For Daryan Maynard, swimming isn’t just a sport — it’s the reason he’s here. After a childhood accident nearly cost him his leg, the sport became his lifeline — a path to recovery, resilience, and the friendships that now define his life.
The 16-year-old from St. Croix is the lone male in the four-person squad representing the U.S. Virgin Islands at the 2025 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Otopeni. A team with one male can’t swim on relays, but Maynard’s programme in Romania is plenty demanding. He has entered nine events; even if he doesn’t advance to semifinals or finals, he will cover 3,300 meters at the Otopeni Olympic Swimming Complex.
Two years ago, Maynard made his Junior World Championships debut in Netanya, Israel, at just 14 years old. Now, with more experience and maturity, his goal is simple: swim personal bests in every event. Earlier this year, he competed at the CARIFTA Swimming Championships in Trinidad & Tobago, racing in 10 events and setting new lifetime bests in six of them. His strongest showing came in the 400m individual medley, where he finished just off the podium in fourth place. He capped his meet with a seventh-place finish in the 5km open water event, earning eighth overall among 39 boys in the AQUA points standings.
For Maynard, swimming is more than competition — it is his passion and his purpose. He embraces every event with determination, never looking to the end of a meet but always to the next swim. Progress, measured in personal bests, matters more to him than medals, and he already has his sights set on continuing his career in college.
That mindset is rooted in experience. At age nine, Maynard suffered a life-changing accident while playing on a pier in St. Croix. His leg slipped through a missing board, causing a severe fracture that required emergency evacuation to Miami for surgery. “At first I didn’t realize how bad it was — I tried to stand up and said, ‘Oh no, that’s not happening,’” he recalls. “My mom was worried I might lose my leg. But the doctors saved it, and now it feels stronger than the other one.”
Recovery demanded patience and resilience. For months he relied on a brace, and at first he needed his father to carry him into the pool. “My dad can’t really swim, but he would swim next to me in the 50-meter pool just to make sure I was okay,” Maynard said. “I don’t even remember the last time I saw him swim 50 meters straight.”
Baseball, once his favorite sport, had to be left behind, but swimming became his lifeline. “It was only swimming for me at that point. I couldn’t go back to the other sports,” he explained. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without it. I wouldn’t have met half my friends or seen half the places I’ve been.”
That passion now fuels him in Romania, where his schedule is one of the busiest at Junior Worlds. “I’m here to swim,” Maynard said. “It’s a lot, but it’s always been my idea — you only get to do this so many times, so you might as well make the most of it.”
Looking ahead, Maynard has clear goals. “My dream would probably be to go to Harvard,” he said, smiling. “It’s always been Harvard.” Recently, he learned that Harvard’s current men’s coach, Kevin Tyrell, once led the U.S. Virgin Islands national team — a connection that makes his dream feel all the more possible.