RIO de JANIERO, Brazil – Carson-Newman sophomore swimmer Robert Griswold (Freehold, N.J.) set a Paralympic record in heat one of the S8 100m backstroke on Tuesday morning to advance to the event final later today in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
"He works hard at this every single day," Head Swimming Coach Jordan Taylor said. "Getting to the Paralympics was the first step and now in his main event, he put together the perfect race this morning to secure a spot in the final tonight, which is the first job done. He has a chance to be a Paralympic champion. I spoke to him after the race and he was super excited, said everything went to plan. He's got another gear to step up into tonight and he's ready for everything the other competitors have got."
Griswold will be swimming in the final this evening at 6:15pm. There will be a watch party for the event on the second floor of the Stephens-Burnett Memorial Library starting at 5:45pm. You can also catch the event streamed live at TeamUSA.org.
Griswold swam in the S8 400m free last week and finished fifth with a personal best time of 4.36.26. He was also the first American to hit the wall in the event. On the 17th, he'll compete in the SM8 200m individual medley. The heats for that event are set for 8:52 and 8:57am.
-CN-