Who Is Katharine Berkoff? Meet the Olympic Swimmer in the 100-Meter Backstroke Finals

Katharine Berkoff set her sights on a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The swimmer advanced to the women’s 100-meter backstroke, which will take place on July 30, 2024.

Who Is Katharine Berkoff?

Katharine is a native of Missoula, Montana, whose family watched her compete in the women’s 100-meter backstroke semifinals on July 29, 2024. They wore shirts to show off their Montana and U.S.A pride as they sat in the crowd, per MontanaSports.com. She finished the semifinal race in 58.27 seconds, behind U.S.A’s Regan Smith and Australia’s Kaylee McKeown.

She was born in 2001, making her 23 at the time of her Olympic run in 2024. The athlete attended North Carolina State University and is a five time NCAA Champion and 30-time All-American.

In 2021, Katharine competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials, where she ended up in fourth place. It was a dream of hers to make the Olympic team.

“I just decided I was gonna make it. And so that was my plan,” she told the outlet. “I was really nervous going into it, and I think a little too nervous, and my finals race, I took it out a little too fast, and my last 15 meters were pretty vertical.” She continued, “It’s just not the outcome I wanted or planned for.”

Her Father Was an Olympian

Katharine has had a great role model in her life throughout her swimming career — her father is four-time Olympic medalist David Berkoff. He is known for smashing the world record for the 100-meter backstroke on three occasions.

Even though her dad was a superstar athlete, Katharine said she never felt like she had to live up to his expectations.

“The only pressure I ever felt was from myself because I just wanted to do it for myself, and my dad was definitely a huge inspiration. I don’t think I would have had those Olympic dreams without him. He played a big role in my goal-setting, but it was never a negative thing,” she told Swimming World Magazine in March 2022. “Ever since I was old enough to care about swimming, I decided I wanted to make the Olympic team. And my dad was always very supportive of that and told me he knew I could do it.”

Dave also spoke out on not pressuring his daughter to follow in his footsteps. Still, he is nothing but proud of everything she has accomplished thus far.

“She’s always had this dream of being an Olympian, and I’ve never asked her if she ever wanted to do that,” he said, per WRAL Sports Fan. “I never put the pressure on her to try and follow in my footsteps and the fact that that’s something that she wanted to do, and she actually did it is quite phenomenal.”

“In my head. I was always an Olympian,” Katherine added, “so it’s not like anything’s changed too much because it’s I always believed I would do it.”