The Next Stop For Fast-Rising Teen Koehn Boyd: Singapore Worlds

Koehn Boyd is the first one to admit that if you’d told him a year ago that he’d be spending this summer preparing to compete at the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore, he’d have said you were nuts.

“I wouldn’t believe you,” the 16-year-old from Ramsey, Minnesota, said. “I would have thought you were crazy.”

And who could blame him? He wasn’t even classified in Para swimming until June 2024. He swam at nationals for the first time just last December, and he didn’t dip a toe into international competition until this spring.

Yet here he is, already now a two-time world-record holder who’s made the leap from up-and-comer to full-on contender in no time.

“I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,” Koehn said. “I think it will really become real to me when I land (in Singapore) and it’s actually time to perform and race. That’s when I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I’m actually here now.’”

Boyd, who was born without abdominal muscles in a condition called “prune belly syndrome,” has already had an eventful year.

At his nationals debut this past December, he won six U.S. titles and swimmer of the meet honors.

That momentum carried into 2025.

In April, Boyd raced against an international field for the first time at the Para Swimming World Series in Indianapolis, an event that also served as the lone selection opportunity for the U.S. world championships team.

After earning the coveted roster spot in Indianapolis, he took his swimming to another level at this year’s national championships in June in Boise, Idaho. Boyd broke an 11-year-old record in the 400-meter individual medley SM10 with a time of 4:45.83, then won the 400-meter freestyle S10 as well as the 100-meter butterfly S10 and the 200 IM. He also lowered his American record and set a new world mark in the 200-meter butterfly S10 with a time of 2:05.50.

The best part of that last one?

He can go even faster.

“Once I touched the wall and knew I didn’t go my best time, it gave me a sense of joy,” said Boyd, who recently swam the 200 fly a second faster, although not in a sanctioned Para meet. “One, because I got (the world record), but two, because I have something to work on in practice to keep chipping away at that because the 200 fly is one of my favorite events and definitely the one I’m best at. So I was definitely happy to get that world record but also know that I could still get it by more.”

World records and accolades aside, Boyd will also tell you this hasn’t been his greatest long-course season. He didn’t hit all the times that he did last year, which isn’t the best feeling for someone with big dreams and who puts in a lot of work to keep getting faster.

But it also led to an important realization that will undoubtedly serve Boyd well as he moves forward in his young career.

“I feel like when I go to meets, I walk in and expect every race to be the best race of my life,” he said. “I always expect so much, and then when it doesn’t go how I wanted or planned or expected, then I think about all the things I’m doing wrong, or why did it not go that way, and then I get into a bad headspace. So this season has taught me to remember the training and all the work I’ve put in, but also not hold myself to such a crazy high standard because I’m only human.”

Boyd said grappling with the aftermath of races that don’t go how he wanted has also deepened his religious faith. Just as he believes that God didn’t make a mistake when He made him, Boyd believes that every race is an opportunity to learn that God’s plan is bigger than his.

“I would say I’ve grown spiritually through my faith and my walk with God knowing that His plans and my plans may not line up, but His plans, in the end, are always what’s going to happen,” Boyd said. “So I just need to not worry about the times or the standard that I hold myself to because at the end of the day, that’s not what matters.”

As part of Boyd’s preparations for Singapore, he visited the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, recently for a training camp. It was a great opportunity to deepen his connections with the new teammates he’s still getting to know, Boyd said. He also had the opportunity to work with his home coach, Jeff Rodriguez, who will be serving as one of Team USA’s coaches in Singapore.

One of the things he’s most looking forward to about Singapore is learning from the best Para swimmers in the world, including his own teammates. Traveling to compete is something new for Boyd, and he knows there will be a lot of knowledge to digest along the way.

And, of course, he wants to “race my heart out” and represent Team USA with everything he has.

“One of the things I’ve learned and thought about is wearing my Team USA cap, and that means that I’m not just swimming for myself,” Boyd said. “I’m swimming for my country, and I swim for my family and my coaches and even all the people who’ve been told they’re not enough. People with disabilities who aren’t even competing, who are just living their lives. I compete for those people, too. Competing is bigger than the medals. It’s about showing myself and the world what’s possible.”

Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to USParaSwimming.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.