She set new records in two backstroke events
In the last two National Senior Games, 2023 and 2025, there has been no better swimmer in backstroke events than Linda Fulton of Celebration.
Last week in Des Moines, Iowa at this year’s Games, Fulton set new National Senior Games records in the 70-74 age group in the 50 and 200 yard backstroke events and narrowly missed setting a new record in the 100-yard backstroke. In those events, she either broke, or almost broke, her own records.
She has the top two times in the 70-74 age group 50, 100 and 200 yard backstroke events in the history of the National Senior Games, times she recorded in 2023 and 2025.
Fulton also broke her own record in the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 35.33 seconds, her final event Sunday. Her gold medal-winning performance came with a margin of victory of just .22 seconds.
Besides her excellence in the backstroke in the National Senior Games, Fulton holds four backstroke records in the 65-69 and 7074 age groups, and eight total records in the Florida Senior Games. She was named the 2022 Florida Senior Games Female Athlete of the Year.
Overall, at the 2025 National Senior Games, Fulton won four gold medals, a silver and a bronze, over three days of swimming. In the last five National Senior Games since 2017, she has won 21 gold medals, three silvers and a bronze medal.
“What’s great is I’m swimming better times and breaking my own records even as I get older,” Fulton said, at the end of the competition on Sunday.
Nick Gandy of the Florida Sports Foundation contributed to this report
