When Olympic swimmers take their marks at the summer games in Paris in just a few weeks, one Arlington native will be among them. Yorktown High School grad Torri Huske will represent the United States once again, and is a favorite to win gold in the 100 fly according to Swimming World Magazine.
Huske qualified for her spot in two events at the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials: the 100 fly and the 100 free. She says her experience representing the USA in Tokyo in 2020–and subsequent competitions on the international stage–will only strengthen her game this time around.
“Now that I’ve had one Olympic experience under my belt, it’ll be hopefully–not necessarily easier, because I don’t know if it’ll ever get easier–but I definitely know what to expect this time around. I still have more goals that I want to achieve,” says the Olympian.
During trials in Indianapolis, Huske posted a new, personal best of 55.52 in the 100-meter butterfly sprint. That was the event that just barely eluded her in the 2020 games, when she placed fourth, missing the podium by the blink of an eye. Clocking in at 55.66 seconds, she was just 0.1 seconds from third place and 0.14 from gold in Tokyo.
But she did bring home a silver medal in 2020 as part of the USA’s 4×100-meter medley relay team.
Tokyo was her first national team trip ever–a big step up for her at that time.
“I visited the (Olympic) village and, walking around, I was just kind of pinching myself the whole time, because it felt so unreal. You dream your whole life about the Olympics, and it seems so larger than life, you can’t really believe that you’re there,” says Huske.
The rising Stanford University junior is currently taking a gap year and putting the finishing touches on her training, which involves six nearly-full days of swimming and muscle building each week. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays she is in the pool twice a day for about an hour and 45 minutes, with a weightlifting session in between. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday she swims for about two hours.
Huske says she doesn’t really think about the time commitment. She just shows up and gets it done. With less than a month to go before the Paris games, it’s all about honing the finer details at this point.
“Nothing really changes in my training that much, just because my training has stayed consistent and it’s gotten me to the Olympics,” Huske says. “You don’t want to change or do anything drastic right before if what you’ve been doing has been working.”
After the games, she hopes to travel around Europe a bit, maybe catch Taylor Swift in concert in Austria and go hiking in Spain. Later on, she will return to Stanford where she plans to major in design, a concentration she says spans multiple disciplines, including engineering and mechanical engineering.
For now her focus is on the pool, her training and her goals.
“I’d just like to thank everyone back at home for their support,” she says. “I really appreciate it, and I definitely feel that when I come back. I hope to represent everyone well.”