Ohio State rising junior Hunter Armstrong has officially made the U.S. Olympic team that will be heading to Japan later in July. He did it by finishing second in the 100m backstroke with a personal-best swim of 52.48 seconds in the finals Tuesday evening. He finished second to 2016 100m and 200m backstroke gold medalist and world-record holder Ryan Murphy, who won with a time of 52.33 seconds.
“We are so incredibly thrilled for Hunter and the opportunity he now has to represent the United States at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” Bill Dorenkott, Ohio State director of swimming and diving said in a statement from the university. “He is swimming extremely well and is within striking distance of the world record (51.97 set by Murphy in 2016). I think he will have some terrific Olympic Games swims.”
Armstrong is the first Ohio State male swimmer to make the U.S. Olympic swimming team in 65 years when the 1956 Summer Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia. Then, Ford Kono, George Onekea, Yoshi Oyakawa, and Albert Wiggins represented Ohio State for the U.S.A.
Hunter Armstrong is officially a member of the United States Olympic Swimming Team. He will be recognized and introduced with the team tonight during the final swims of the these U.S. Olympic Trials, which are taking place in Omaha, Neb. NBC will have live coverage at 8 p.m. EDT
— Ohio State Swim/Dive (@OhioStSwimDive) June 20, 2021
Next, it’s off to Hawaii for Hunter to train with the rest of the U.S.A. swimming squad before heading off to Tokyo for all of the Olympic festivities.
Congrats to Armstrong, and now you can add a little scarlet and gray to the red, white, and blue in the pool for the United States.