NANTERRE, France — Katharine Berkoff was back in the pool Saturday by leading off the United States women’s 4×100 medley relay in the preliminary heat.
The relay squad qualified for the final by finishing second to Canada in the second heat and in a time of 3 minutes, 56.4 seconds. Berkoff, who won a bronze medal in the women’s 100 backstroke already, swam the opening leg in 58.98 seconds. The relay also included Emma Weber, Alex Shackell, and Kate Douglass.
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The United States squad put up the fourth best time overall behind Australia (3:54.81), Canada (3:56.1), and China (3:56.34). The top eight teams moved on to the finals scheduled to be the final event of the Olympic swimming program Sunday.
Berkoff, 23, a 2019 Missoula Hellgate graduate and recent North Carolina State graduate, is a five-time NCAA champion, 30-time All-American, and six-time Atlantic Coast Conference champion. During high school, she won eight individual state titles, eight relay state championships, and four team state crowns.
Berkoff is the daughter of two-time Olympian and former world record holder David Berkoff. He won silver and bronze medals in the 100 back and two gold medals on relay teams at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and moved to Missoula after his competitive career ended.
Her bronze medal came exactly 32 years after her father won the bronze in the men’s 100 backstroke.
She is one of three Montanans competing in Paris, albeit in different sports. Bozeman BMX racer Cameron Wood finished fifth in the final Friday and Manhattan’s Ivan Roe competed in three different rifle shooting events. Three alternates were also there with their teams including Tokyo Olympians Nicole Heavirland (Whitefish) with the bronze-medal winning U.S. women’s rugby team, and Ali Weisz (Belgrade) and Nick Mowrer (Butte) with USA shooting.
