Wednesday, July 5, 2017

I thought I recognized that name



I was looking at the early results of the 2017 USA Swimming Summer Nationals, which also served to cho0se the World Championships team, and I noticed a familiar name in the final of the women's 50-meter backstroke.

The name was Katharine Berkoff. I suspected that she was the daughter of Olympian David Berkoff, the originator of the "Berkoff Blastoff" extended underwater fly kick pushoff  (he was the most notable of several swimmers that developed this technique), which I think has been a major influence on swimming since, and required rules changes to prevent races from being conducted entirely underwater and to help avoid swimmers drowning.

This article confirmed that her father was who I thought he was:

Up & Comer: Katharine Berkoff

She finished seventh and didn't make the Worlds team, but I don't think she's done yet. She's in the Class of 2019 -- high school class, that is.

And she did pretty good for not making the team:

Missoula's Katharine Berkoff breaks U.S. backstroke swimming record

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