Sajan Prakash (born 14 September 1993) is an Indian swimmer who specialises in freestyle, butterfly and medley events. At the 2015 National GamesinKerala, he set a record on 8 February 2015 by winning 6 gold and 3 Silver medals, and became the best athlete of the Indian National Games, held at Trivandrum, Kerala. He competed at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in the 200 meter butterfly event.[1] He became the first ever Indian swimmer to breach the FINA "A" Olympic qualification time when he clocked an Indian national record time of 1:56.38 in the 200 m butterfly event at the 2021 Sette Colli Trophy in Rome. With this time he qualified for the 200 m butterfly event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.[2][3][4] As of June 2021, he is the holder of 11 Indian national swimming records in events spanning freestyle, butterfly, medley and relay categories. Sajan is currently training with Aqua Nation Sports Academy (ANSA) based in Dubai.
Sajan Prakash hails from Idukki district of Kerala. He was raised in Neyveli, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu. His mother V.J.Shantymol is also a former athlete and has represented India in several national and international events. He started training at the Neyveli Lignite City Swimming Club, Neyveli, Tamil Nadu. He did his schooling in St. Paul's Matriculation Higher Secondary School, NLC Boys Higher Secondary School, Jawahar Higher Secondary School, Neyveli, Tamil Nadu. He completed his graduation in computer applications from Annamalai University, Chidambaram.[5] Now he joined in Kerala Police as an Officer Commanding . A pool was opened in Neyveli after his name .
In the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome, Sajan Prakash makes history as he became the first Indian swimmer, where he breached the Olympic qualification by just 10 milliseconds in the 200m butterfly event.[6]
He won the gold medal in the men's 200m butterfly event at the FINA-accredited Olympic Qualifying event.[6]
At the Asian Games 2018, Prakash participated in 100m and 200m butterfly, 4 × 200 m Freestyle Relay, and 4 × 100 m Freestyle Relay. Prakash finished at 5th position in 200m Butterfly clocking timing of 1:57.75 and in the 4 × 100 m Freestyle relay, he finished at 8th position in the finals.[10][11]
India
