Team USA Profile | Tokyo Paralympics Home Page
TOKYO – Current Merrimack College women's swimmer,
Cailin Currie, has qualified for the 2020 Paralympic Games in the 400 meter Freestyle event and is already in Japan, as she preps for her second career Paralympic Games appearance.
The Danvers, Mass. native qualified for the Tokyo games in June at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota when she placed second in her division in the event, which is the second time she's accomplished the feat. She swam at the 2016 Rio games the summer before she matriculated to Merrimack in the 400 meter Freestyle and 100 meter Butterfly. She's also appeared in other events with Team USA during her time as a Warrior, including the 2019 World Series Paralympic Swimming meet in Berlin.
While at Merrimack, she is a former school record holder in the 200 meter freestyle and current member of the team's record-holding 800 meter Freestyle relay team. She was also Merrimack's top finisher in the 500 yard Freestyle and 1650 yard Freestyle at the 2020 NEC Championships, which marked the Warriors' first conference championship appearance as a Division I institution.
Currie departed for her journey to Asia Aug. 14th and has been training ever since in preparation for her event, which is set to begin Aug. 26. She has been generous enough to provide updates of her journey and experience at the Paralympics, which will be updated below as she moves forward.
Saturday, Aug. 14
Cailin: "Here I am in Chicago, on my way to Tokyo! The airport gave us a big cheer before we left. Only 17 more hours of travel!"
Tuesday, Aug. 17
Cailin: "We made it to Japan! We're staying in apartments on the Yokoto Air Base and adjusting to the time zone change, which took me around two days! We'll be moving into the Athlete's Village soon, meanwhile we're training at the air base's pool. We're all getting excited to race!"
Friday, Aug. 20
Cailin: "This is the whole Para Swim team at Yokoto—I'm the one with dark sunglasses in the middle of the group. My grandfather was a navigator in WWII. I think he would love seeing me on an Air Force Base! It has been super hot and humid here, but at least the pool temperature has been okay. Later today, we're saying good bye to Yokoto and moving onto the Athlete's Village."
Monday, Aug. 23
Cailin: "Today is our third day in the Athletes Village, and we have one more day of training before competition starts on Wednesday. And Friday is the 400 Free! Isn't the pool gorgeous?"
Thursday, Aug. 26
Cailin: "Just came back from our last practice. Tomorrow's the day! I can't wait to represent the country to the very best of my ability! (My race will probably happen at around 9:45 Thursday night at Merrimack."
NBC STREAMING LINK: https://stream.nbcolympics.com/paralympic-swimming-session-7-heats
LIVE RESULTS: https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/paralympic-games/en/results/swimming/results-women-s-400m-freestyle-s13-heat-000200-.htm
Monday, Aug. 30
Cailin: "Heading home tomorrow. Hard to believe it's all over for me, but I'm really happy with my swim, and our team did great. I can't wait to get back to campus and I'm really looking forward to competing for Merrimack for my senior season. Thanks everyone for all your support!"
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