Year: 2019
Award: Paralympic Swimming
Location/Affiliation: Team USA
- World Record Holder
- Paralympic Games Medalist
Nothing slows down Sophia “Sophie” Herzog. When she was growing up in South Park, Sophie was the first student with a physical disability to go through the school district. But, the district and her hometown didn’t have a pool or a swim team which made it difficult for Sophie to pursue her passion.
So, her solution was to graduate from high school a year early and then move to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs so she could train and follow her dreams. And, it’s paid off bigtime.
In 2019, Sophie was named to the national team for the fifth consecutive year and won national championships in both the 200 meter individual medley and 50 meter butterfly. She’s a world record holder, two-time Paralympic world champion, and a five-time world championships medalist.
Sophie Herzog was a medalist at the 2016 Paralympics and has her sights set on making the team again to compete at the postponed Tokyo Games. To help her efforts, she reset her own world record in the 1500 meter freestyle in 2020.