Rhyan White Was the First Utah-Born Swimmer on a U.S. Olympic Team. The Herriman Backstroker Is Still Racing

Rhyan White, a backstroke swimmer from Herriman, Utah, became the first Utah-born swimmer to make a U.S. Olympic team when she qualified for the Tokyo Games at the 2021 Olympic Trials in Omaha, KSL reported. She won the 200m backstroke at the trials in 2:05.73, which KSL said also made her the first swimmer from Utah to win an event at the trials, and she was second in the 100m.

In Tokyo she finished fourth in both the 100m backstroke, in 58.43, and the 200m backstroke, in 2:06.39, World Aquatics results show. She swam the backstroke leg of the women's 4x100m medley relay in the heats, where the U.S. qualified in 3:55.18, and the U.S. team went on to win silver, a medal Team USA and Alabama count as hers.

"I kind of liked that I was kind of the underdog, no one knew my name until May," she told KSL before the Games.

A Utah swimmer from the start

USA Swimming, Team USA and Alabama all print her hometown as Herriman. Alabama's biography says she attended the Academy for Math, Engineering & Science and trained under coach Ron Lockwood at the Wasatch Front Fish Market Swim Team. KSL reported that Lockwood also coached her at Cottonwood High.

The Salt Lake Tribune covered her last state meet for Cottonwood High on Feb. 10, 2018, when she won the 100-yard backstroke in 53.55 and the 100-yard butterfly in 55.04. Alabama's biography notes she qualified for the 2016 Olympic Trials and made the 2017-18 USA Swimming Junior National Team while still in high school. That fall she won bronze in the 100m backstroke at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires and was fourth in both the 50m and 200m backstroke, World Aquatics results show.

"I like to prove people wrong, so I would say that's probably a big part of how I've come out of like hiding," she told KSL in 2021.

Alabama's first

At Alabama she became the first woman from the school to earn a spot on a U.S. Olympic swimming team, the university says. She won the 100-yard backstroke at the SEC Championships in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, which Alabama describes as the first time a woman in SEC history won the same event in four consecutive seasons, and she added SEC titles in the 200-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly. Her 2020 titles in both backstrokes came in SEC-record times, by Alabama's account, and the conference named her its 2021 Swimmer of the Year.

At the 2021 NCAA Championships she was second in both the 100-yard and 200-yard backstroke and fifth in the 100-yard butterfly, by Alabama's record. Her school records include 50.02 in the 100-yard backstroke and 1:48.06 in the 200-yard backstroke.

World medals

After Tokyo she kept collecting international medals in the 200m backstroke. At the 2021 Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi she won the 200m backstroke in 2:01.58 on Dec. 18, 2021, and added silver in the 4x50m medley relay, World Aquatics results show.

At the 2022 World Championships in Budapest she took bronze in the 200m backstroke in 2:06.96, and that summer she won the 100m backstroke at the U.S. Nationals in Irvine. In 2023 she was second in the 200m backstroke at the U.S. Nationals in 2:05.77, then swam the event at the World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, and finished sixth. In August 2025 she won the 200m backstroke at the TYR Summer Championships in Irvine in 2:09.11.

Racing professionally in Raleigh

In 2023 she joined Wolfpack Elite, the professional training group at NC State in Raleigh, SwimSwam reported, and USA Swimming now lists her as "Rhyan White (Herriman, Utah/Wolfpack Elite)". At the 2024 Olympic Trials she was fifth in both the 100m and 200m backstroke.

She has kept winning domestically. At TYR Pro Swim Series meets she won the 100m and 200m backstroke in April 2025 and the 200m backstroke again in May 2026, World Aquatics results show. At the Sacramento stop in April 2025 she told USA Swimming: "I just reminded myself to swim my own race, and I think I did a really good job doing that."

At the 2026 U.S. Nationals in Irvine, on July 30, she took bronze in the 50m backstroke in 27.93, and she was fifth in the 100m and sixth in the 200m.

The 2026-27 season

USA Swimming's 2027 domestic calendar opens the TYR Pro Swim Series in Nashville on Jan. 14-17, 2027, with later stops in Westmont, Illinois, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, before the U.S. National Championships in Indianapolis on June 8-12, 2027.

She is one of the Utah natives followed on the homegrown Utah athletes hub.

Key facts:

• Athlete: Rhyan White, swimming (backstroke), Wolfpack Elite
• Hometown: Herriman, Utah; Wasatch Front Fish Market Swim Team; swam for Cottonwood High
• Olympic first: first Utah-born swimmer to make a U.S. Olympic team, per KSL
• Tokyo 2020: fourth in the 100m and 200m backstroke; medley relay silver (swam the heats)
• World medals: 200m backstroke gold at the 2021 Short Course Worlds; bronze at the 2022 World Championships
• College: Alabama; 2021 SEC Swimmer of the Year
• Next: TYR Pro Swim Series, Nashville, Jan. 14-17, 2027