Jay Litherland

Jay Litherland (born August 24, 1995) is an American competition swimmer of both Japanese and New Zealand descent. He represents DC Trident which is part of the International Swimming League. He won the silver medal in the Men's 400 Individual Medley at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in a time of 4:10.28. He was a World University Games gold medalist at the 2015 Summer Universiade and a bronze medalist at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships. Litherland competed for the University of Georgia in American collegiate swimming.

Jay Litherland
Litherland at 2015 Gwangju
Personal information
National teamUnited States
Born (1995-08-24) August 24, 1995
Amagasaki, Japan[1]
Height6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight176 lb (80 kg)
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesMedley
ClubDC Trident[2]
Dynamo Swim Club
College teamUniversity of Georgia
CoachRich Murphy, Franz Ressigue, Jason Turcotte, Jack Bauerle, Ian Murray
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing the United States United States
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2020 Tokyo 400 m medley
World Championships (LC)
Silver medal – second place2019 Gwangju400 m medley
Bronze medal – third place2017 Budapest4x200 m freestyle
Summer Universiade
Gold medal – first place 2015 Gwangju 400 m Medley
World Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2013 Dubai 4 × 200 m freestyle
Representing the Georgia Bulldogs
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
NCAA Championships 0 0 1
Total 0 0 1
NCAA Championships
Bronze medal – third place2016 Atlanta 400 y medley

Early life

Litherland was born in Amagasaki, Japan as a triplet, along with brothers Mick and Kevin. His father, Andrew Litherland, is a chef from New Zealand, and his mother, Chizuko, is from Japan.[3] He grew up speaking Japanese at home.[4] The family settled in Johns Creek, Georgia, and Litherland was named an All-American in swimming while he was a student at Chattahoochee High School.[4] Litherland and his brothers grew up swimming at Dynamo Swim Club in Atlanta, and each attended and competed as swimmers at the University of Georgia.[5]

Litherland received U.S. citizenship in high school. As a triple citizen of Japan, New Zealand, and the United States, he had the option of competing for any of the those three countries at the Olympics. He originally contacted the New Zealand swimming federation with interest in competing for them for the 2016 Olympics, but he had already competed for the U.S. at an international event, meaning he would have required special permission to switch to New Zealand. His brothers decided to participate in the New Zealand Olympic trials instead of the U.S. trials, which left Litherland "kind of bummed that I'm not representing New Zealand with them, but I'm really excited for them."[3] His brothers ended up not making the New Zealand team, so all three competed in the U.S. trials together.[6]

College Career: University of Georgia

International career

2015 World University Games

At the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, Litherland won gold in the 400-meter IM, out-splitting compatriot Josh Prenot by 3 seconds on the freestyle leg to overtake him with a time of 4:12.43.

2016 U.S. Olympic Trials

At the 2016 United States Olympic Trials, Litherland qualified for his first Olympic team by placing second in the 400-meter IM behind his Georgia teammate Chase Kalisz in a time of 4:11.02.

2016 Rio Olympics

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Litherland placed 5th in the 400-meter IM with a time of 4:11.68.

2017 National Championships/World Championship Trials

At the 2017 USA Swimming Championships, Litherland placed 2nd in the 400-meter IM with a time of 4:09.31, qualifying him to swim the event at that year's World Championships. He also finished 5th in the 200-meter IM, 9th in the 400-meter freestyle, and 7th in the 200-meter freestyle.

2017 World Championships

At the 2017 World Aquatics Championships, Litherland placed 5th in the 400-meter IM in a time of 4:12.05. He also swam in the heats of the 4x200-meter freestyle relay, and earned his first World Championship medal, a bronze, when the US team placed 3rd in the final.

2018 U.S. National Championships

At the 2018 USA Swimming Championships, Litherland swam a time of 4:10.21 in the 400-meter IM to placed 2nd. He also finished 6th in the 200-meter IM and 7th in the 200-meter freestyle.

2019 World Championships

Jay's only event at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships was on the final day. With Teammate Chase Kalisz failing to make the final, Jay Litherland was the only American in the 400 IM Final. [7] Sitting 3.34 Seconds behind the leader Daiya Seto at the 300 mark, Litherland closed the gap to 0.27, placing 2nd and gaining him his first individual World Championship medal. [8][9]

2020 Tokyo Olympics

In the 400 meter individual medley Litherland closed strongly to win the silver medal in a time of 4:10.28. He outtouched bronze medalist Brendon Smith by one-tenth of a second.[10]

Career best times

Long course (50-meter pool)
Event Time Venue Date
400 m IM 4:09.22 South Korea July 28, 2019

[11]

References
  1. "兵庫・尼崎出身の米国代表リザーランド選手　競泳４００個メドレー５位入賞". Sankei Shimbun. August 8, 2016.
  2. Gibbs, Robert (June 11, 2019). "natalie-coughlin-to-return-to-competition-with-the-dc-tridentfor-2019-international-swimming-league-finale". SwimSwam.
  3. Johannsen, Dana (March 26, 2016). "Swimming: With triplets, two out of three ain't bad". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  4. "Jay Litherland". SwimSwam. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  5. "Jay Litherland". Team USA. May 22, 2020. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016.
  6. "Kevin Litherland". SwimSwam. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  7. Chase Kalisz misses 400m individual medley final at swim worlds https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2019/07/27/chase-kalisz-swim-worlds/ Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  8. Daiya Seto Holds Off Fast-Charging Jay Litherland for 400 IM Crown https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/daiya-seto-holds-off-fast-chargin-jay-litherland-for-400-im-crown/ Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  9. Jay Litherland sets a personal best time in men's 400m IM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34YIdCtIWYo&t=544s&ab_channel=NBCSports Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  10. "Men's 400 IM Results". The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on July 23, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  11. "2019 World Championships results". FINA. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
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