Gophers swimmer Soloveychik re-writing U’s record books

University of Minnesota sophomore Bar Soloveychik has spent his year-and-a-half on campus re-writing Gopher Swimming’s freestyle event record books.

Last week, he took down the oldest record the program had. His time of 8:54.69 in the 1000m bettered the mark that had stood for 22 years by more than a second.

Click the video box on this page to watch KSTP Sports clip and extended interview with Gophers sophomore swimmer Bar Soloveychik

The effort earned him Big Ten Swimmer of the Week honors, and is just the latest among Soloveychik’s multiple program records. He’s also the fastest Gopher ever at 200 meters, 400 meters, 500 meters and swam as part of the record-setting 800 meter relay team.

Soloveychik grew up in Kiryat Motzkin, Israel and holds his home nation’s records in the 400m freestyle and 800m freestyle.

He arrived at the arrived at the “U” last year shortly after missing out on qualifying for the Covid-delayed 2020 Olympics by a margin of one second.

As he trains as a Gopher, Bar is eyeing his next chance to make the Israeli Olympic swim team for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

Last year as a freshman, Bar qualified for two events at NCAA Nationals – 200 free and 500 free. He swam personal best times in both the prelim and final rounds of the 500, eventually placing 13th, which earned him Honorable Mention All-American status.

He also earned CSCAA First Team Scholar All-American honors.

At the Big Ten Conference meet last year, Bar finished 4th in the 500, 5th in the 200 and 8th in the 1650 (mile).