Former USC Swimmer Carsten Vissering Named to Olympic Bobsled Team
Carsten Vissering, an NCAA champion at USC in the pool, was named Monday to the U.S. Olympic bobsled team.
Vissering competed his college swimming career in 2019. He picked up bobsledding as a push athlete, first competing in 2023. He was named to the USA Bobsled roster for the Milano Cortina Olympics in 2026 on Monday, where he’ll compete in the two-man and four-man bobsled.
Vissering, 28, stands 6-5. The native of Bethesda, Maryland, set the national independent high school record in the boys 100 breaststroke as a member of Georgetown Prep. He also held the 15-16 national age-group record in the short-course yards 100 breast and was a member of a pair of medley relay NAGs in the 17-18 division with Nation’s Capital Aquatic Club. He also swam for the U.S. at the FINA World Junior Championships in 2013 and the World University Games in 2015.
Vissering enjoyed a successful career at USC, with a pair of individual Pac-12 titles and an NCAA relay crown.
He made the B final of the 100 breast at NCAAs as a freshman in 2016, then became the Pac-12 champion in the event in 2017. He was third in the event at NCAAs in a time of 51.40 and helped USC’s 400 medley relay finish fourth and its 200 medley relay place 11th.
In 2018, he was part of USC’s 200 medley relay that won the NCAA title, his 22.58 split then the fastest ever. He was third again in the 100 breast in 51.28 and part of the third-place 400 medley relay. He had finished second in the 100 breast at Pac12s.
Vissering regained his Pac-12 crown in the 100 breast in 2019, going 50.78. In his final NCAAs, he finished second in the 100 breast in 50.30 to defending champion and NCAA record holder Ian Finnerty. USC’s 200 medley relay slipped to eighth, and the 400 medley was sixth. He also anchored in 19.36 the 14th-place USC 200 free relay.
At Olympic Trials in 2016, Vissering finished 25th in the 100 breast and 36th in the 200 breast. He was done with the sport by the time Tokyo Olympic Trials rolled around in 2021.
Vissering will be in a 4-man sled with pilot Kris Horn, alongside pushers Hunter Powell and Caleb Furnell. That sled finished in the top 10 in four of seven World Cup races this year.
Two-man bobsled combinations are yet to be announced, but Vissering and Horn finished fourth and seventh in two two-man races this year before crashing in St. Moritz.
Two-man bobsled competition begins Feb. 16 at the Cortina Sliding Centre. Four-man competition begins Feb. 21.
