Meet Bar Soloveychik, the Israeli swimmer shattering Gophers records

Gophers sophomore Bar Soloveychik's winning time in the 1,000-yard freestyle during a quadrangular meet at Northwestern in late January was 8 minutes, 54.69 seconds. This broke the swimming program's record of 8:56.27 that had been held by Justin Mortimer since 2001.

The 1,000-yard free had been the oldest record on the books for Gophers men's swimming.

When you consider the usual lasting power for swimming records, Mortimer's time was roughly the equivalent of Old Tom Morris dominating the British Open by 13 strokes in 1862 and having it stand as a record margin in major golf until Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open by 15 in 2000.

OK, very roughly.

Soloveychik holds three other Gophers freestyle records from his freshman season: 200 and 500 yards, and 400 meters in a long-course (50M) pool.

He dived into the pool at Northwestern's Norris Center on Jan. 27 with the idea of adding the 1,000 to his school records.

"I knew what the time was; I didn't know the record was that old," Soloveychik said.

He is the latest in a handful of Israeli swimmers recruited by the Gophers. He was in the midst of Israel's military requirement — "2.8 years for men, two years for women," he said — in March 2020 when he made a verbal commitment to the Gophers.

Eitan Yudashkin came from the same big-time swimming club as Soloveychik in Israel and was with the Gophers.

Eitan Yudashkin came from the same big-time swimming club as Soloveychik in Israel and was with the Gophers.

"If not for Eitan, I wouldn't have known Minnesota existed," Soloveychik said. "Eitan said this was the right place for me — the right coaches and facilities to train, and a very strong computer science program."

He arrived at the university sight unseen in the late summer of 2021. He comes from outside Haifa. How much snow there?

"None, not ever," he said, paused and added: "The snow is OK here. I hate the ice when walking. You can die at any moment with this ice."

Soloveychik's parents, Anatoliy and Marina, were able to emigrate from the Donbas region of Ukraine in 1999. Bar was born two years later in Israel.

The Soloveychiks have relatives and friends back in the Donbas that they worry about daily, since Russia started its invasive war on Feb. 24, 2022.

"My name was Boris originally," he said. "It was changed to Bar when I was younger. I think my parents thought Boris was too Russian.

"I was chubby kid until I was about 12. My parents put me in a boarding school and I started swimming seriously. After that, it was Wingate, which is the national swimming school."

Wingate Institute is both a learning center and training area for Israeli athletes deemed to have Olympic potential.

"Two of the most important sports are swimming and judo," Soloveychik said.

Judo? There have been reports here that basketball is very popular in Israel.

"Not as popular as judo," he said.

Soloveychik missed out by a fraction from making the Israeli Olympic swimming team that went to Tokyo in 2021. He headed for Minneapolis instead, connecting with a new group of coaches.

Kelly Kremer is the Gophers head coach for men's and women's programs. Jeff Kostoff and Maddy Olson are the coaches that work closely with Soloveychik.

"Bar was a very good swimmer when he got here, obviously," Kremer said. "When you're much better than the competition so often, you can become lax on the turns, in a couple other areas that cost you time.

"Our staff has done an amazing job with Bar, and he has worked nonstop to fix those small things. He keeps getting better."

The Big Ten is loaded in swimming as always. Soloveychik's ongoing improvement will be tested when the conference championships start next Wednesday at the University of Michigan.

Success there, and the NCAA men's swimming championship will be held for the eighth time March 22-25 at the Gophers' Jean Freeman Aquatic Center.

When school ends in May, he will have international competition this summer, including the Euro championships in August in Rome.

Soloveychik gets encouragement in long-distance video calls with Gabriela Kublanov, his long-term girlfriend. There are also calls to Mom and Dad.

"My parents enjoy it when I win medals and trophies," Bar said. "They also say, 'Swimming is a not a job. You're going to need a good job after college.' "

Bar smiled.

One last question: "When you're not swimming or going to class, what else … you go to football games?"

He shook his head and said: "Football is the most stupid game there is. They have a play, then discuss what happened for 20 minutes, and finally have another play. I can't believe Americans go crazy for it."

My turn to smile.