South Raleigh News

PARIS, France—The 2024 Paris Olympic Games proved memorable for Wolfpack Swim and Dive, with past and current NC State swimmers securing four medals and multiple top finishes.

The games began with Ryan Held winning gold in the 4x100 freestyle relay. Held secured his second Olympic gold medal in this event after leading off during the preliminaries to help Team USA reach the finals, where they finished first.

Katharine Berkoff, in her first Olympic Games, won two medals. She earned bronze in the 100m backstroke, becoming the first female swimmer at NC State to medal at the Olympics. Her second medal was gold; she led off the 4x100m medley relay with a time of 58.98 to help Team USA qualify for the finals, where they finished first.

Wolfpack swim and dive head coach Braden Holloway, an assistant coach with Team USA, contributed to Berkoff's and Team USA's success. In total, USA swimming brought home 28 medals: eight gold, 13 silver, and seven bronze.

Incoming freshman David Betlehem took home bronze in the Men's 10km for Team Hungary. Betlehem also competed in the 1500m freestyle, finishing fourth.

In his second Olympic Games, alum Nyls Korstanje reached his first Olympic individual final, finishing sixth in the 100m butterfly. Representing Team Netherlands, Korstanje also participated in the 4x100m medley relay and mixed 4x100m relay.

Freshmen Betti Fabian and Kaii Winkler swam in Paris as well. Fabian represented Hungary in the women's 10km event and finished fifth with a time of 2:04:16.9. Winkler represented Germany in the men's 100m butterfly and placed 28th overall.

NC State's first four-time Olympian Andreas Vazaios participated as a relay-only athlete for Greece in both men's 4x100m freestyle and men's 4x200m freestyle relays.

Kacper Stokowski and Bartosz Piszczorowicz represented Poland; Stokowski swam in the mixed 4x100m medley relay where Poland finished fourteenth while Piszczorowicz competed in both the men's 4x100m freestyle and medley relays.

For Sweden, Sophie Hansson competed in three events: she swam in both breaststroke events (100m and 200m) as well as participating in Sweden’s women's 4x100 medley relay team.

Katharine Berkoff (USA)

- Bronze: Women's 100m Backstroke Finals - Time:57.98

- Gold: Women's Semifinals - Time:58.98

David Betlehem (Hungary)

- Bronze: Men's10km Finals - Time:1:51:09

- Fourth Place Finish : Men's1500M Freestyle Final-Time14-40.91

Betti Fabian (Hungary)

- Fifth Place Finish :Women's10KM Finals-Time2;04;16;9

Sophie Hansson (Sweden)

-Women's Breastroke(13th):Time1;06;96

-Women's Breastroke(20th):Time2;28;10

-Women's Medley Relay(7th):Time1'06'24

Ryan Held (USA)

-Gold :Men’s Freestyle Relay Semifinals-Time48’52

Nyls Korstanje(Netherlands)

-Men’s Butterfly Final-Sixth place finish-Time50’83

-Men’s Medley Relay-Eighth place finish-Time50’60

-Mixed Medley Relay-Sixth place finish-Time51’19

Bartosz Piszczorowicz(Poland)

-Men’s Freestyle Relay-Thirteenth place finish-Time48’39

-Men’s Medley Relay-Tenth place finish-Time48’82

Kacper Stokowski(Poland)

-Mixed Medley Relay-Fourteenth place finish -Time54'10

Andreas Vazaios(Greece)

-Men’s Freestyle Relays-Sixteenth place finish-Time49'50

-Men’s Freestyle Relays-Eleventh place finish-Time1'47'23

Kaii Winkler(Germany)

-Men’s Butterfly Preliminaries-Twenty eighth position-Finish Time52'64