Qatari Olympian Noah al-Khulaifi was a surprise entrant at Wisconsin’s intrasquad meet today, and will join the program’s roster moving forward, sources say.
Al-Khulaifi was a 2016 Olympian for Qatar, swimming heats of the 100 back. Despite that, we’re told he competed in butterfly at the Wisconsin intrasquad meet. Per SwimRankings.net, al-Khulaifi’s best times are 56.7 in the short course meter 100 fly and 1:03.18 in the long course meter 100 back, so he may be slotted in as a combo fly/back type moving forward for Wisconsin. He was 1:07.4 in his 100 backstroke heat swim in Rio.
Al-Khulaifi is just 18 years old and should be a freshman for Wisconsin this year. His younger brother Yacob was Qatar’s only swimming representative at the 2017 World Championships, swimming the 200 free and 100 fly.
Noah al-Khulaifi does not yet appear on the Wisconsin men’s roster for the coming year, and no results of the Wisconsin intrasquad meet have been published. We’ve reached out to Wisconsin for official results and/or comment when Khulaifi will begin competing with the team or when he will make an appearance on the official roster, but haven’t yet received a response.
Why did my comment get deleted?
Did I read that 1:03.18 LCM 100 back properly?
that should contribute to the team immediately 😉