Ryan Held (born June 27, 1995) is an American freestyle swimmer who specializes in the sprint events, and is currently sponsored by Arena.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics he won a gold medal in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay, swimming in both the prelims and the final of the event.

[1] In the Olympic heats, he swam a split time of 47.79 on the second leg, impressing the coaching staff enough to give him the nod to swim in the final.

Although Held's time was not as fast as Anthony Ervin’s, head coach Bob Bowman made the decision due to youth since "Younger legs, coming back so quickly".

[6] In the final he split 47.73 on the third leg to preserve Team USA's lead, winning the gold medal together with Caeleb Dressel, Michael Phelps, and Nathan Adrian.

[16] Gaining racing experience in short course meters as preparation for the World Championships, Held competed at the 2021 Ron Johnson Masters Championship in Tempe, Arizona in November, where he swam a 21.28 and broke the Masters world record in the 50 meter freestyle for the 25–29 age group set at 21.37 by César Cielo in 2014.

[28][29] In the morning of day five, Held ranked fifth in the prelims heats of the 100 meter freestyle with a 46.72, qualifying for the semifinals along with fellow American Zach Apple.

[34][35] On the freestyle leg of the 4×100 meter medley relay in the final, Held split a 45.43 to help achieve a time of 3:20.50 and a silver-medal-win.

[40] He placed third in the final with a time of 48.18 seconds, qualifying for the 2022 World Aquatics Championships team in the 4×100 meter freestyle relay.

[52] r = relay lead-off In October 2021, Held publicly announced his engagement to Lexie Lupton, who he trained with during part of his time competing collegiately for the NC State Wolfpack.