World Record Is The Latest Chapter In A Whirlwind Three Years For Grace Nuhfer

When Grace Nuhfer looks back on the Paralympic Games in Paris last year, it’s the moments shared with others that stand out the most.

Laughing with teammates. Meeting athletes and coaches from other national teams. Finding and embracing her family in the stands after winning the silver medal in the 100-meter butterfly S13 on the opening day of competition.

She also recalls a moment with teammate Olivia Chambers in the ready room just before the preliminaries of that same race.

“I was like, ‘(Olivia), we’re about to compete in our first Paralympic event ever,’” Nuhfer said. “‘And once you dive in the water and finish an event, you are now a Paralympian and you’re a Paralympian forever. No one can take that away from you.’”

Nuhfer, who has a rare expression of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome called Brittle Cornea Syndrome and is extremely nearsighted, hasn’t slowed down since making her international Para swimming debut at the Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile, in the fall of 2023. Even after returning home from Paris she immediately jumped into her senior year at the University of Akron. Nuhfer completed her collegiate swimming career, helped her team capture championships and recently graduated with a degree in business data analytics with a marketing focus, and a minor in philosophy pre-law.

So what’s next for Nuhfer?

A chance to finally take it all in.

“I still don’t know if I’ve really processed it all,” the Indianapolis native said. “I haven’t really had a chance to slow down and regroup and refresh. I’m excited to finally figure out what I want the rest of my life to look like this summer.”

Nuhfer, 22, admitted that getting right back into the whirlwind of classes, training and competing with her college team wasn’t easy after the intensity of qualifying for the Paralympic Games and then competing at the sport’s highest level. She credits her teammates and the people around her for supporting her as she regrouped and reset.

The Zips won their fourth straight Mid-American Conference title in early March, then took gold in the CSCAA National Invitational Championships two weeks later. Nuhfer was named to the CSC 2024-25 Academic All-District Team.

Then, in April, Nuhfer officially broke the world record in the women’s 200-meter butterfly S13 — a race she’d technically swum faster before, but not in a sanctioned Para event. This time, it counted.

At the TYR Pro Swim Series in Sacramento, she and another swimmer tied for the last spot in the “A” final. A coin flip sent Nuhfer to the “B” final, where she was the only competitor.

It was the first event of the evening, and as she stood alone behind the blocks waiting to race by herself, a highlight reel from the Olympics played on the screen.

“I remember listening to it and there was not a single mention of a Paralympian,” she said. “I know that the national governing bodies are separate, so I understand and it makes sense, but I used that as motivation for my 200 fly. I honestly swam that race a little angry and frustrated. So when the race started hurting the third 50, I told myself, ‘This is much bigger than you.’ And that really carried me through the race.”

Nuhfer finished in 2:22.78, breaking the 2018 world record of 2:24.07 set by Italy’s Carlotta Gilli, who beat Nuhfer to win gold in the 100 fly in Paris.

“I knew I could do it,” Nuhfer said. “I’d done it before, so I knew I had it in me. I was really hoping I’d get it at that meet, so I was really happy when I was able to.”

Now a college graduate and a world record holder, Nuhfer is giving herself the space to consider her next chapter. She isn’t rushing to decide what her career path will look like, but whatever it is, she wants to continue using her platform to advocate for others with disabilities.

In the short term, she plans to keep training in Akron, with her sights set on the 2025 world championships this fall and, ultimately, the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles. She also hopes to finally reflect on just how far she’s come — from the 10-year-old girl who once scribbled her dream of swimming in the Olympics on a sticky note to becoming a Paralympian and world record holder.

“Looking at the big picture, I think I’m just proud of myself for the effort, just making it to this point,” she said. “It’s really hard and it’s a crazy group of elite athletes that went to the Games, who competed and represented their country, and I think I’m proud of myself for even being among them. … I’m proud of myself for never not believing in that 10-year-old girl who had that dream to make it here. And I’m proud that I’ve been able to really take it in and stay in the moment and approach everything with gratitude because none of it would have happened without the people in my corner.”

Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic and Paralympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to USParaSwimming.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.