Ohio State swimmer Hunter Armstrong competed in his second race of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, helping the United States men’s 4x100m medley relay qualify for the finals on Friday morning.
Armstrong started the relay for the United States swimming the backstroke and finishing his 100m swim at 53.51 seconds. His swim put the United States in a tie for fourth place. In the final heat, the American team finished seventh overall with a time of 3:32.29 — enough to qualify for the Olympic medal race on Saturday night.
In Armstrong’s first event, he narrowly missed the 100m backstroke finals, finishing ninth, only 0.01 seconds behind the event’s final qualifier.
Along with Armstrong, Ruslan Gaziev and Matthew Abeysinghe represented Ohio State at the Summer Games.
Gaziev raced in the 4x100m for Team Canada, finishing seventh overall in the opening heats to qualify for the finals, where it in Armstrong’s first event ultimately earned fourth place. Abeysinghe competed in the 100m freestyle and his second Olympic Games. He finished eighth in the fourth heat of the event.
Ohio State senior Adelaide Aquilla competed in the shot put qualifying rounds of the 2020 Tokyo Games on Friday morning. She threw 17.68m to finish ninth in her group and 20th in the competition.
After becoming Ohio State’s 2021 Female Athlete of the Year and capturing the indoor and outdoor NCAA shot put championships this spring, Aquilla qualified for the Summer Games, finishing in third place at the United States Olympic Trials. Her best throw traveled 18.95m.
Aquilla set school records and Big Ten records in the shot put last season. The conference named her the Field Athlete of the Year and Field Athlete of the Championship for the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Former Ohio State hurdler Christina (Manning) Clemons qualified for the 100m hurdles semifinals. She finished in 12.91 seconds in the fourth heat to earn second in the heat and 15th overall.
Clemons, a 2012 Ohio State graduate, is competing in her first Olympic games. The 11-time All-American and 10-time Big Ten Champion won eight individual conference championships during her time with the Buckeyes. She will compete on Sunday morning with hopes of advancing to the Olympic medal race.
