The Summer Olympics get into full swing this weekend, there will be plenty of NC State competitors to keep an eye on. The Wolfpack has a dozen future, current, or former athletes competing in these Games.
For Team USA, NC State track alum Gabbi Cunningham will compete in the 100m hurdles. Former rifle team member Lucas Kozeniesky, who also competed in Rio, is back for his second Games.
Softball alum Taty Forbes, who hit .359 in the spring, is playing for Mexico.
NC State’s representation in Tokyo is dominated by swimmers, which is probably not surprising to you. Unfortunately, the Pack didn’t have a swimmer qualify of Team USA this time. Ryan Held, who came back from Rio in 2016 with a gold medal, came up short at the Olympic trials, as did several current members of the NC State program.
Still, nine swimmers (two of them incoming freshmen) will compete for their respective countries.
Those swimmers currently on the team who are competing:
Sophie Hansson (Sweden)
Nyls Korstanje (Netherlands)
Andrea Podmanikova (Slovakia)
Kacper Stokowski (Poland)
The alums:
Simonas Bilis (Lithuania)
Anton Ipsen (Denmark)
Andreas Vazaios (Greece)
The croots:
Noe Ponti (Switzerland)
Alexander Norgaard (Denmark)