Javier Sossa - Swimming & Diving Coach - University of North Carolina Athletics

Javier Sossa

Title:
Associate Head Coach / Director of Special Initiatives / Men's Recruiting
Email:
jsossa@unc.edu
Phone:
919-962-6000

Javier Sossa was named an assistant swimming coach at the University of North Carolina in November 2022. Sossa came to Chapel Hill after spending three years as a coach with Team Elite Aquatics in San Diego.

Last season, Sossa mentored four Tar Heels, who qualified for Olympic Trials, and 11 individuals and four relays that qualified for NCAAs. His group set 12 school records over the course of the season with the women's team finishing the year 17th at the NCAA Championships.

In his first season on staff, Sossa helped the Tar Heel women earn a 10th-place finish at the 2023 NCAA Championships and instructed seven All-America swimmers. UNC swimmers recorded a combined nine individual and relay records in 2023. Sossa also helped Skyler Smith advance to the U.S. Trials, where she finished fourth in the 50 Breast and eighth in the 100 Breast.

During his three years in San Diego, Sossa worked under 2021 International Swimming Hall of Fame Inductee David Marsh, founder and director of Team Elite Aquatics, one of the top professional swimming training groups in the United States.

Sossa provides loads of international experience to Tar Heel swimmers. He coached nine swimmers in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with five swimmers qualifying for event finals. Sossa instructed multiple medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships, FINA World Cup, and European Short Course and Long Course Championships. He also served as a coach in the German National Swimming Federation and Israeli National Swimming Federation from 2019-21.

Under his tutelage, Anastasia Gorbenko became the first Israeli world champion in 2021, capturing the gold medal at the FINA World Swimming Championships in the 50-meter breaststroke and 100-meter IM. Germany’s Marius Kusch flourished under Sossa’s guidance, capturing the gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly at the 2019 European Short Course Championships.

Sossa spent three seasons as a coach in the International Swimming League (ISL), founded in 2019. He served as a home coach for the L.A. Current in 2019 and 2020 and was promoted to assistant coach of the Washington D.C. Trident in 2021. The Trident qualified for the ISL playoffs for the first time in 2021.

A native of Colombia, Sossa swam collegiately at Oklahoma Baptist University and helped the Bison win four consecutive NAIA national championships. He became an assistant coach at his alma mater shortly after graduating in 2015 and spent four seasons under his coach and mentor Dr. Sam Freas. As a member of the coaching staff that assisted in the transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II before the 2017-18 season, Sossa trained student-athletes that won five Division II event titles and earned 32 First Team All-America awards. He served as interim head coach at OBU for five months in 2019 before joining Team Elite Aquatics.

Sossa holds a Bachelor's of Applied Science degree in sports science and marketing and a Master's of Business Administration from OBU.