IU Commit Rafael Miroslaw Pulls Out of 2021 German Olympic Trials

2021 GERMAN OLYMPIC TRIALS

• Friday, April 16th – Sunday, April 18th
• Friday/Saturday: Prelims at 10am local/Finals at 7pm local; Sunday: Prelims at 9:30am local/Finals at 4pm local
• Schwimm- und Sprunghalle im Europasportpark, Berlin
• German Olympic Selection Policy
• Last Chance Olympic qualification meet

Indiana class of 2025 commit Rafael Miroslaw, a 20-year-old German native, has announced this withdrawal from this weekend’s 2021 German Olympic Trials, which is a last-chance Olympic qualification meet for the nation. Yesterday on Instagram, the NCAA recruit announced that his decision came after dealing with a shoulder injury that halted his training for three months.

Miroslaw recently made an appearance at the 2021 Eindhoven Qualification Meet this past weekend, registering times of 23.60 in the 50 free, where he placed 20th in finals, and 51.08 in the 100 free. Miroslaw’s times rank him 11th (50 free) and 14th (100 free) in Germany for the 2021 calendar year. Miroslaw’s lone pre-pandemic meet performance (2019-2020 season) came from the 22nd Luxemobourg Euro Meet in January 2020, where he swam 49.93 to place 12th in the 100 free and placed 10th in the 200 free finals after swimming 1:50.47 in prelims.

Miroslaw owns lifetime bests of 23.19 in the 50 free, from the 2019 Sette Colli Trophy, and 49.78 from the 2019 European Junior Championships. At the 2019 European Junior meet, Miroslaw led off the Germany’s mixed 400 free relay at 49.54, earning the European junior title and meet record. Miroslaw was also a member of the runner-up men’s 800 free relay, anchoring in a 1:49.05. He also swam 49.93 to place third during preliminaries of the men’s 100 free, yet did not compete past semifinals. Later at the 2019 World Championships, Miroslaw was a member of Germany’s 8th-place 800 free relay, where he split 1:46.89 during the preliminaries, improving 2.16s from his European Jr performance.

Miroslaw will be prospective candidate to replace Croatian sprinter Bruno Blaskovic and join current IU sprinters rising senior Jack Franzman and rising sophomore Tomer Frankel. Miroslaw is set join a monstrous incoming class for Indiana this fall, including Aidan Reagan, Christopher Lee, Finn Brooks, Jackson Carlile, Jasper Davis, Joseph Radde, Joshua Matheny, Lucas Piunti, Luke Barr, Mason Carlton, and Nichita Bortnicov.

“Bad news. I sadly have to announce that I can’t compete at the olympic trials in Berlin this year. A three months lasting shoulder injury prevented me from doing my training. Sometimes life can be hard and put you in unexpected situations, but its up to you how to deal with it. I’ll learn from it and grow. I promise that I’ll come back stronger than ever before. Keep looking forward to get back in shape!

Good luck to all competitors this week!”