David Johnston is an American distance swimmer and World Championship bronze medalist. He currently represents The Swim Team (TST) and competes collegiately for the University of Texas.
Age Group Career
A late bloomer, Johnston entered high school without a single Sectionals cut but by the end of his junior year, he held 2020 Olympic Trials cuts in the 800m free (8:12.14), 1500m free (15:33.36), and 400m IM (4:24.83) quickly rising to become one of the top distance swimmers in his class.
In October 2019, Johnston announced his commitment to swim at the University of Texas under legendary head coach Eddie Reese, joining the Longhorns’ class of 2024.
University of Texas (2020-2023)
NCAA Breakout (2020-2021)
Upon entering the NCAA, Johnston wasted no time making his presence known. In his first collegiate meet, the 2020 Texas Orange and White Intrasquad, Johnston dropped a lifetime best of 4:16.45 in the 500 yard free, cutting two seconds off of his lifetime best. A few weeks later, he bested Bobby Fink’s 17-18 NAG record in the 1000 freestyle, swimming a time of 8:45.38 to cut .12 off of Fink’s previous record.
At the 2021 NCAA Championships, Johnston helped the Texas men win the National Title, scoring 23 individual points. He had a pivotal performance in the 400 IM, where he dropped a personal best of 3:40.80 to earn an A-final swim to shift the momentum in favor of the Longhorns. Prior to college, his best time was 3:49.10, showing a huge improvement.
2021-2022
Johnston saw a similar performance during the 2022 NCAA season. At the 2022 American Short Course Championships a few weeks before the NCAA Championships, Johnston dropped a personal best of 14:32.40 in the 1650 freestyle to rank himself 2nd in the country entering NCAAs. However, at the NCAA Championships, he added a little time, ultimately finishing 5th in the 1650 free (14:33.61). Johnston also placed 6th in the 500 free with a 4:10.96 personal best out of prelims and 7th in the 400 IM with a personal best of 3:38.90 in prelims.
2022-2023
After his long course breakout, Johnston was expected to be a key contributor for the Longhorns during the 2022-2023 season. Early in the season, Johnston dropped two seconds off of his best time in the 1000 freestyle, swimming a time of 8:41.61 to move himself up to #4 all-time in the event. Johnston carried that momentum into the 2023 Big 12 Championships, winning the 500 freestyle (4:12.82) and 1650 freestyle (14:37.30) to come out of the meet as one of Texas’ top scorers.
The 2023 NCAA Championships were Johnston’s best yet. Following his performance from Big 12s in the 500 freestyle, he dropped a massive personal best of 4:08.79 to take 2nd overall in the event behind teammate Luke Hobson. Johnston also improved his finish position in the 1650 freestyle, coming in 4th place (14:35.51), while also adding a 8th place finish in the 400 IM (3:40.10).
Following his successful long course season in the summer of 2023, Johnston announced that he would be taking an Olympic redshirt year to train with Mark Schubert‘s distance group at The Swim Team (TST), with plans to rejoin the Longhorns in the fall of 2024.
International Experience
2022 Duel in the Pool/Australian Championships
Johnston got his first taste of international competition in late 2022, representing the United States at the 2022 Duel in the Pool competition against Australia. Throughout the meet, Johnston competed in a variety of events, including the broken 400m freestyle and the 4x800m open water relay.
However, his best performances of the week came at the Australian SC Championships. Johnston opened the meet with a monster 7:30.41 in the 800 freestyle SCM to shatter Michael McBroom’s American Record of 7:33.99, also moving himself up to #7 all-time. Johnston made great use of his first SCM opportunity, also dropping a time of 14:22.77 in the 1500 freestyle to become the 2nd fastest American of all-time only behind Connor Jaeger’s American Record of 14:19.29.
2022 Short Course World Championships
Johnston was one of 31 swimmers named to the US roster for the 2022 SC World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, earning roster spots in both the 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle.
Though he couldn’t quite match his times from the Australian Championships, Johnston was a finalist in both of his individual events at the meet, placing 5th in the 800 freestyle (7:34.33) and 8th in the 1500 freestyle (14:35.27).
2023 US Nationals/World Championships
At the 2023 US National Championships, the selection meet for the 2023 World Championships, Johnston had a breakout performance in the 400 freestyle, dropping a personal best of 3:45.75 to place 1st in the event. With his win, he booked his ticket to his first Long Course World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. In Fukuoka, Johnston was slightly off of his best time, placing 17th in prelims with a 3:48.68 following a stint with COVID-19.
2024 World Championships
Johnston was named to the US squad for the 2024 World Championships, where he was selected to swim the 400 free, 800 free, and 400 IM.
In the freestyle events, Johnston failed to make it out of prelims, placing 11th in the 800 free (7:48.20) and 12th in the 400 free (3:46.99). However, on the final day of competition, Johnston had an inspired performance in the prelims of the 400 IM, dropping a time of 4:12.51 to enter the final with the top seed. In an extremely tight final field, Johnston ultimately settled for a tie for 5th place with Italian Alberto Razzetti, with the pair finishing in identical times of 4:13.05, only .5 off of the podium.
Johnston was also selected to swim on the men’s 4×200 freestyle relay. In prelims, Johnston contributed a 1:48.16 split to edge the Americans into the final in 8th place. The coaches opted to keep Johnston on the relay over Shaine Casas, a decision that proved to be valid as Johnston dropped a lifetime best 1:47.15 split in finals. Ultimately, he helped his American teammates Carson Foster, Hunter Armstrong, and Luke Hobson to a bronze medal-worthy time of 7:02.08.
2024 US Olympic Trials
Johnston opened the 2024 US Olympic Trials meet with his highest finish ever at Trials via a 3rd place finish in the 400m freestyle. With his time of 3:46.19, Johnston finished just a half second behind 2nd place finisher Kieran Smith, narrowly missing a spot on the US Olympic team. Johnston followed that performance up with a 4th place finish in the 800 freestyle (7:50.23).
On the final day of competition with his last chance at an Olympic berth on the line, Johnston laid it all out in the 1500 freestyle. Bunched in a tight battle with 800 freestyle runner-up Luke Whitlock, Johnston created about a 2 second gap over the opening 1400 meters of the race. With Whitlock charging on the final 100 meters, Johnston just barely managed to hold on, besting Whitlock by .2 seconds for a spot on his first Olympic team. With his final time of 14:52.74, Johnston also chopped almost 10 seconds off of his lifetime best.
It was later announced that Johnston would be adding the 10K open water to his schedule in Paris beside open water specialist Ivan Puskovich. While the direct qualification field for open water at the 2024 Olympic Games was reduced from 25 per gender to 22 per gender, World Aquatics did sneak in a loophole to expand the field: swimmers who had achieved an Olympic Qualification Time (OQT, aka “A” cut), in the 800 or 1500 free, and swam either race at the Olympic Games, were eligible to swim the 10km open water race in Paris – presuming it did not put countries over the 2-per-country limit. This allowed them to expand the field for the race without adding more athletes to the Olympic Games, which had been a focus of recent IOC policies.
Johnston’s selection implied Bobby Fink turned down the opportunity. Johnston had little major open water experience.