Megan Romano

Megan Romano (born February 2, 1991) is an American competition swimmer who specializes in backstroke and freestyle events. She is part of the former American record women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay team, and is a former short-course yards American record-holder in the 200-yard freestyle and 4x200-meter freestyle relay. Along with her Georgia Bulldogs teammates, she won the NCAA Division I women's team championship in 2013.

Swimming career

At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, the qualifying meet for the 2012 Olympics, Romano narrowly missed the Olympic team by finishing seventh in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:58.56 (the top six finishers were selected for the relay). Romano also competed in the final of the 100-meter backstroke and place eighth in the final.

At the 2012 Short Course World Championships, Romano won four medals: two gold, one silver, and one bronze. On the first day, Romano led off the relay and had a split of 1:56.03 in the 4×200 free relay. Along with teammates Chelsea Chenault, Shannon Vreeland, and Allison Schmitt, they won with a time of 7:39.25. Romano earned her first individual medal with a silver in the 100-meter free on the third day of competition, finishing behind Germany's Britta Steffen with a 52.48. Later, she anchored the 4×100 medley relay to a bronze-medal-winning 3:51.43 with the fastest split in the field of 51.90. In Romano's last event, she led off the relay with a split of 52.86, and along with Jessica Hardy, Lia Neal, and Allison Schmitt, won the 4×100 free relay in 3:31.01, nearly two seconds ahead of second-place finisher Australia.

At the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Romano anchored the women's 4×100-meter freestyle relay to a gold medal, overtaking Australia's Alicia Coutts in the final 100 meters. She entered the water 7 tenths of a second behind Coutts, but beat the Australian by a margin of 0.12. Her split of 52.60 was a personal best and second-fastest of anyone in the field. The final relay time of 3:32.31 bettered the previous American record of 3:34.24. Romano earned her second medal, a gold, in the 4×100-meter medley relay with Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy, and Dana Vollmer. Swimming the anchor leg, Romano recorded a split of 53.43 and the team finished with a time of 3:53.23.

In 2025, Romano announced that she would participate in the Enhanced Games in 2026, the first woman to say she will participate.

Personal bests Long course (50 m pool) Event Time City Date 50 m backstroke 28.56 Charlotte May 10, 2013 100 m backstroke 59.85 Kazan July 13, 2013 200 m backstroke 2:09:08 Indianapolis August 11, 2012 50 m freestyle 24.98 Kazan July 16, 2013 100 m freestyle 53.90 Indianapolis June 25, 2013 200 m freestyle 1:57.54 Indianapolis August 10, 2012