Sri Lanka Olympian, Nat’l Record-holder Aniqah Gaffoor Commits to Lewis & Clark

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Aniqah Gaffoor, who lives in Phuket, Thailand, will swim at Lewis & Clark College beginning next fall. Gaffoor will be a second-generation Pioneer; her father attended Lewis & Clark a few decades ago.

“I have officially committed to Lewis and Clark and am very excited to be joining the school and team.”

Gaffoor has lived most of her life outside of Sri Lanka, in Malaysia and Thailand, so when she “goes back home” for national swim meets, “it’s quite a cool experience,” she says. She represented Sri Lanka at the 2020 Olympic Games, swimming the 100 fly in prelims (1:05.33 for 32nd place) and at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju. There, she competed in the 50 fly and 100 fly. She also swam at the 2019 South Asian Games, where she won a bronze medal in the 100 fly and a silver in the 4×100 medley relay.

Gaffoor owns the Sri Lankan national records in the 50 fly (29.10) and 100 fly (1:04.58), which she set at the 2019 Singapore National Age Group Swimming Championships. She will have a huge impact when she arrives in Portland next fall, with times that would immediately rank her as one of the best swimmers in Lewis & Clark history.

Best LCM times:

  • 50 fly – 29.10 (25.58)
  • 100 fly – 1:04.58 (56.91)

Gaffoor will be part of head coach Murilo Martins’ first full recruiting class. The Pioneer women finished 8th at the 2022 Northwest Conference Championships, only 16 points behind Willamette. Gaffoor’s best 100 fly time would break the L&C team record by a full second. She would have placed second in the 100 fly at the 2022 NWC Conference Championship, which would have taken the Pioneers past Willamette into 7th place.

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Dolphinblast
1 year ago

Big moves for Lewis and Clark! Can’t wait to see them this season!

Swimisfun
1 year ago

Excited to see how the Pios will do next year! Congrats!

Swim505
1 year ago

Go Pios!

BuccaneerBlue
1 year ago

Great choice! Pacific Northwest – most beautiful area in the country!

Tigerswim22
1 year ago

Congrats to Aniqah and to Coach Martin. Very cool to see Division III schools pick up fast kids seeking top flight educations!

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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