William Andrew Licon (/liːˈkoʊn/ lee-COHN; born August 25, 1994) is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in breaststroke and medley events.

For his final two years of high school, Licon boarded with multiple host families in the surrounding Austin area to maintain an elite level of training that would best set him up for future athletic and academic success.

That summer, Licon competed in the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, finishing 19th in the 200-meter breaststroke[11] which qualified him for the 2012 Jr. Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii.

He concluded the meet with a silver medal performance in the 4×100-meter medley relay alongside future Longhorn teammates Jack Conger and Matt Ellis with a 1:02.86 breaststroke split.

On October 19, 2012, Licon gave his verbal commitment to swim at the University of Texas at Austin[14] and signed his letter of intent on November 14, 2012.

In his debut season as a freshman at the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, Licon placed fifth in the 400-yard individual medley, setting a school record for the Longhorns with a time of 3:40.84.

[1][15] The Longhorns finished second to the California Golden Bears for the men's NCAA team title, scoring 417.5 points to Cal's 468.5.

[1][17] Licon then joined Kip Darmody, Joseph Schooling, and Jack Conger to win the 4×100-yard medley relay in a new NCAA and U.S. Open record time of 3:01.23, just out-touching the California Golden Bears (3:01.60) for gold.

Licon also won the 400-yard individual medley in a time of 3:36.37, defeating the American record-holder and 2-time defending champion Chase Kalisz by 3.14 seconds.

[1] In his last race of the meet, Licon went head-to-head against American record-holder and reigning NCAA champion Kevin Cordes in the 200-yard breaststroke.

[1][20] Licon’s breakout performance at the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships helped the Longhorns win their first team title since 2010.

[22][27] Licon joined John Shebat, Joseph Schooling, and Jack Conger to help Texas win the 400-yard medley relay for the second straight year with a new NCAA and U.S. Open record of 3:00.68,[28] splitting a 50.69 on the breaststroke leg.

In his first event, Licon won the 200-yard individual medley, tying University of Florida’s Mark Szaranek for top of the podium at 1:40.67.

[1] Later that session, Licon joined teammates Shebat, Schooling and Brett Ringgold in the 200-yard medley relay,[32] splitting 22.91 on the breaststroke leg to take first place in a new NCAA and U.S. Open record of 1:21.54.

[4] Concluding his NCAA career in 2017, Licon “joined a rare group that includes Ricky Williams, Derrick Johnson and Vince Young” by becoming the first swimmer ever and the fifth Longhorn to win the Big 12 Male Athlete of the Year award.

[4] Licon shared the award with Kansas Jayhawks point guard and 2017 AP Player of the Year, Frank Mason III.

[37] Licon was voted the Big 12 Conference Men's Swimmer of the Year by league coaches after his breakout sophomore season where he defeated a pair of American record-holders back-to-back en route to his first individual NCAA titles in the 400 IM and 200 breaststroke.

The senior completed his college career with Big 12 and University of Texas program records in the 100 and 200 breast, the 200 and 400 IM, and the 200 and 400 medley relays.

[39] On May 2, 2018, a year after his collegiate career had ended, Licon was inducted into the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame, being amongst the company of Don Haskins and Bobby Joe Hill from the legendary 1965–66 Texas Western Miners men's basketball team, National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Famers Nolan Richardson and Nate Archibald, professional golfer Lee Trevino, and former American record-holding swimmer Lara Jackson.

Following a breakout NCAA season, but recovering from mononucleosis that took five weeks out of his training,[41] Licon entered Summer Nationals in San Antonio, Texas as a threat to win multiple events.

At the 2017 World University Games, Licon was named co-captain of Team USA, alongside teammates Ryan Held, Ella Eastin, and Ali DeLoof.

Licon's gold in the 200-meter individual medley was the first time that a United States male swimmer won this event at the Pan American Games since Ron Karnaugh's victory in 1991.

Resulting from his third place finish at the 2020 Olympic Trials, Licon was selected to compete at the 2021 Short Course World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi.

[68] Licon competed in the preliminaries of the 4×50 m and the 4×100 m medley relays, tying for gold with the Russian Swimming Federation in 1:30.51,[69] and grabbing silver behind Italy in 3:20.50 respectively.

In the 4×100-meter medley relay, Licon, alongside Olympians Ryan Murphy and Tom Shields, finished second to the London Roar while splitting a 57.32 on the breaststroke leg.

At the ISL American Derby in College Park, Maryland, Licon finished third in the 100 and 200-meter breaststrokes, going 57.33 and 2:04.09 respectively, which improved upon both of his times from the previous month.

At the ISL finale, hosted at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, the Current entered as a dark horse to win the team title.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire 2020 season of the International Swimming League was staged in a bio-secure bubble in Budapest, Hungary at the Danube Arena from October 16 – November 22, 2020.

[83] During the ISL's second semifinal from November 15 – 16, Licon earned his third victory in a row in the 200 breaststroke, going 2:02.47 to out-touch Toronto's Anton Mckee.

[90] The recipients, consisting of student athletes, express how their opportunity to earn a scholarship and compete in their chosen sport embodies the defining characteristics of a champion.