After winning a silver medal in the 200 IM and placing 6th in the 100 Fly at last month's FHSAA Swimming & Diving Championships, Tampa Prep sophomore Rasmus Skjaerpe headed overseas the following week to his native country of Norway to compete in the Norwegian Junior Nationals.
Skjaerpe returned home with plenty of hardware to show; 8 gold medals in the 13-15 age group (50, 100 and 200 Back, 100 Free, 100 and 200 Fly, 200 and 400 IM). He also added a few more gold and silver in the 19 and under age group.
The bigger picture.
Just four years ago, Skjaerpe joined the high school swim team at Tampa Prep and began swimming under Head Coach Jason Bowes. When Bowes began coaching, the then 11-year old, he could barely swim a proper freestyle, but slowly Skjaerpe’s work ethic, tied in with his sheer talent in the water, began to take over.
And from his performances last week in Oslo, Skjaerpe has qualified for the Norwegian National Team and will keep a busy schedule throughout the Olympic year with the obligations required by the federation.
Training camp begins in Flagstaff, Arizona in early spring, with the European Championships in Antwerp, Belgium May 16th-27th. The secondary goal is to make a FINA B cut, which could stage him for consideration for the Summer Olympics in London. To make a FINA A time would assure him a spot in London, but that may be a stretch, just slightly out of his reach this year.
“Though it has been something we have talked about for a couple of years, it’s about taking those steps to get there,” said Coach Bowes. “But at 16 years old, it would be great for Norway to consider him if he makes the time standards, just for the experience.”
Through the upcoming months of training and competition, Skjaerpe will focus on four events, with consideration times in the 200 IM -2:04 ( 2:09.45), 400 IM -4:25.44 (4:31.84), 200 Fly- 2:00.95 (2:06.40) and 200 Back- 2:02.63 (2:06.11).
The experience to compete in an Olympic games for men at 16-years old is rare, but it would put him on the scene, much like Michael Phelps was at his first Olympic games in Sydney. And four years later (Rio de Janeiro 2016) would be much more Skaerpe’s “prime years”.
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