Each week in the lead up to the Nov. 19 Golden Goggle Awards, USA Swimming will highlight one of the eight award categories. 

Full event details, including table and seat purchasing opportunities, can be found at GoldenGoggles.com.

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PERSEVERANCE AWARD

This award is given to the athlete who came back from adversity, retirement, sickness, injury, etc., to have an outstanding performance(s) in 2017, with special emphasis on the 2017 FINA World Championships.

Elizabeth Beisel
Following a runner-up finish in the 400m individual medley at the 2017 Phillips 66 National Championships, Elizabeth Beisel was bound for the FINA World Championships for the sixth straight time. She actually touched third in the race, but claimed the second-place finish – and a trip to Budapest – following a disqualification. Beisel, who has qualified for 12 straight major long-course international events for Team USA since 2006, made the most of the situation by providing immeasurable leadership at the FINA World Championships and helping lead the U.S. to a record 38 medals in the pool. In her lone event, Beisel was seventh in the 400m IM, but the co-captain’s impact was felt well beyond her swims.

Matt Grevers
The 2012 Olympic champion in the 100-meter backstroke, Matt Grevers just missed a return trip to the Olympic Games in 2016 with a heartbreaking third-place finish in the event at Olympic Trials. The 32-year-old was determined to bounce back in a big way in 2017. And he did just that, winning the U.S. title in the 100m backstroke at the Phillips 66 National Championships to earn a return to the international stage. In Budapest, Grevers – a team co-captain – won four medals: silver in the 100m back, bronze in the 50m back and gold in the 4x100m medley relay and mixed 4x100m medley relay.

Ashley Twichell
Slowed by a shoulder injury in recent years, Ashley Twichell returned to form in 2017 and was a double-medalist at the 2017 FINA World Championships in open-water events. After a 10th-place finish in the women’s 10K at Lake Balaton, Twichell rebounded for gold in the women’s 5K and helped the U.S. to silver in the new mixed 5K team relay for her first FINA World Championships medals since 2011. Earlier in the year, Twichell secured her spot at Worlds with a convincing victory in the 10K and as the No. 2 American in the 5K at USA Swimming Open Water Nationals.