Alabama's Rhyan White Earns Team USA’s First Swimming Medal at 2018 Youth Olympic Games
10/8/2018 6:16:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
The Crimson Tide rookie took the bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke on the games’ second day
BUENOS AIRES – Alabama swimmer Rhyan White earned Team USA's first swimming medal of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games Monday night. The Crimson Tide freshman from Herriman, Utah, earned a bronze medal in the 100-meter backstroke during the second day of the games being held in Buenos Aires, Argentina this week.
"We're really proud of Rhyan and the way she has gotten things going at the Youth Olympics," UA head coach Dennis Pursley said. "To win a medal in international competition is a huge accomplishment. She has had such a great start to her freshman season here at Alabama, and this is just a continuation of what we've already seen from her this fall."
White had the fastest reaction time of the race at .58 of a second and was second at the halfway point before Russia's Daria Vaskina moved past both White and Australia's Kaylee McKeown, who took the silver.
White shattered the University of Alabama 100-meter backstroke record with her swim in finals, stopping the clock in a time of 1:00.60. She was less than two-tenths of a second behind Vaskina and two-hundredths of a second from McKeown.
White will also swim the 50-meter and 200-meter backstrokes at these games, which feature athletes that are between the ages of 15 to 18.
Fellow Tide freshman Kalia Antoniou is competing for her native Cyprus at the Youth Olympics. After taking 12th in the preliminaries, she moved up two spots in the semifinals of the 100-meter freestyle to finish 10th overall with a time of 56.63. She is the second alternate heading into finals.
Antoniou also has two more events left in Argentina. She is slated to compete in the 50-meter freestyle and will join White in the 50-meter backstroke.
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