# Claire Weinstein

Claire Weinstein (born March 1, 2007) is an American Olympic freestyle swimmer, who swam for Las Vegas-based swim team the Sandpipers of Nevada. At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, Weinstein helped Team USA win the gold medal in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Weinstein swam the individual 200m freestyle, in which she made the final, and came in 8th. She won the silver medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay, joined by Katie Ledecky, Paige Madden, and Erin Gemmell. Weinstein's split of 1:54.88 was the fastest on the team, and the fourth-fastest freestyle at 200m by an American woman in history.

## Early life

Weinstein is a daughter of Rodney and Diane Weinstein, has one older brother (Michael) and three younger sisters (Mary, Sophie, and Emma), and was born in White Plains, New York. She is Jewish, was raised in the Reform Judaism tradition, and had a bat mitzvah at the Reform synagogue of Congregation Kol Ami in White Plains, New York. She attended the Highlands Middle School in White Plains.
For her Mitzvah project, she volunteered her time to help coach the younger swimmers in the Westchester Aquatic Club swim school at inter-team meets and practices, because of her passion for the sport and belief that everyone should learn to swim and have the opportunity to be a competitive swimmer if they desire. On her behalf a donation was made to the Christopher Dewey Memorial Swim Foundation to assist low-income swimmers. She has attended White Plains High School.

## Swimming career
### Early career

Weinstein began to swim competitively at six years of age. She began her competitive swim career on the Lake Isle team in Eastchester, New York, setting multiple records at the Westchester County Swim Conference Championships. During the school year, Weinstein swam on the White Plains Varsity Swim team and competed year-round on club team Westchester Aquatic Club. Westchester Aquatic Club head coach Carle Fierro described Weinstein as "extremely easy to coach and ... really good at communicating how she felt in the water... In addition, she displayed a great singlemindedness in attaining goals. She was diligent about doing workouts and motivating team members to do their best as well."

### 2021

In 2021, at 13 years of age Weinstein qualified for the 2020 United States Olympic trials, becoming one of the youngest swimmers to qualify for the trials. She placed 20th in the 400m freestyle, not qualifying for that year's 2020 Summer Olympics.
In September 2021, Weinstein moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, to train with the Sandpipers of Nevada.

### 2022

On April 3, 2022, Weinstein won the USA Swimming National and Junior Championship 5K event by over a minute.
At the 2022 USA Swimming International Team Trials, Weinstein qualified for the United States team in the 2022 World Aquatics Championships. In the process she became the fastest American 15-year-old to swim the 200m freestyle event.

#### 2022 World Championships

At the 19th FINA World Championships Budapest 2022, Weinstein won a gold medal as a part of the United States Women's 4x200 relay at the age of 15; she was the youngest American swimmer to compete in the World Championships in 15 years. She also competed in the women's 200-meter freestyle, finishing in 10th place in the semi-finals and missing finals qualification by only seven hundredths of a second.

### 2023 U.S. Championships

At the 2023 U.S. Championships, at 16 years of age Weinstein won the 200m freestyle in 1:55.26 (making her the 24th-fastest woman at the distance in history), defeating seven-time Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky.

#### 2024; U.S Olympic Team Trials

On June 17, 2024, at the 2024 U.S Olympic Team Trials, Weinstein placed 2nd in the 200m freestyle with a time of 1:56.18, securing her spot for the individual 200m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

### 2024 Paris Olympics

At 17 years of age, at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Weinstein swam the individual 200m freestyle, in which she made the final, and came in 8th. She was the youngest swimmer in the field.
She competed as well in the 4x200m freestyle relay, joined by Katie Ledecky, Paige Madden, and Erin Gemmell. With a collective time of 7:40.86, and Weinstein swimming the fastest split on the team (1:54.88) as she led off the relay, the team won the silver medal, earning Weinstein her first Olympic medal. Weinstein's time was a personal best, and with it she became the fourth-fastest American woman ever in the 200m free, at 17 years old. Among American women, only Allison Schmitt (1:53.61), Ledecky (1:53.73), and Missy Franklin (1:54.81) had swum times faster than Weinstein’s 1:54.88.
Weinstein has committed to attend UC Berkeley for college.