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Rafael Fente-Damers, who lives in Spain but swims for Dauphins Annecy and the French National Junior Team, has verbally committed to swim and study at the University of Texas beginning in the 2025-26 season. He will overlap a year with his older sister, Sophie, who is in the Texas class of 2026 (although she does not swim anymore).
“I’m super excited to announce my verbal commitment to swim and study at the University of Texas in Austin! I want to thank my coaches in Alaska, Texas, France, England, and Spain and my family for helping me get here and to @coach_bowman for this incredible opportunity! Looking forward to being a Longhorn! Hook’em🤘🤘”
In his 18 years, Fente-Damers has already punched numerous pages in his swimming passport. Born in the United States to a French mother and a Spanish father, he had triple nationality from the get-go. He began swimming at age 5 in Anchorage, Alaska, where he was attached to Anchorage YMCA Swim Team. In 2015-17, he swam for Dads Club Swim Team in Houston. By the fall of 2017 he was attached to the French club, AVAN Villeneuve d’Ascq, near the northern city of Lille. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, he and his siblings swam in England for Cobham Cougars ASC and Elmbridge Phoenix SC.
In 2022, he attached to Dauphins d’Annecy and has been representing the club ever since. Currently, Fente-Damers trains at the SEK International Sports Academy, just outside of Madrid, Spain and represents France internationally. Last summer, he competed at the European Junior Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. He notched a PB in the 50 free (23.07), finishing 9th in prelims, and in the 100 free (49.72), where he won the bronze medal. He also earned silver medals with the French boys’ 4×100 free and 4×200 free relays, and bronze medals with the boys’ 4×100 medley and mixed 4×100 free relays.
At the Spanish Interclubs in December 2023, Fente-Damers broke the French national age group record for 17-year-old boys in the 100 free with his 47.77 lead-off on SEK’s 4×100 free relay.
Fente-Damers’ commitment marks an immediate shift in Texas culture under new head coach Bob Bowman. In the Eddie Reese era, the Longhorns very rarely recruited international swimmers – and when they did, it was almost always student-athletes like Joseph Schooling who were already in the United States for high school. From his earlies days at Arizona State, Bowman attracted international student-athletes who wanted to train under “Michael Phelps’ coach.” And since the explosion of Leon Marchand on the world stage, Bowman is at the top of the list for an ever-expanding number of international swimmers.
Fente-Damers will join Clem Camacho, Evan Conti, and John Simmons in the Longhorns’ class of 2029.
Best LCM times (converted):
- 50 free – 22.54 (19.58)
- 100 free – 48.86 (42.57)
- 200 free – 1:51.14 (1:37.24)
- 100 fly – 57.47 (50.51)
- 100 back – 56.73 (50.02)
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