 seconds, qualifying for the2022 World Aquatics Championships team in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay.[43] Day two, he qualified for the b-final of the 200 meter freestyle with a time of 1:48.93 and overall rank of 15th in the prelims heats.[44] In the b-final, he lowered his time to a 1:47.99 to place third, 11th overall.[45] In the 50 meter freestyle prelims heats on the morning of the fifth and final day, he ranked fourth with a 21.92 and qualified for the final.[46] He swam a personal best time of 21.85 seconds in the final to take fourth-place.[47]
On the first day ofswimming at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, Held split a 47.13 for the second leg of the4×100 meter freestyle relay in the prelims heats, the fastest out of him and his prelims relay teammates, helping qualify the relay to the final ranking first and securing his spot on the finals relay with his split time.[48] In the final later the same day, he split the fastest out of him and his finals relay teammates with a 46.99 on the second leg of the relay, helping achieve a gold medal victory in a final time of 3:09.34.[49] On day seven, he split a 47.85 in the preliminaries of the4×100 meter mixed freestyle relay, helping qualify the relay to the final ranking first.[50] In the final, he split a 47.93 for the lead-off leg, helping win the bronze medal in a time of 3:21.09.[51][52] For the4×100 metre medley relay, Held split a 47.36 for the freestyle leg of the relay in the final to help win the silver medal in 3:27.79.[53]
Legend:US –U.S. Open record; Records not set in finals:h – heat;sf – semifinal;r – relay 1st leg;rh – relay heat 1st leg;b – B final;† – en route to final mark;tt – time trial
Legend:WR –World record;AM –Americas record;NR –American record; Records not set in finals:h – heat;sf – semifinal;r – relay 1st leg;rh – relay heat 1st leg;b – B final;† – en route to final mark;tt – time trial
In October 2021, Held publicly announced his engagement to Lexie Lupton, who he trained with during part of his time competing collegiately for theNC State Wolfpack.[58][59] Held then married Lupton in December 2022.[citation needed]
