Caeleb Dressel, Kieren Smith and now Aryan Nehra! Indian swimmer makes it to Florida Gators' 2025 batch

Aryan Nehra continues to make India proud. The 17-year-old has joined the famous US college swimming team, the Florida Gators, of the University of Florida. Aryan’s father Vijay Nehra confirmed on Twitter that the teenager will be joining the Gators’ class of 2025 as a “student-athlete.”

His father was a proud man and took to Twitter to share the news:

“Extremely delighted to share the news that Aryan Nehra has joined Florida Gators and started training with the team at Florida, USA. Recruited as a student-athlete, he will train under legendary coach Anthony Nest for next four years and compete in NCAA."

India’s swimming has been on the rise for the past two years. Sajan Prakash became the first Indian swimmer to qualify Olympics through ‘A’ cut.

Srihari Nataraj quickly followed suit by making the team for Tokyo. Maana Patel joined them as the only Indian female swimmer at the Games. And with Aryan joining the Gators, the future seems bright for Indian swimming.

ARYAN NEHRA JOINS FLORIDA GATORS 🐊Extremely delighted to share that Aryan has joined @GatorsSwimDv & started training with the team at Florida, USA Recruited as a student athlete, he will train under legendary Coach @Anthony_NestyUF for the next 4 years & compete in @NCAA pic.twitter.com/s5SFP9UzuD

— Vijay Nehra (@vnehra) July 10, 2021

The Florida Gators are known for producing some of the biggest names in swimming. In fact, two of its alumni, Caeleb Dressel and Kieren Smith, will be the favorites for a podium finish at the Tokyo Olympics.

Who is Aryan Nehra?

Aryan Nehra is the son of former Ahmedabad municipal commissioner Vijay Nehra. He shifted to Phuket, Thailand in 2016 to take advantage of the facilities there and improve as a swimmer.

The teenager, who is part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), specializes in the 1500m freestyle, which is considered one of the toughest events in swimming.

In 2017, at the Malaysian age-group meet, he won five gold medals and also set meet records in three events. In 2019, he achieved the ‘B’ mark for the world championship in South Korea.

That same year, he won as many as five gold medals at the junior nationals in Rajkot.

Also Checkout: Tokyo Olympic Swimming Schedule

READ: Sajan Prakash: 5 things you didn't know about India's top swimmer

Aryan Nehra was also part of the Indian squad for the Belgrade Trophy held in June this year. He competed in the 200m, 400m, and 1500m freestyle in a bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.