Meet Haddonfield’s Audrey Derivaux, the 14-year-old who’s swimming’s next rising star

Audrey Derivaux can perfectly picture the pool at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. With more than 20,000 fans in the crowd for the 2024 U.S. Olympics Swimming Trials, cameras and bright lights shone over the water. That atmosphere last month doesn’t compare to anywhere else the 14-year-old has competed before.

“I remember walking out to the stadium and I had to take a moment to soak it all in,” said Derivaux, who competes with the Jersey Wahoos Swim Club in Mount Laurel. “I just had to focus on the fact that it’s just a normal pool — it’s just like the pool that I had raced in back home.”

The rising sophomore at Haddonfield High School did just that at the trials, and she held her own.

Derivaux qualified in six events; the 100-meter backstroke, 200-meter backstroke, 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter fly, 200-meter individual medley, and 400-meter individual medley. She advanced to the 400 IM final after clinching the eighth and final seed with a time of 4 minutes, 45.23 seconds. She became the youngest swimmer to make a trials final since 2012.

While she didn’t earn a roster spot for the Paris Olympics (those go to the top two finishers in each event), Derivaux’s talent caught national attention as she showed the world what could be in store — maybe for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“I remember being in the ready room, thinking, ‘Two of these girls are going to make the Olympic team,’” Derivaux said. “I knew it probably wouldn’t have been me, but I know now what to expect for 2028, so I want to put my best foot forward and see what I can do.”

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Becoming an Olympian has always been Derivaux’s dream, and growing up around a family of swimmers, she was around the water often.

Her older siblings, Christopher, Charles, and Lilly, competed at Wahoos. So, naturally, Audrey, who started swimming at 3 years old, tried the sport. Little did her family know what was in store.

“It was really cool to watch,” said Lilly, who now swims for Yale and also qualified for the Olympic trials in the 200 fly. “From the start, she was always right on my times or beating my times. I knew she was going to be competitive really young. I just didn’t realize that she would end up being so much faster than I am.”

When Lilly was a senior in high school, she competed on the Wahoos’ national team, a select group of swimmers who focus on the junior and senior national championships as well as Olympic trials.

Audrey, who is five years younger than Lilly, moved up to the team when she was 12. It was a big commitment. Members of the national team are expected to train 20 hours a week, hours comparable to working a part-time job.

But she wasn’t alone. Audrey had her sister. The two leaned on each other and pushed each other.

“We felt comfortable that Audrey was ready to compete at the national level by her competitive times,” said Wahoos coach Paul Donovan. “Having Lilly there was really key because we kind of felt that socially, Audrey would be OK.

“I also think that really helped Audrey make the transition, but she’s a really hard worker and an intelligent young lady. She fit right in.”

Audrey quickly made her presence felt in the swimming community.

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During her first national meet, the 2022 Speedo Junior National Championships in Irvine, Calif., she broke the 11-12 national age-group record in the 100 fly with a time of 1:01.41.

“That was when I kind of realized that she was going to be something big,” Lilly said.

“From the start, she was always right on my times or beating my times. I knew she was going to be competitive really young.”

It was a pivotal moment for Audrey as well. She, too, started to believe that she had a place in this sport, one that could take her to the international level. It motivated her.

“I really had a competitive mindset and just wanted to win,” Audrey said. “After that, I started taking practice more seriously, training harder, and trying to be as fast as I could.”

She did it again in February, when the then-13-year-old broke the national age-group record in the 200-yard butterfly, which she said is her favorite event. She recorded a personal-best time of 1:54.33 in the prelims, cutting more than a full second off her previous best of 1:55.90.

Audrey’s life quickly centered on swimming as her times kept dropping, which she didn’t mind. This was the sport that bonded her siblings and how she met some of her closest friends, but there’s days when she would rather be home than at practice — she’s still a teenager, after all.

“It can be stressful, especially with school, but I really just had to find a balance, because if I didn’t then I would fall behind,” she said. “Sometimes I might hate when I’m getting up at 4 a.m. for practice, but I also love it. I love coming here every day after school and seeing my friends — it keeps me going.”

Audrey turned heads when she became the youngest qualifier for the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials.

In March 2023, she made the cut at a Pro Swim Series event in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Audrey and Wahoos assistant coach Allie Fogleman, who swam at N.C. State, traveled together to the meet. It was Audrey’s first professional-level competition, and she left as the second-fastest 13-year-old all-time nationally in the 200 fly.

She even beat Olympian Katie Ledecky, who’s among the greatest female swimmers of all time, in the 200 fly final. Ledecky, whose main events are in freestyle, placed eighth with a 2:17.19, while Audrey posted a time of 2:13.39.

“She’s gotten a lot more confident in herself,” Fogleman said. “She sees herself on that playing field, and then she takes that back to her training. She’s dialed in. She’s on top of what split she needs to hold. She knows exactly what she needs to do in her training. Her confidence has really allowed her to take that next step.”

And that next step was the Olympic trials in June.

There were some nerves when she arrived in Indianapolis. Audrey, who will turn 15 in August, has never been on this stage before, and she once again was competing against the nation’s best, including Olympians Katie Grimes and Emma Weyant, who claimed the U.S.’ 400 IM spots in Paris.

But she found ways to calm herself. She had her older sister by her side and stuck to her routine.

“I always listen to music before my races,” she said. “I have my headphones on, and my music is blasting.”

Taylor Swift’s Reputation album was her go-to during trials.

“When I made it into the final heat, I was just so excited,” she said. “I remember the girls in the room were giving me a hug saying, ‘That’s amazing.’ That’s when it set in that I’m going to be racing in the final. That night before the 400 IM final, I was definitely a little scared.

“Lilly was there with me. She was sitting by me and gave me words of advice. She also was trying to make me laugh, too.”

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Audrey dropped four seconds from her 4:49.32 seed time in the prelims to clinch a spot in the final. She placed eighth in the final at 4:46.89. Although it wasn’t the result she hoped for, the experience is one that she’ll never forget.

And her friends and family in South Jersey couldn’t wait to celebrate what she accomplished.

“I’m so proud of her,” said her mother, Tricia Derivaux. “She works so hard. She sets goals, if she makes them, she doesn’t stop there. She just keeps setting more goals. She’s an amazing person all around, not just in swimming.”

Now, Audrey’s turning her focus back to training.

Next week, Audrey will head to Texas for USA Swimming Futures Championships. In August, she’ll represent Team USA in the Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Australia, which features the fastest 18-and-under swimmers in each event at the Olympic trials.

She’s only 14, with no limit to what her future holds. But Audrey isn’t thinking about that. She wants to stay focused on the present — and, of course, have fun while she’s at it.

“It’s definitely a little overwhelming. I have a lot left, and I’m excited for it,” Audrey said. “I’m excited to see what I can do. I just have to keep putting in the effort and keep showing up every day so I can achieve the best version of myself.”