Dual Citizen Loricia Awad, 13, Aims For Strong World Juniors: ‘Youth is my Superpower’

Photo Courtesy: Loricia Awad.

Dual Citizen Loricia Awad, 13, Aims For Strong World Juniors: ‘Youth is my Superpower’

As Loricia Awad quickly rose in the sport, she had a choice to make. A dual citizen with the United States and Lebanon, Awad had to choose from an early age which country to represent internationally in the water.

Awad chose Lebanon and she now holds eight national records at just 13.

“Being a dual citizen of both the United States and Lebanon, I have grown up loving the two countries equally. Given the opportunity to swim for Lebanon is such an honor and privilege, as I will not only make my family proud, but I will also represent one of my two countries,” Awad said.

Awad was born in Spring, Texas, and competes for the Swim Streamline at Northampton (SSAN) club there and holds 17 club records. She has qualified for the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships (Aug. 30-Sept. 4) this year in Lima, Peru.

Awad will compete in the 50 and 100 freestyle, 50 and 100 butterfly and 200 and 400 IM.

It won’t be her first taste of a big international competition.

In March, she competed at the FINA CIJ Meet in Luxembourg and won the gold medal in the 200 butterfly and claimed the bronze in the 100 butterfly.

“The CIJ meet in Luxembourg has been one of my greatest swimming accomplishments yet. Being able to swim in such a large-scale tournament and grab some medals, it was an incredible experience,” Awad said. “It’s very humbling seeing the role I play in the swimming world when compared to several competitive countries. The performances I saw were impressive, to say the least, but outside of the performances, I have always loved meeting my fellow swimmers and just getting to know new people on the common interest of swim.”

Photo Courtesy: Loricia Awad

That experience has Awad looking ahead to World Juniors, another big stage for her to prove herself among the world’s elite.

“At World Juniors I will be looking out for the same things I have always looked out for at any meet: personal bests. My biggest competitor has always been myself. If I can go out there and drop a tenth of a second, I will be accomplished,” she said.

The bigger scope of her performances also has Awad looking toward her future in the sport.

“Sometimes I look around and see exactly whom I am competing with. Being 13 years old and swimming next to 20-year-olds is a very eye-opening experience,” Awad said. “I acknowledge the fact that I am young in this sport, but if anything (youth) is my superpower. Having these huge experiences so early on really gives me the mindset to dream as big as possible. In all the coming years I will always keep my eyes on the biggest platform: The Olympics. I would imagine swimming at the World Olympics would be any swimmer’s biggest goal. Being exposed to a global swim meet so early makes this goal so much clearer to me.”

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Loricia Awad

1 year ago

Wow!! This is truly amazing thank you so much☺️