Recently-retired Finnish Olympian and 7-time NCAA All-American Tanja Kylliainen has been announced as the new assistant coach for the women’s swimming team at the University of Miami in Florida. She replaces Caroline Maxvill, who left Miami to join LSU as a new assistant coach in June.
The 25-year-old, US-raised swimmer represented Finland seven times in total at European Championships, World Championships and the Olympic Games debuting internationally at the 2011 European Championships where she was a finalist. During her career, Kylliainen broke ten Finnish Records.
She was also a standout for four years with fellow ACC squad the Louisville Cardinals, earning four first team All-American honors individually (placing as high as 4th in the 400 IM at the 2015 NCAAs in her senior year). Additionally, she was the Cardinals’ first ever ACC Champion, in any sport, when she won the 200 IM at the 2015 Championships in their first year in the conference. She went on to set conference records in all three of her events and was named Swimmer of the Meet.
Kylliainen finished her competitive career this past weekend at the Finnish National Championships, where she was 15th in the 50 fly (28.96), 5th in the 100 (1:03.61), and swam on her team’s 400 medley and 400 free relays.
She swam the 400 IM at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, where she broke the Finnish National Record in 4:45.33.
Miami sponsors women’s swimming & diving, and just diving on the men’s side. The Miami women’s team placed 11th out of 12 teams at last year’s ACC Championships. The team sent only divers to the NCAA Championships and placed 33rd with 14 points.