Dhinidhi Desinghu: Indian Teen Breaks 200m Swimming National Record

Olympian Dhinidhi Desinghu, a 15-year-old swimming prodigy from Karnataka, won three gold medals and broke a national record at the National Games 2025 at Manaskhand Tarantal in Golapur, Uttarakhand on January 29. She clocked 2:03.24 to break the women's 200m freestyle national record, surpassing her previous mark of 2:04.24 clocked during the 2023 national championships. 

Dhinidhi Desinghu also won gold in the 100m butterfly event by clocking 1:03.62 and clinched a third gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay. Throughout her sporting career, her immaculate strokes and precision have earned her 10 gold medals at the National Games a national record in 200m freestyle and participation in the 2022 Asian Games. 

Youngest Indian At Paris Games 2024

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, a new face emerged, Dhinidhi Desinghu represented India in the Women's Swimming (200m freestyle category) competition. Then 14, she was the youngest athlete in the Indian contingent. In an interview, her parents explained how she first was introduced to swimming. She was a shy kid and barely spoke or interacted with kids her age, she couldn't speak until she was three years old. Her parents wanted her to join a sport for the motive of making friends and interacting with kids her age.

As it was, they had a pool near their house and Dhinidhi was introduced to swimming at the age of six. As Dhinidhi recalled her first few experiences during the interview, she mentioned, "But I didn’t like the water, I didn’t want to get in. I couldn’t get my feet into the pool, I couldn’t get my head inside. It was a struggle." Like many young children, Dhinidhi was also quite afraid of pool and swimming; it took her quite some time and support to overcome that fear. She further added how her parents joined her in the experience and would get in the pool with her to make her more comfortable. 

Dhinidhi's mother recalled how she had trouble handling the pressure and nerves before a competition. To be such a young child and participate in state or national-level competitions needed a lot of courage, strength and hard work. Dhinidhi needed support and love and that is exactly what she got from her parents and coach. Her mother tells Dhinidhi would get sick or vomit the day she had to enter the pool for the competition.

At a state-level competition in Mangalore Dhinidhi and her parents were travelling from a bus when they caught motion sickness they recalled, "After reaching there, Dhinidhi said, ‘No, I am scared. I don’t want to swim’. But we had suffered so much to get there so I said we’ll just go to see the pool and then return if she was not up for it. She walked around the pool, turned to me and said, ‘I think I can do it’. She came up with the gold. That’s it. Thereafter, she never had any fever or vomiting before a competition."

Dhinidhi's coach and mentors are meticulously planning her swimming trajectory for the LA Olympics in 2028. She currently trains at Dolphin Aquatics in Bangalore under the tutelage of Dronacharya awardee Nihar Ameen and is mentored by Madhu Kumar. Mr. Kumar said, "Since she’s been with us here at Dolphins, there’s never a day when she hasn’t worked hard. It’s the passion she has for swimming. She is also ready to make every sacrifice for that."