Uvis Kalniņš

Who is Uvis Kalniņš?

Uvis Kalniņš is a Latvian swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. He won a bronze medal in the men's 100 m freestyle at the 2011 European Junior Swimming Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, with a time of 50.18 seconds. Kalniņš is also a member of the swimming team for the Missouri State Bears, and an undergraduate student at Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.

Kalniņš qualified for the men's 100 m freestyle, as a member of the Latvian swimming team, at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, by eclipsing a FINA B-standard time of 50.18 seconds from the European Junior Championships. He challenged seven other swimmers on the fourth heat, including British-born Paraguayan swimmer Benjamin Hockin. Kalniņš raced to second place, and dipped under a 50-second barrier by a quarter of a second behind Turkey's Kemal Arda Gürdal, in his personal best of 49.96. Kalniņš failed to advance into the semifinals, as he placed thirtieth overall in the preliminaries.

At the 2013 World Aquatics Championships in Barcelona, Kalniņš competed in the 100 and 200 m freestyle but failed to advance past the heats, finishing with times of 50.51 and 1:51.91 respectfully.