Sofia Gadegaard Shah ( ne, सोफिया शाह; born 9 August 1997) is a Nepalese swimmer, who has represented Nepal since 2013. In 2014, she was nominated in the Popular Player of the Year category of the Pulsar Sports Awards.
Early life and education
Shah was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, but was raised from a young age in Kathmandu, Nepal with her family. She has a Nepali father and Danish mother. She attended Lincoln School from 2000-2015 and swam for the high school SAISA team. Shah was awarded the U.S. Presidential Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. In May 2015, she was awarded a FINA one-year "Road to Rio" scholarship to train in Thanyapura Phuket, Thailand. Shah attended the
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III a ...
for her first year of college, and then transferred to
Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and t ...
.
Swimming career
Shah has won a total of 102 gold national medals, along with 35 silver and 22 bronze medals.
She competed in the 50 m and 200 m freestyle events at the
2013 World Aquatics Championships
The 15th FINA World Championships ( ca, Campionat Mundial de Natació de 2013, es, Campeonato Mundial de Natación de 2013) were held from 20 July to 4 August in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.women's 200 meter freestyle during the 16th FINA World Championship in Kazan, Russia. She finished in 60th place among 63 participants, completing the distance in 2 minutes 18.93 seconds.
Shah entered finals in all her events at the 12th South Asian Games 2016 in Guwahati, India. This was the first international meet in which she qualified for finals.
She has represented Nepal at:
# 15th FINA World Championships 2013 - Barcelona, Spain
# 4th FINA Junior World Championships 2013 - Dubai, U.A.E.
# 17th Asian Games 2014 - Incheon, Korea
# 12th FINA World Championships (25m) 2014 - Doha, Qatar
# 16th FINA World Championships 2015 - Kazan, Russia
# 8th Asian Age Group Swimming Championships 2015 - Bangkok, Thailand
# FINA/Airweave Swimming World Cup 2015 - Dubai, U.A.E.
# 12th South Asian Games 2016 - Guwahati, India
# Thailand Age Group Swimming Championships 2016 - Bangkok, Thailand
Personal records
Shah currently holds the Nepalese national records in the 50m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 400m Individual Medley.