Sarasota Swimmer Upsets Olympic Veterans, Headed To Tokyo: Report

SARASOTA, FL — A Sarasota swimmer, 19-year-old Emma Weyant, will compete in the Tokyo Olympics this summer after outswimming three former Olympians in the 400-meter individual medley.

During Sunday night’s U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Nebraska, Weyant beat out three members of the 2016 U.S. Olympic team – Hali Flickinger, Melanie Margalis and Leah Smith – in a close race, the Associated Press reported. She finished the race in 4:33.81, .15 seconds faster than her closest competitor, Flickinger.

Weyant told AP that her strategy going into the trials was to “stick to my race plan and not worry about everyone around me. Stick to my strengths and always taking it home on freestyle.”

Competing against veteran swimmers was a nerve-wracking experience, she admitted.

“I’m not going to lie. I was really nervous, so I tried to get that out of my system (in the morning preliminaries). The plan (Sunday night) was just to race.”

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Weyant graduated from Riverview High School, where she was a standout swimmer, in 2019.

She joined the University of Virginia’s swim team, but deferred her freshman season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She continues to swim with the Sarasota Sharks team.

During her time at Riverview, she was the 2019 U.S. national champion and the 2018 Junior Pan Pac champion in the 400-meter individual medley.

She was also ranked No. 1 in the world among those 18 and under in the 400-meter individual medley, according to her player profile with the University of Virginia.

Weyant was also a four-time Florida High School Athletic Association 4A state champion in the 500-meter freestyle and the 200-meter individual medley races.