By Braden Keith on SwimSwam
Suspended American swimmer Michael Brinegar competed for the Indiana University Swim Club on Sunday at a collegiate club meet at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis, results show.
Brinegar, whose name is misspelled in the results, swam six events:
- 200 medley relay (6th) – freestyle anchor leg, 21.50
- 200 free (1st) – 1:42.44
- 500 free (1st) – 4:32.69
- 200 free relay (5th) – freestyle anchor leg, 21.99
- 50 free (5th) – 22.40
- 400 IM (1st) – 4:09.54
Brinegar is currently serving a four year suspension from all Olympic-umbrella competition after the US Anti-Doping Agency found evidence of blood doping, which Brinegar has denied.
While the suspension extends to most professional level competition, U.S. Masters Swimming sanctioned events (see: Lance Armstrong), and USA Swimming events, other organizations that aren’t WADA signatories are not bound by those suspensions, though the suspension could trigger corollary rules for some of those organizations.
He also isn’t allowed to compete in any other Olympic or WADA-umbrella competitions, including in other sports, nor train with Olympic-umbrella coaches or teams.
This leaves suspended athletes able to participate in competitions at the NCAA level, collegiate club level, summer league level (some have adult divisions), the Enhanced Games, or even Grown Up Swimming, none of which are World Anti-Doping Code signatories.
This was Brinegar’s first swimming competition since being suspended, based on available records.
The Indiana club swimming team was only 17th at last year’s Collegiate Club National Championships, and it appears that by Collegiate Club Swimming rules he is likely ineligible for this year’s meet. Collegiate club powerhouse Purdue, which won the Hoosier Invitational on Sunday with 928.5 points, are the defending men’s champions. Indiana was 3rd at this meet with 394 points, and Ohio State was 2nd with 483 points.
Brinegar is a two-time World Junior Championship medalist, winning silver in the 1500 free and bronze in the 800 free in 2017. He also won a bronze medal in the team open water event at the 2019 World Championships.
He represented the U.S. at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in the pool while training as an undergraduate at Indiana. In 2023, he moved to California to resume training with former U.S. National Team Director Mark Schubert, the same man who coached his mother Jennifer to the 1976 Olympic Games.
The 2025 Collegiate Club National Championships will be held from March 28-30 at the Skyline Aquatic Center in Mesa, Arizona.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Suspended U.S. Olympian Michael Brinegar Competes at Collegiate Club Meet for Indiana