R Madhavan' son Vedaant Madhavan suffers disappointment against Virginia

Dubai: Vedaant Madhavan endured a difficult outing as West Virginia University’s men’s swimming team faced No. 8-ranked Virginia over the weekend, finishing near the bottom in two individual events.

The son of actor R Madhavan represented the Mountaineers in the dual meet but was unable to keep pace with the leading swimmers in the 200-yard and 500-yard freestyle races.

In the 200-yard freestyle, Vedaant finished seventh in the final with a time of 1:42.10. His West Virginia teammate, who won the event, clocked 1:36.56 to finish more than five seconds ahead of him.

The 500-yard freestyle also proved challenging. Vedaant again placed seventh, recording 4:44.13. Virginia’s Seth J Collins won the race in 4:25.94, leaving a gap of almost 19 seconds between the two swimmers.

West Virginia eventually suffered a 175-83 defeat against Virginia, with the visitors underlining their strength across the events.

The result will be a setback for Vedaant, who is still finding his feet in the new college swimming season. The meet was among his early appearances for the Big 12 programme, and he will have further opportunities to improve as the campaign progresses.

Vedaant joined West Virginia last year after competing for Virginia Tech. He made his senior international debut at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, where he narrowly missed out on the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay final with India.

At 21, he remains at an important stage of his development, with college competition offering valuable experience as he works towards higher-level performances.