Five-time Olympic trials competitor Brandon Fischer knows how to persevere.
As one of the oldest competitors in this year's Olympic trials, the Lawrence Livermore Natonal Laboratory mechanical technologist at the Jupiter Laser Facility broke the 35-39 Masters World Record in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke events.
Fischer's first foray into the water was in the "mommy and me" swim classes at the LLNL pool. More than 30 years later, he was on the blocks at the Olympic trials.
He first competed at the Olympic trials in 2008, where he narrowly got under the trials cut in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststrokes. He'd go on to swim at four more trials (so far), and seems to only get better with age. He became one of the oldest men in history to break 1:00 minute in the 100-meter breaststroke in 2019, when he leapfrogged to take over a second off his best time, swimming to a 59.86.
Fischer made the U.S. national team in the 2019-2020 season, and have the best results of his life at the delayed 2021 Olympic trials, making the semi-finals in both breaststroke events.
At 35 years old, Fischer has continued to compete, and although his 2024 campaign did not go according to plan, he still broke the 35-39 Masters World Record in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststrokes. And he does all of this while working a full-time job, attending Las Positas College to receive an associate's degree in physics and work toward a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and graduate school.
To see more of Fischer's story, see the SpotLight profile.
