In what is expected to be the final race of her swimming career, former Fayetteville-Manlius swimmer Ashley Twichell finished seventh in the 10-kilometer open course marathon swim during the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday night.
Twichell swam in the lead for much of the race and was in second place at the start of the final lap but slipped out of medal position during the final stretch as swimmers with more closing speed surged to the finish.
She finished just 7.1 seconds behind the winner, Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha and less than six seconds behind bronze medalist Kareena Lee of Australia. Twichell said before heading to Tokyo that she expects to retire after the Olympics.
There was a 32-second gap between the lead group of seven swimmers and the rest of the field.
At 32 years old, Twichell became the second-oldest American woman to swim in the Olympics, trailing only Dara Torres. She become the youngest rookie Olympian to swim for the United States since James Green in 1908.
Twichell still owns the Section III records in the 200 and 500 freestyles and went on to swim collegiately at Duke. She currently lives in Cary, N.C.
Twichell qualified for the Olympics by finishing sixth in the women’s 10-kilometer open water event at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Yeosu, South Korea.
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