UPDATE TWO: Matthew King won a Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in Paris over the past weekend. He swam one leg of the 4×100 freestyle relay in the prelims. Although he didn’t swim in the final, all members of the teams (prelims and finals) are awarded gold.
UPDATE: Matthew King, our KRKO Russell and Hill Male Athlete of the Year for 2020 has been named to the USA Swim Team for the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Glacier Peak alum recently competed at the U.S. Olympic Team Trial-Swimming at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. King was named to the Men’s 4×100 Relay Team; along with seven-time Olympic Gold Medalist Caeleb Dressel; Olympic Gold Medalist Hunter Armstrong and Olympic Gold Medalist Ryan Held.
Matthew King of Glacier Peak Swimming is our KRKO Radio Russell & Hill Male Athlete of the Year for 2020. King set two state meet recorders (both held by Newport’s Ugur Taner from 1992) in the 50 yard and 100 yard freestyle races at the 2020 State Championships in Federal Way. His time of 43.24 in the 100 broke the previous state record by .49 seconds and was an astounding 2.72 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher. His time of 19.81 in the 50 freestyle broke the previous state record by .21. He was named the 4A Swimmer of the Meet after setting a state meet record with a total of 330 points. Matthew also won state titles in both individual events in 2018. He elected not to swim for his school team in 2019 as he was focused on competing nationally. Matthew’s times in both the 50 and 100 have qualified him for the United States Olympic Trials which will be held in Omaha, Nebraska in June. Matthew is ranked by collegeswimming.com as the top overall recruit in Washington state and as the #43 senior recruit in the nation. An outstanding student; Matthew carries a GPA of better than 3.9 and will be enrolling at the University of Alabama in the fall where he will continue to swim and hopes to either study Mechanical Engineering or Audio Engineering. Glacier Peak Swim Coach is Ron Belleza. UPDATE: After swimming for Alabama (and was the leading points scorer), due to a coaching change, Matthew has transferred to the University of Virginia and will compete this year for the Cavaliers. Matt was honored at the Snohomish County Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet on September 22, 2021.
