North Carolina’s Ben Delmar Set for Big Breaststroke Jump
In his NCAA Championships debut for North Carolina in 2024, Ben Delmar finished 20th in the 200 breast and 30th in the 100. A year later, he captured points for the Tar Heels over 200 yards, placing 13th overall, while ending up 24th in the 100. As he embarks upon his junior season, Delmar is expected to be a much bigger force following a career-redefining summer season.
Entering this summer’s U.S. Nationals, the fields in the men’s breaststroke events were relatively open as stalwarts such as Nic Fink and Matt Fallon were both absent. Opportunities existed for new faces to make their Team USA debut as members of the No. 1 international squad, and swimmers such as Campbell McKean and AJ Pouch came through to make the jump. Not far back was Delmar, who posted results that earned him a ticket to the World University Games in Germany.
In the 200 breast final, Delmar blasted his best time by 1.76 seconds to finish in fourth place, less than a second out of the No. 2 position. He followed that up by finishing 11th in the 100, an enormous jump from a 27th-place finish at the Olympic Trials one year earlier. And in the ensuing month, Delmar would find additional speed to become one of the top-performing American men at WUGs.
Ben Delmar — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick
Most impressive was Delmar’s golden performance in the 200 breast, where he cut an additional two-thirds of a second from his Nationals best time to finish in 2:09.50, more than a second clear of the field. The time would also allow Delmar to finish the year ranked top-20 in the world and third among Americans. In the 100, he dropped more than a second from his best to finish in 59.80, good for bronze. He also handled breaststroke legs on the U.S. mixed and men’s 400 medley relays, both of which earned gold as part of an American relay sweep.
Those results indicate significantly more to come in his return to short course swimming this season. Delmar is also finding his stride at a great time, with a mass exodus of top breaststrokers from college swimming. In the 100 breast, only Nate Germonprez (Texas) and Yamato Okadome (Cal) return from last year’s national final, with five additional B-finalists also out of eligibility. The 200 breast is a similar story, where Okadome and Jacob Eccleston (Louisville) are the only men back. Delmar is already the fifth-highest returning finisher from the longer event.
Delmar has not started out the season with any especially swift times, with his recent performance in the 200 breast at UNC’s dual meet against Duke sitting ninth nationally. Still, his time of 1:55.02 is less than a second out of the No. 3 spot. He is also in the national top-20 in the 200 IM. Check back again around midseason; based on his summer results, Delmar could be among the short list of national-title contenders.
