TOKYO, Japan – Virginia incoming freshman Emma Weyant (Sarasota, Fla.) won the silver medal in the 400 individual medley on Sunday morning at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Weyant swam a personal best time of 4:32.76. Her silver medal performance was the highest individual finish by a Cavalier women’s swimmer in Olympic history.
Japan’s Yui Ohashi took the gold with a time of 4:32.08 while USA’s Hali Flickinger joined Weyant on the podium by earning the bronze medal with a time of 4:34.90.
“Honestly, this is like crazier than anything I could have dreamed of,” Weyant said after her race. “I’m just so happy to be here to race the best in the world. It is so much fun.”
Weyant, who had the best time (4:33.55) during Saturday’s heats, will be a first-year at Virginia this fall. She deferred her enrollment until the fall semester of 2021 in order to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
“Having our teammates behind us in the stands, and obviously seeing Chase and Jay before, Hali and I kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘okay, we can do this now,’ and I think it’s just going to keep getting better throughout the meet,” Weyant said.
The next Cavalier set to compete in Tokyo is four-time NCAA Champion Paige Madden (Mobile, Ala.) in the 400 free. The heats for that event will take place at 7 a.m. Sunday with the finals Sunday night.