At just 22 years of age, Great Britain’s Craig Benson is already headed to his 2nd Olympics. Having semi-finaled in the men’s 100m breaststroke in London at the 2012 Games, the University of Stirling swimmer will now be contesting the 200m breaststroke event in Rio.
Benson has stepped foot on international podiums in the past, having earned bronze medals in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke distances at the 2015 World University Games. Benson also scored his first World Cup medal in 2015, snagging a silver in the longer breaststroke race while competing at the Dubai stop.
In the video provided by Scottish Swimming, Benson describes how qualifying for 2016 was a different experience than 2012. With the stiff qualifying marks pre-set by British Swimming this time around, even with a 2nd place finish Benson went a week in limbo not knowing if his race time was enough to be selected for the 2016 British Olympic squad.
But, Benson also says such an experience helped build up his resiliency and further cultivated his will to succeed. Those are among his ‘best assets’ when asked to describe himself. Check out the video and find out what Benson believes are his ‘worst’ as well.