When the pandemic delayed the Tokyo Olympics until 2021, it opened doors to a new generation of younger athletes to make Team USA
At 16 years old, Claire Curzan has more experience racing swimmers with braces than Olympians. That’s starting to change as she has shaved seconds off of her races in the 15 months since the coronavirus pandemic shut down pools across the country.gets under way on Sunday in Omaha, Neb., Curzan, along with a handful of other teenagers across several events, could unseat veteran Olympians like Simone Manuel.
That’s crazy to a lot of people—including Curzan, who says she still gets star-struck when she finds herself next to gold medalists and world record holders. “Simone Manuel asked me to cap her one time,” recalled Curzan of helping the defending 100-meter freestyle Olympic champion put on her latex swim cap at the 2018 Winter National Championships. “I was terrified.”
These kinds of upsets won’t just be happening in the pool. Dozens of emerging athletes have seen their odds of punching a ticket to Tokyo skyrocket thanks to an extra year of training, growing and getting stronger. For older athletes, meanwhile, the year-long delay has brought fresh injuries or thrown off years of planning to peak at just the right time.
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