Danas Rapsys

Two-time Olympian Danas Rapšys is a Lithuanian swimmer who won the gold medal at the World Short Course Championship in the 400-meter freestyle in 2018. The swimming sensation also holds multiple Lithuanian records in the men’s butterfly, backstroke and freestyle, and was a double champion in Taipei, Taiwan at the 2017 Summer Universiade. In 2019 he was elected as the Lithuanian athlete of the year and also qualified for his second Summer Olympic Games.

Born in Panevėžys, Lithuania, Rapšys first put the world on notice as a young swimmer at the European Youth Championship in Antwerp, Belgium in 2012, when he won a bronze medal in the 200m backstroke. A year later he exchanged silver for gold when he became the European youth champion, and he also won a second medal in the 100m backstroke. Rapšys came into impressive form in 2017 at the World Championship, where he broke a total of 4 national Lithuanian records and secured his first World Championship final appearance. In the same year he won both the 200m backstroke and 200m freestyle at the Summer Universiade in Taipei.

In 2018 the Lithuanian won gold in the 400m freestyle at the World Short Course Swimming Championships and also bagged the silver in the 200m freestyle. In 2019 he became the first Lithuanian to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics at the Lithuanian Winter Swimming Championships.