Peter Szmidt

Who is Peter Szmidt?

Peter Szmidt was a Canadian swimmer, competing in the freestyle events during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Szmidt competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics and was supposed to represent his native country at the 1980 Summer Olympics, but didn't start due to the international boycott of the Moscow Games. A resident of Sarnia, Ontario he won a total number of three medals at the 1979 Pan American Games.

On July 15, 1980, at the Canadian Olympic trials, Szmidt set the world record for 400 m freestyle with a time of 3:50:49. He held the world record at the time of the 1980 Olympics, in which he did not race due to the boycott. The world record stood for 18 months, and was a Canadian record for 20 years.

Szmidt swam in competition with the legendary Russian swimmer Vladimir Salnikov who dominated long-distance freestyle swimming in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Szmidt's 400 m record was the only interruption in Salnikov's title as the world record holder for 400 m freestyle from 1979 through 1985.