July 26, 2013
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Former Western Kentucky University swimmer and Olympian Claire Donahue will start international competition on Sunday, July 28 at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain.
Donahue is scheduled for her first swim on Sunday in the prelims and semifinals of the 100 butterfly with a chance to be in the finals Monday. Donahue will also compete in the 4x100 medley relay, the event that gave her a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics, in the Championships' closing day, Sunday, August 4.
Sunday's event will air on NBC from 1:30-3:30 p.m. CT with a re-air at 8-10 p.m. CT. Monday's finals will be on Universal Sports 11 a.m.-1 p.m. CT with August 4's action returning to NBC at 3-5 p.m. CT.
Donahue sealed her way to Barcelona after finishing the 100 fly in 58.32 behind Dana Vollmer's 57.53 at the 2013 Phillips 66 National Championships.
The Lenoir City, Tenn., native became just the second WKU Olympic athlete to earn a medal at the Summer Olympics and the first to ever claim a gold medal, as she swam in the butterfly leg of the preliminary heats of the 4x100 medley relay in London to help guide Team USA to the finals. A four-year letterwinner with WKU swimming, Donahue currently holds five different records at WKU, including two individual records in the 100 and 200 butterfly.
