Youssef Ramadan is an Egyptian butterfly and freestyle sprint specialist. In the NCAA, he represents Virginia Tech where he became the Hokies’ first national swimming champion in the 100 fly. That swim made him the second-fastest 100 flyer, only to Caeleb Dressel. Internationally, he is a multi-time Egyptian National Record holder. Ramadan has made multiple SC World Championship finals and helped set an African Record in the 200 medley relay in 2021.
Junior Swimming
2019 FINA World Junior Championships (Budapest, Hungary)
Ramadan made the semifinal of the 50 fly in a tie for 8th with Thomas Cecceon. Both touched in a 24.13. Ramadan duplicated that time in the semis but fell to 11th. He also made the 100 free semifinals with a 50.49 before ending up 16th with a 50.80. Ramadan also put up times of 23.41 and 54.06 in the 50 free and 100 fly respectively.
College Swimming
In January 2020, Ramadan announced his verbal commitment to Virginia Tech. Ramadan was an elite pickup for Sergio Lopez’s 2020 recruiting class as Ramadan boasted a 53.47 100 fly, less than a second off the Egyptian National Record, at only 17.
2020-21
As a part of VT’s Intrasquad Belt Challenge, Ramadan took on both LCM and SCY. He did little of note in the first of three intrasquad as he adapted to yards. In VT’s 2nd intrasquad, contested in long course, Ramadan helped Orange to victory in the 400 medley by splitting a 51.40 on the freestyle leg (in a practice suit.) He put on a tech suit for the 100 free, won with a time of 50.80, and proceeded to rip his suit. Despite unexpectedly having to race in a practice suit for the rest of the meet, Ramadan swam a 100 fly in 56.90 and helped the Orange 400 free relay to another win by splitting a 51.01 (the fastest 100 split on the relay).
In Belt Challenge #3, this time in yards, Ramadan made major strikes when compared to his Belt Challenge #1 performance. He split a 20.59 50 fly on the medley relay, then followed that with a 44.31 100 free for 2nd place. For Ramadan that was about 4 seconds faster than the time he swam at dual #1. Ramadan then swam a 100 fly in a time of 47.85 and finished the meet with a 19.85 split in the 200 free relay.
Ramadan continued to improve at the UNC Invite. He opened the meet with a new 50 free best time, leading off the VT 200 free relay in 19.68. In the same session, he posted a 46.61 100 fly. Ramadan was just faster in prelims with a 46.43. He continued his first night with another 50 free, lowering his recent PB to 19.62. He wrapped up an incredibly busy night with a 46.07 fly split on VT’s “B” 400 medley relay.
The following night, Ramadan split a 20.38 on fly at the Hokie’s put up a 1:25.61 200 medley relay. He did not swim anything else that night but returned the next night as he placed 5th for Virginia Tech in 43.66 in the 100 free, taking more than half a second off his best.
Ramadan wrapped up his limited dual meet season against NC State. There, he finished 2nd with a 20.29 50 free and won the 100 fly with a 47.09.
Tuning up for ACCs at the VT Invite, Ramadan flirted with the 100 fly school record in prelims, clocking a 45.68, just 0.08 off the school record set by Blake Manoff in 2020, and breaking the pool record. Ramadan was just off of that time in finals, going 45.71. Ramadan’s time put him at #9 in the nation to that point in the season. The next day, Ramadan and VT broke the pool records in both the 200 medley and 400 free relays. In the former, Ramadan anchored in 19.42 while in the latter, Ramadan split a 43.26. Ramadan had previously clocked a PB of 43.10 in the 100 free in an earlier session.
At ACCs, Ramadan was rested on the first day. Ramadan made his first ACC championship final after qualifying 4th with a time of 19.37 in the 50 free. He maintained seed and improved to 19.33 in the final. Just minutes later, after the 1-meter diving final, Ramadan dropped his 50 free time down even further to 19.15 leading off VT’s 200 free relay as they placed 3rd.
The next day, Ramadan did not need to wait for a final to set a new 100 fly meet record. In the prelims, Ramadan crushed a huge best time to drop Ryan Held’s ACC Meet Record of 44.79 with an absurd 44.53. What made that swim absurd, beyond being a prelims swim, was that Ramadan was only a freshman and merely 18 years old. For context, the prior fastest swim by an 18 and under swimmer in the 100 fly was the then 17-18 National Age Group Record of 44.91 from Tom Shields at his first NCAA Championship meet in 2010. In the process, Shields won his first of 3 NCAA titles in that event. That swim moved to #10 all-time in the event, displacing current Virginia Tech coach Albert Subirats.
In the 100 fly finals, Ramadan continued his record-writing campaign with a 44.32 moving him up th #5 all-time in the 100 fly. It broke his own meet record and set a new ACC record, Passin Coleman Stewart’s 44.46 from 2019. It also made him the fastest freshman ever, jumping Joseph Schooling’s 44.51 from the 2015 NCAA Championship. Schooling was coached in high school by Ramadan’s coach Sergio Lopez. Ramadan opened that swim with a ridiculous 20.11 50 split. Ramadan also anchored the VT 400 medley relay to an “A” cut with a 42.10 free leg.
The next morning, Ramadan led the 100 free heats with another massive time drop, this time from 43.10 to 42.27. In the final, he was 4th with a 42.50. He concluded that evening and the meet with a 42.91 lead-off on the VT 400 free relay.
VT rested Ramadan on day 1 of his first NCAA Championships and was only used in the 200 and 400 free relays. On day 2, in his first race, Ramadan sliced a few hundredths of a second off his 50 free best with a 19.08. That time was good for 5th in prelims. Ramadan opened his finals session with a superb 18.87 50 free as he led off VT’s 200 free relay. That squad ended up 12th. Ramadan added over half a second from his new PB and ended up 8th in the 50 free final with a 19.45.
In the 100 fly, Ramadan performed poorly in the final heat, adding over a second onto his best time before being disqualified for a false start. Even without a false start, Ramdan’s touch time of 45.54 would’ve left him 13th and out of the A-final as it took at least a 45.10 to make the top 8.
On the final day, Ramadan just missed a second “A” final in the 100 free. Ramadan was 9th in the prelims with a 42.09. In the finals, he dropped 1 place to 10th with a 42.25. He wrapped up his freshman campaign with a 42.37 lead-off, helping VT to an impressive 6th-place finish in the 400 free relay. Ramadan was named the ACC Men’s Freshman of the Year.
2021-22
Ramadan returned to racing for the first time since the Olympics against George Washington. There, he posted a 20.10 50 free to finish just .01 back of Carles Coll Marti. Ramadan took the 100 fly with a 47.40. He also split a 44.42 on the victorious 400 free relay. Ramadan progressed against Duke, putting up a season-best 47.30 100 fly. He also threw down a 43.87 100 free for the win and split a 20.47 on fly in the 200 medley relay.
At the 2021 Ohio State Invite, Ramadan opened his first finals session with a 19.21 leadoff on VT’s 200 free relay. He was just off that time with a 19.28 to top the 50 free final. The next day, Ramadan crushed a 44.64 100 fly in prelims and put up a respectable 46.58 100 back. In the finals, he anchored VT’s 200 medley relay with a solid 19.00 split, won the 100 fly with a 45.10, and took 5th in the 100 back with a 46.97. On the 3rd night, Ramadan clocked a solid 42.32 to with the 100 free after nearly missing the “A” final with a 43.62 in prelims. Ramadan closed out his meet with a massive 41.98 leadoff on the VT 400 free relay. That time marked his first time under 42 seconds.
Against in-state rivals UVA, Ramadan helped VT to an early lead in the team battle, winning the 100 back in 47.56 to bring VT to 4-straight wins to open the meet. Ramadan picked up his second win of the day, winning the 100 free with a 43.23. Ramadan then tripled, taking the 100 fly in 46.84 before leading off the victorious VT 400 free relay in 43.41. VT’s men topped UVA’s men 187-113.
Against Penn State, Ramadan set a new VT Pool Record in the 100 fly with a 45.34. He also topped the 100 free with a 42.44.
Tuning up for ACCs at the VT Invite, Ramadan sent a pre-championship season warning shot to the rest of the NCAA in the 100 fly. Ramadan blasted a pair of sub-45 second swims, posting a 44.79 in the prelims before chopping another tenth off in finals with a 44.68, just off his nation-leading time of 44.64. Ramadan also posted a 1:43.00 in his second-ever SCY 200 fly after a 1:44.29 prelims swim. He posted leadoffs of 19.21 and 42.22 on the 200 and 400 free relays plus anchors of 18.88 and 41.95 on both medley relays.
For ACCs, Ramadan entered the 50 free (#3 seed), 100 fly (#1 seed), and 100 free (#1 seed), which was the same schedule he raced last year. That meant no 100 back (#8 in the conference) or 200 fly (#6 in the conference). Ramadan opened his meet with a big 18.80 50 free leading off VT’s 200 free relay. He was just off that the next night where he placed 3rd in the 50 free with an 18.87.
On day 3, Ramadan cruised through the 100 fly prelims with a 45.93. Before his 100 fly final, he anchored the 200 medley relay in 18.53. He then crushed an absurd 44.08 in the 100 fly final for a new ACC and ACC Meet Record. That time made him the #4 performer all-time, behind only Caeleb Dressel, Joe Schooling, and Tom Shields.
Ramadan took day 4 easy with just a 100 free anchor on in the 400 medley relay. He split a 41.41 as VT placed 3rd. On the final day, Ramadan posted a trio of 41s in the 100 free. In the 100 free prelims, he was 41.83 for the top seed in the finals. There, he took his 2nd title of the meet with a 41.83 PB. He wrapped up with a 41.96 lead-off on VT’s 400 free relay.
On the first night on NCAAs, Ramadan helped VT to a 10th-place finish with his 18.61 anchor on their 200 medley relay. The next morning, Ramadan was on point, ripping a new 50 free PB of 18.79 to qualify 5th. In that final, he fell to 7th with a 19.04. At the end of that session, Ramadan helped VT to a 10th-place finish in the 200 free relay by leading off in 19.11.
Ramadan just missed his 100 fly PB with a 44.21 in prelims to qualify 2nd for one of the fastest “A” finals ever. In the final, Ramadan was out in 20.25, slightly off the 20.08 he was out in at ACCs for a 43.93, sitting him in 3rd. He was able to keep his place with a 23.65 back half, the 3rd fastest back half of the field. Ramadan’s 43.90 sat him .19 seconds back of the winner, Andrei Minakov, and .10 back of Luca Urlando. That time marked a new ACC record and a PB by .03.
On the final day, Ramadan was just off his best in the 100 free prelims with a 41.80, just barely enough to make it back in 15th. In the final, just as with the 100 fly, Ramadan shaved .03 seconds off his 100 free PB with a 41.72. That time was good for 11th. He wrapped up his meet by leading off VT’s 10th-place 400 free relay in 42.32.
2022-23
Ramadan won the 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly in the Hokies’ meet against George Washington, recording NCAA B-cuts in both events. He posted a winning time of 19.74 in the 50 free and also finished in 46.43 to win the 100 butterfly. He also recorded a leadoff split of 43.37 in the 400 free relay. This netted him ACC Male Swimmer of the Meet.
At the Ohio State Invite, Ramadan neared his best times in multiple events. He opened his first final with a 19.33 50 free to lead off the VT 200 free relay. He stretched his undefeated streak to nine individual finals in a row to start this season with a 19.19 50 free. Ramadan split 44.81 on fly in the 400 medley relay to wrap up the first night of finals. He was off form in the 100 fly prelims and was out of the A final. That night, he clocked a 19.95 fly split on VT’s 200 medley before dropping a 45.13 100 fly that would have topped the A final. He also clocked a 1:35.38 in the 200 free. On the final day, he clocked a 41.99 100 free to lead off VT’s 400 free relay. He was not quite as fast in the individual 100 free where he was 42.43.
Against in-state rivals UVA, Ramadan was DQed for a 15m violation in the 100 back after touching first in a 46-low swim. Ramadan came up with a big swim in the 100 fly with a 45.43 to win by over two seconds. Ramadan crushed a 42.66 to get VT’s 400 free relay out to a big lead which they maintained.
Against Penn State, Ramadan blasted a 44.76 in the 100 fly, taking over as the fastest swimmer in the NCAA this season. In the 50 freestyle, Ramadan took the win again, ripping a season-best 19.09 for a new pool record.
Tuning up for ACCs at the VT Invite, Ramadan helped the Hokie men set a pool record in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:16.75. Ramadan led off in 19.22. He then split a 45.92 on fly to break the pool record in the 400 medley relay. Ramadan picked up yet another pool record in a time trial. While, officially he swam the 200 back, he looks like he may have been focusing on getting a good 100 back split. He went out in 45.48 through the first 100 before splitting 37.46 and 35.52 for a total time of 1:58.46. That 100 back time moved him to #11 in the nation.
The following night of the Hokie Invite shaved .34 seconds off his season beast in the 100 fly with a 44.42. On day 3, Ramadan showed his 200 fly ability with a 1:42.96.
On the first night of 2023 ACC Championships, Ramadan split a 19.87 on the fly leg of the VT 200 free relay. The next morning, Ramadan represented the sole sub-19 swimmer in the 50 free with a 19.86. That night, after a 19.00 leadoff on the 200 free relay, Ramadan was upset by his fellow Egyptian Abdelrahman Elaraby in the 50 free. Ramadan was 18.82 to Elaraby’s 18.79. That time just missed his VT record of 18.79.
The next morning, Ramadan rattled his own meet record with an impressive 44.15 100 fly. That time easily led prelims. It was no surprise when Ramadan slashed .15 seconds off his own meet record with a 43.93 100 fly, just .03 seconds off his PB. With the extended ACC Champs schedule, Ramadan swam just once on day 4 in the 400 medley relay. Surprisingly, Ramadan swam backstroke for the Hokies. What was arguably more surprising was that Ramadan had the fastest backstroke leadoff in the field with a 44.59, edging out Kacper Stokowski by .08 seconds. VT ended up 4th.
In the 100 free prelims, Ramadan again neared a meet record with a 41.69. He lowered Ryan Held’s meet mark of 41.41 by .08 with a 41.33 to take the win by .39 seconds. Ramadan led for the majority of this race, opening in 19.72 as the only swimmer in the field sub-20 on the first 50. He then closed with a 21.61 split. He wrapped the final session by helping the Hokie 400 free relay to a 2nd place finish with a 42.00 split. Ramadan won the most-valuable male swimmer of the meet and VT placed 2nd in the team battle on the men’s side.
Heading into NCAAs, it seemed like a tossup between Ramadan, Josh Liendo, and Andrei Minakov in the 100 fly. On day 1 Ramadan swam a 1:33.21 200 free split to help VT to a 13th-place finish in the 800 free relay. The next morning, Ramadan just made the 50 free A final with an 18.87 to tie with Jack Dolan for 7th. He matched his season-best of 18.82 in the 50 free final for 5th. A few minutes later, Ramadan shaved .11 seconds off his 50 free best time leading off the Hokie 200 free relay with an 18.68 as VT placed 8th.
Ramadan comfortably qualified for the 100 fly A final with a 44.00, 2nd to Liendo’s 43.80 setting them up for a showdown in the final. Liendo just barely led Ramadan 20.13 to 20.21 at the turn but Ramadan rocked a 22.94 back half to become the second-fastest performer in history in 43.15. Ramadan made history for Virginia Tech with the school’s first national swimming title. Compared to Caeleb Dressel’s 42.80 NCAA record, Ramadan was 0.22 seconds slower on the front half and 0.13 seconds slower on the back half.
He had an emotional post-race interview: “Like after three years, finally, three years. Like these guys, they were always faster than me. I came from zero, you know, every year I had a chance to win, but something happened.
And finally, it’s my time, you know, so many people had faith in me, so many people had faith in me because they know that I put the hard work in this. Like, I, I put so much into this.
I sleep every day, early, like a bot. Wake up. 5 AM swimming, cold pool. I hated it. I hated it. But I knew every…I was saying one day, I’m gonna be NCAA champion. One day, I’m gonna be a champion. Today is finally that day. I am NCAA champion!”
Later that night, he split a 43.62 to help VT to another top-8 relay finish in 7th. The next morning, Ramadan powered to a 41.15 100 free to qualify for the final 3rd. That time marked a new PB. He added to a 41.61 for 8th in the final. He led off the 10th-place Hokie relay in 41.70.
As it turns out, Ramadan managed to observe the holy month of Ramadan even though his Muslim traditions were complicated this year by NCAA Championships starting on the same day as the religious holiday. Youssef was unable to fast while competing last week in Minneapolis. Volunteering, performing righteous works, or feeding the poor can be substituted for fasting if necessary, so Y. Ramadan opted to observe Ramadan a different way. “I have paid money for people back home who aren’t as lucky and don’t have food, for four meals for four people because I missed four days,” said Y. Ramadan. “When I go back to Blacksburg, I will begin fasting for the rest of the month.”
In Egypt, a Muslim-majority country, practices are typically pushed to after Iftar when the fast is broken. In 2022, Y. Ramadan fasted during swim practices and into finals at school. “Practice was definitely hard, not being able to drink in practice and not being able to eat a big meal after hard sets was definitely hard,” Y. Ramadan said of his fasting. “And no one celebrates with me at Virginia Tech — some days my friends just try to fast to see what I experience, but that’s about it.
2023-24
In September, Ramadan had a crash on his electric scooter and fractured his scaphoid, one of the small bones on the thumb side of the wrist. He missed out on a couple of meets but kept training with his injury. Just before the injury, he posted time of 1:15.85 (23.03/26.70/26.10) in the 150 SCY fly, 1:08.47 (21.71/23.63/23.13) in the 150 SCY free, 1:30.60 (26.65/30.88/31.60) in the 150 LCM fly, and 1:20.85 (25.91/27.95/26.99).
Against Duke, Ramadan led off the 400 medley relay with a 47.04 100 back as VT had a 1-2-3-4 sweep in the relay. He also won the 100 free (44.36) and 200 free (1:39.06).
Against Ohio State, he was 44.06 in the 100 free, 1:38.69 in the 200 free, and 47.26 in the 100 back. He was also 19.54 from a swing on the 200 free relay and 21.71 leading off the 200 medley relay.
At the NC State Invite, Ramadan opted not to race any fly. On the 200 free relay, he led off with a 19.13, a season-best. He soon lowered that season-best to an 18.97 for 3rd in the 50 free final. In the 200 free, he had PB in prelims with a 1:34.08 but that lasted just a few hours as Ramadan posted a 1:33.69 in the final. He was 46.27 in the 100 back on the same night. The next morning, Ramadan was 42.69 in the 100 free before lowering that to 42.31 in the final.
National/International Swimming
2020 U.S. Open Championships (Multi-site)
Racing at the Greensboro site of the 2020 U.S. Open without shaving on a 2-day drop taper, Ramadan set a new Egyptian National Record in the 100 fly. His time of 52.99 placed Ramadan 2nd behind Just Wright (52.92) in Greensboro and 6th overall across all sites. The prior Egyptian Record of 53.03 was set in 2016 by Omar Eissa. Ramadan also popped PBs of 22.92 and 50.43 in the 50/100 free.
2021 Pro Swim Series–Indianapolis (Indianapolis, Indiana)
After his break out SCY season, It was only a matter of time before Ramadan made some LCM gains. In Indy, Ramadan only raced the 100 fly but he made the most of that. He posted a PB in prelims, lowering his Egyptian record to 52.64. In the finals, he was even better with a 52.51. If that was not enough Ramadan swam the 100 fly again in a time trial where he lowered his PB for a 3rd time with a 52.04. That swim was a mere 0.08 seconds away from the FINA “A” cut needed to swim for Egypt in the Olympics
2021 Longhorn Invite (Austin, Texas)
Ramadan again only swam the 100 fly and missed his PB and the FINA “A” cut 4 times. Ramadan swam times of 52.34, 52.36, 52.79, and 52.95, all within a second of the FINA “A” cut.
2021 Fran Crippen Swim Meet of Champions (Mission Viejo, California)
After just missing the FINA “A” cut at the PSS in Indy and adding a sliver at the Longhorn Invite, Ramadan finally qualified for Egypt’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Team with a 51.83 in prelims. Still 18, that time would have made Ramadan the second fastest 18 and under swimmer in the US NAG rankings.
2020(1) Olympic Games (Tokyo, Japan)
Having only qualified about a month prior, Ramadan was the only Egyptian to make it out of prelims. In the 100 fly, Ramadan scorched a new National Record of 51.67 to tie for 14th with Sebastian Szabo in the prelims. In the semis, Ramadan finished 16th with a 52.27.
2021 FINA SC World Championsips (Abu Dhabi, UAE)
Egypt took down the African Record in the 200 medley relay by over a second for the 2nd seed in prelims. Mohamed Samy (23.69), Youssef Elkamash (26.40), Ramadan (22.37), and Abdelrahman Sameh (20.73) combined for a 1:33.19 which took down the 2014 record of 1:34.30 set by a South African quartet featuring Chad Le Clos and Cameron Van der Burgh. That same squad, dropping time on every split, finished 5th with a 1:32.56. Ramadan split 22.12 on fly.
Individually, Ramadan made it out of the 100 free and fly prelims. In the former, during the same session as the 200 medley relay, he was 46.98 in prelims for 8th but missed the final that night with a 47.36 for 13th in the semis. In the 100 fly, Ramadan seemed in for a podium finish after moving through prelims (49.66) and semis (49.60) in 3rd. In the final, Ramadan improved further to 49.50 but placed 4th.
2022 Arab Championships (Oran, Algeria)
Ramadan collected three medals: gold in the 100 fly, and silver in both the 50 and 100 free. Ramadan was a force to be reckoned with in the NCAA last season, and he’s continued to grow in long course this summer. Ramadan swam 22.57 in the 50 free, 49.40 in the 100 free, and 52.15 in the 100 fly. Those marks are slightly off his best times but were strong swims for Ramadan.
2022 FINA World Cup–Indianapolis (Indianapolis, Indiana)
Ramadan netted best times in the 50 free (21.83) and fly (22.63). He was also 47.50 in his 100 free and 50.51 in his 100 fly.
2022 FINA SC World Championships (Melbourne, Australia)
Ramadan made it out of the 100 free prelims with a new PB of 46.51 for 8th. He added a hair in semis and found himself on the outside looking in with a 46.57 for 10th. A couple of days later, Ramadan clocked a 49.64 in the 100 fly prelims to qualify 3rd into semis. There he just eeked out a finals berth with a 49.79 for 8th. He remained 8th in the final with a 49.84. Ramadan was also 22.32 in the 50 fly semifinal for 10th after a 22.50 in prelims.
2023 TYR Pro Swim Series–Westmont (Westmont, Chicago)
In Westmont, Ramadan posted a 52.02 100 fly in prelims before adding in the finals. He was also 22.69 in the 50 free.
2023 TYR Pro Swim Series–Mission Viejo (Mission Viejo, California)
Ramadan matched his 100 fly season best with a 52.02, good for 2nd. He placed 2nd in prelims in the 100 free with a 49.34 and added to a 49.47 in the final. Ramadan won the 50 fly with a 23.76, marking a new best time.
2023 Virginia Commonwealth Games (Lynchburg, Virginia)
Ramadan, who won five of his six events. Ramadan clocked a 22.86 in prelims of the 50 freestyle to put him just a few tenths off the season best he set in Westmont. He also neared his season-best time in the 50 fly, where he swam a 23.87 to take 1st by nearly three seconds. Rounding Ramadan’s victories was the 100 fly (53.09), 50 back (26.81), and 100 free (49.84).
2023 World Aquatics Championships (Fukuoka, Japan)
Ramadan was off his season best with a 52.31 in the 100 for 27th. He rocked a new PB in the 100 free with a 48.77 for 26th.
–This biography was originally developed by Lucas Caswell