Jack Alexy on Popovici, Milak, Pan Zhanle and the Road to LA2028

Jack Alexy joins this GMM takeover of the SwimSwam Podcast to break down his Pan Pacific Championships performance and where those swims place him in a very elite, very crowded global sprint field.

Alexy won the 100 freestyle in a Pan Pac Championship Record of 47.14, took silver in the 50 free in 21.42, and delivered a pair of sub-47 relay anchors for Team USA. He split 46.78 on the winning 4×100 freestyle relay and 46.97 on the winning 4×100 medley relay.

And, of course, Alexy owns the 100 free American Record at 46.81, set at the 2025 World Championships.

But the international competition has only gotten faster.

At the European Championships, David Popovici won the 100 free in 46.56, followed by Egor Kornev in 46.74 and Kristof Milak in 46.87. Milak then dropped a blistering 46.29 relay split.

At the Commonwealth Games, rising Australian star Flynn Southam went 47.09 leading off the 4×100 free relay, won the individual 100 in 47.13, and later split 46.55 on Australia’s medley relay.

Meanwhile, Pan Zhanle’s World Record remains at 46.40, though his 47-plus performances across 2025 and 2026 cloud the picture. Is he suffering from post-Olympic blues, or simply conserving emotional energy in the run-up to LA2028? We ask Jack that question.

We also get into Alexy’s rough 100 free at U.S. Nationals and whether that swim concerned him at the time, whether he now considers himself America’s top 100 freestyler, and what went through his mind when he saw the times from Popovici, Milak, Kornev and Southam.

A bigger question hangs over the conversation, one that will follow Alexy all the way to the LA Olympic Games. He has already become America’s fastest 100 freestyler. What will it take to become the fastest man in the world?