Leah Hayes (born October 21, 2005) is an American swimmer, currently swimming for the Illinois-based team Fox Valley Park District Riptides. She is a 200 m individual medley and 400 m individual medley Champion in 2023 World Junior Championships, also win gold medalist in 4×200 m freestyle, silver medalist in 4×100 m freestyle with bronze medalist in 200 m freestyle.

Early life, swimming, and education

Hayes was born to parents Jill and Tim Hayes. At the age of six, Hayes was diagnosed with

alopecia Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scar ...

, a condition that causes hair loss.At the age of 10, Hayes would earn her first national age group record in the 200m freestyle. Hayes currently attends

Kaneland High School Kaneland High School, or KHS, is a public four-year high school located in Maple Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, United States. It is part of Kaneland Community Unit School District 302. History Kaneland first opened in 1958. In '' ...

, and is scheduled to graduate in 2024. She has committed to swim at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

Swimming career

2018

In 2018, Hayes was featured on Sports Illustrated Kids as the 2018 SportsKid of the Year.

2019

In 2019, it was announced that Hayes would start attempting national meets in order to get Olympic Time Trial cut times. In June, Hayes earned an Olympic Time Trials cut time at the 2019 Swim Pink A+ Invite in the 400m individual medley.

2021

In 2021, Hayes would swim in the 2020 United States Olympic trials in the 100m freestyle, the 200m individual medley, and the 400m individual medley. However, she would fail to qualify for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

in all three events.

2022

On April 26, it was announced that Hayes had suffered a stress fracture in her foot. However, she would still compete in the 2022 USA Swimming International Team Trials. At Trials, Hayes managed to qualify for both the 200m and the 400m individual medley. While Hayes came fourth in the 400m behind

Katie Grimes Kathryn Eileen Grimes (born January 8, 2006) is an American competitive swimming (sport), swimmer. At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, she won silver medals in the Swimming at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 1500 metre fre ...

Emma Weyant Emma Weyant (born December 24, 2001) is an American competitive swimmer. She was the US national champion at the individual medley. She qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games in the 400m individual medley and won the silver medal in this event. ...

, and

Hali Flickinger Hali Flickinger (born July 7, 1994) is an American professional swimmer who specializes in freestyle, butterfly, and individual medley events. She represents the Cali Condors of the International Swimming League. Flickinger qualified for the ...

, Hayes was able to get herself into second place in the 200m, thus qualifying her for the USA Worlds team. and competed in the

2022 World Aquatics Championships The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FINA banned both the Russian an ...

in the women's 200m individual medley. Hayes, in an interview, was reportedly in shock at making the team, saying "To make the team, it’s definitely quite a surprise... As we were getting our pictures taken and I was standing with all these incredible athletes, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ I had a conversation with Katie Ledecky and with

Lilly King Lillia Camille King (born February 10, 1997) is an American swimmer who specializes in breaststroke. She currently represents the Cali Condors, a team that is part of the International Swimming League. At the 2016 Summer Olympics she won the ...

. What in the world?" Hayes was added to the roster of the 2022-2023 U.S. National Team by

USA Swimming USA Swimming is the national governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. It is charged with selecting the United States Olympic Swimming team and any other teams that officially represent the United States, as well as the overal ...

2023

At the 2023 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Netanya,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, Hayes set two new course records. The first was in the girls’ 400m individual medley with a time of 4:36.84 and received a gold medal. Hayes is now ranked 6th all-time in the girls’ 17-18 age group in the United States in the 400m individual medley. Hayes also set another course record with her gold medal win in the 200m individual medley with a time of 2:10.24. She later earned a second gold medal as part of the girls’ 4x200m freestyle relay along with Addison Sauickie, Lynsey Bowen, and Madi Mintenko, with a time of 7:52.48.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Leah 2005 births Living people American female medley swimmers 21st-century American sportswomen Sportspeople from Kane County, Illinois World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming