The upcoming event is not Brinkleigh\u2019s first time representing Team USA. Earlier this month, the junior participated in a 10-kilometer race at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in California.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI never get used to the feeling and I don\u2019t think anybody ever does because it\u2019s so crazy,\u201d Brinkleigh said. \u201cSo many people dream of this and I get to be a part of it and live it. So, I think that\u2019s really important and I always keep that in the back of my head when I\u2019m racing.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_8849-1024x539.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Brinkleigh Hansen swimming at a Tuesday practice at the North Shore Aquatic Complex in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n
She explained that seeing Karrington swim inspired her to pursue the sport. Florida\u2019s tropical environment was also a factor.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Preparation is intense. Brinkleigh and her teammates usually train six days a week. They even have double practices on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to spending time with my family and teammates,\u201d she said. \u201cI think this is such a cool opportunity that may only come once in this lifetime, so I\u2019m really excited for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brinkleigh added that one of the biggest challenges of her swimming career has been trying to maintain a calm mindset while handling the pressures that come with racing. She hopes to represent Team USA in the 2028 Summer Olympics, which is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The young athlete explained that open water swimming may be \u201con the chopping block\u201d for the 2032 Summer Olympics in Brisbane, Australia.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think this sport should go away,\u201d Brinkleigh said. \u201cIt really shows the nature side of things. We\u2019re always going to have that. I think it\u2019s very important to support new, up-and-coming sports like open water.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sawyer is also looking forward to joining his family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was actually kind of forced into swimming when I was a little kid,\u201d he explained. \u201cMy parents were swimmers and they wanted to get me into the sport too. I just started to really love the sport and grew into it and really enjoyed it as I grew up.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_8873-1024x574.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Sawyer Hansen swimming at a Tuesday practice at the North Shore Aquatic Complex.<\/p>\n
Sawyer, a sophomore, was selected for the World Aquatics Junior Open Water Swimming Championships in April. He explained that all of the \u201chard, intense training\u201d paid off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my first international trip and first time representing Team USA,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cI\u2019m going to meet a bunch of new people and make new friends. Being out of the country is going to be a lot of fun.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sawyer hopes to continue to swim in college and pursue a professional career. Competing in the Olympics is his long-term goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ansley, who is a freshman, explained that she initially pursued gymnastics as a sport. Her cousin would inspire her to swim. It was only a matter of time before Ansley wanted to try something new.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The athlete does not take the opportunity \u201clightly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to meeting people and am definitely excited to race and learn a bunch of things from people who have been on these trips before,\u201d Ansley said. \u201cI definitely hope to do more meets like this on the international stage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the Hansen family, swimming is just in the blood.\u00a0 St. Petersburg-based siblings Brinkleigh, Sawyer and Karrington will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-384255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}