RIO de JANIERO, Brazil – Carson-Newman's Robert Griswold (Freehold, NJ) participated in his first event at the 2016 Paralympics today, swimming in the S8 400m freestyle. Griswold finished fifth in the race, timing in at 4.36.26.
The event was won by Oliver Hynd from Britain who set a world record with a mark 4.21.89.
Griswold isn't done, however. He'll be back in action on Tuesday, when he competes in the S8 100m backstroke. He enters the Paralympics as the world record holder in the S8 200m backstroke. The two heats for the backstroke will be at 10:04am and 10:08am, with the final at 6:14pm. He'll also swim in the SM8 200m individual medley on Saturday, September 17th. The S8 or SM8 event designation is for swimmers who have lost either both hands or one arm as well as athletes with severe restrictions in the joints of the lower limbs. You can catch all the action on TeamUSA.org.