Julianne Kirchner

Who is Julianne Kirchner?

Julianne Kirchner is a Marshallese swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. At the very young age, she and her family moved to the Marshall Islands, because of her father's occupation.

Kirchner was one of the five athletes to represent Marshall Islands, for its official debut at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She swam in the third heat of the women's 50 m freestyle event, against seven other competitors from the Pacific islands, Africa, Tajikistan, and Cambodia. She finished the race in fourth place, with her personal record of 30.42 seconds. Kirchner, however, failed to advance into the semi-finals, as she placed seventy-fifth out of ninety-two swimmers in the overall rankings.

Kirchner is also one of the shortest swimmers at the Olympics, standing at 1.38 metres. She is currently a member of Kwajalein Swim Team in the Marshall Islands, being coached and trained by Sarah Stepchew.