S. Prakash, an Indian swimmer born on September 14, 1993, competes mostly in freestyle, butterfly, and medley events.
On February 8, 2015, he became the greatest athlete at the 2015 Indian National Games in Trivandrum, Kerala.
Setting a new record most gold medals won in a single National Games competition. He swam the 200-meter butterfly at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
At the 2021 Sette Colli Trophy in Rome, he broke the Indian national record in the 200-meter butterfly by more than a full second, finishing in a time of 1 minute and 56.38 seconds.
This made him the first Indian swimmer in history to qualify for the Olympics in the event without having to swim the 100-meter freestyle.
Although he gave it his all in the 200-meter butterfly, S. Prakash was eliminated in the preliminary round at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Tokyo Olympics Swimming: Below his Best, S. Prakash Fails to Advance in 200m Butterfly
After finishing 24th out of 38 competitors in the heats at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Monday.
Indian swimmer S. Prakash was eliminated from further competition in the men’s 200-meter butterfly event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
On Monday, S. Prakash timed in at 1 minute, 57.22 seconds, good enough for fourth place in his heat, which was won by Tomoe Hvas of Norway in 1 minute, 56.30 seconds.
Unfortunately for S., his time did not place him in the top 16 who advanced to the semi-finals.
With a time of 1:56.38, S. Prakash set a new national record at last month’s Sette Colli Trophy in Rome, but his time this time around was 0.84 seconds slower.
Thanks to his performance in Italy, S. became India’s first Olympic-qualified swimmer (OQT).
S. Prakash Becomes First Indian Swimmer to Qualify for Tokyo Olympics
On Saturday, S. Prakash made history by qualifying as the first Indian swimmer for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
S. completed the milestone by swimming the 200-meter butterfly in 1 minute, 56.38 seconds in the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome. With a time of 1:56:48, that was the qualifying time limit.
Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju praised the swimmer’s “commitment” in a statement.
This year’s Tokyo Olympics will start on July 23 and continue through August 8. The conference was supposed to happen in 2018, however the COVID-19 outbreak forced organisers to cancel.
Conclusion
S. Prakash, an Indian swimmer, made history on Saturday when, thanks to his stellar performance in the Sette Colli Trophy.
He became the first Indian swimmer to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
S. Prakash qualified for the finals in the men’s 200-meter butterfly with a time of 1 minute, 56.38 seconds, just 10 milliseconds faster than the previous best mark.
For the first time ever, an Indian swimmer has qualified for the Olympics, but his success means that Srihari Nataraj cannot compete in Tokyo.
