Full name Sofia Gadegaard Shah Weight 127 lb (58 kg) Nickname(s) "Sofia" Sport Swimming | National team Nepal Name Sofia Shah Height 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m) | |
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Born August 9, 1997 (age 26) ( 1997-08-09 ) | ||
Sofia Gadegaard Shah (Nepali: सोफिया शाह) (born 9 August 1997) is a Nepalese swimmer. Swimmer Sofia of Mid-western Region declared the best female swimmers of the 17th National Swimming Championship. In 2014, she was nominated in the Popular Player of the Year category of the Pulsar Sports Award.
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Personal life
Sofia was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, but was raised from a young age in Kathmandu, Nepal with her family. Sofia has a Nepali father and Danish mother. She attended Lincoln School from 2000-2015 and swam for the high school SAISA team. Sofia was awarded the U.S. Presidential Award for "Outstanding Academic Achievement' for the years of 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. In May 2015, Sofia was awarded a FINA one-year "Road to Rio" scholarship to train in Thanyapura Phuket, Thailand. Sofia is attending the College of William and Mary in Virginia, USA starting in the fall of 2016 and will be studying kinesiology.
National Swimming Achievements
Sofia has won a total of 102 gold national medals, along with 35 silver and 22 bronze medals.
International Swimming Career
She competed in the 50 m and 200 m freestyle events at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships. Sofia set a new national record in heat rounds of women's 200 m freestyle during the 16th FINA World Championship being held in Kazan, Russia. Sofia finished 60th position among 63 participants, completed the distance in 2 minute 18.93 second.
Sofia Shah entered finals in all her events at the 12th South Asian Games 2016 in Guwahati, India. This was the first international meet in which she qualified for finals.
Sofia has represented Nepal at:
- 15th FINA World Championships 2013 - Barcelona, Spain
- 4th FINA Junior World Championships 2013 - Dubai, U.A.E.
- 17th Asian Games 2014 - Incheon, Korea
- 12th FINA World Championships (25m) 2014 - Doha, Qatar
- 16th FINA World Championships 2015 - Kazan, Russia
- 8th Asian Age Group Swimming Championships 2015 - Bangkok, Thailand
- FINA/Airweave Swimming World Cup 2015 - Dubai, U.A.E.
- 12th South Asian Games 2016 - Guwahati, India
- Thailand Age Group Swimming Championships 2016 - Bangkok, Thailand
Personal Records
Sofia currently holds the national records in the 50m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 400m Individual Medley. Sofia's progression and athletic CV can be found here.