Who is Aryan Nehra? Meet India’s latest swimming sensation
Aryan Nehra made headlines after setting the “best Indian time” in the 800m freestyle at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan on Tuesday.
With his time of 8:00.76 seconds, he matched Advait Page’s, the previous best time by an Indian. His efforts also improved his personal best of 8:01.81 set at the Hyderabad Swimming Championships in early July. He also set new competition records in the 400m (3:52.55) and 1500m (15:29.76), which was also his personal best.
However, his massive effort at the World Championships wasn’t enough to qualify for the finals as he finished 27th in the heats while only the top eight advanced to the finals.
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Who is Aryan Nehra?
Nehra is a 19 year old from Ahmedabad. He grew up enjoying a variety of sports including tennis, golf, ice skating and a bit of soccer.
He took up swimming because he wanted to learn it as a survival skill and soon fell in love with the sport. Performing well and winning competitions from the start, it didn’t take long for him to focus fully on swimming.
What is Aryan Nehra’s favorite swimming event?
Nehra competes in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events but considers the latter to be his favorite event.
“I tend to 1500, I was the best there. I’m trying to find the right words – it’s not high maintenance, but it’s just harder to get it right,” he said Indian Express.
“It’s such a difficult and long event that if I swim it five or six times a season I probably won’t have as many amazing and amazing 1500s as I do 400s or 800s. It’s a little annoying in that regard.”
“Also, you swim 15 or 16 minutes and then you realize you haven’t set a personal best, so that sucks in that regard. But it’s what I’ve always been best at and we’ll find out at the World Cup and Asian Games which area I’m better at now. But in the past. It was always the 1500.
Who is Aryan Nehra’s trainer?
Nehra trains at the University of Florida, where he is part of the collegiate team. He is coached by Anthony Nesty, a 1988 Olympic gold medalist from Seoul.
Where does Aryan Nehra think he can improve?
Nehra believes he still has room for improvement on the turns, around 29 in 1500m and 15 in 800m.
“Throughout my swim, everyone stresses that turns are definitely my weakest point and especially for someone who swims long distances I have to do a lot of them, I’m told that a lot. I’m better at it than I used to be, I’ve been told too. But they’re far from world class, that’s definitely the biggest and most obvious area for improvement as far as my swimming is concerned at the moment,” he said.
What’s next for Aryan Nehra?
Nehra will next compete in the 1500m at the World Championships in Fukuoka on Saturday.
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