Denilson Cyprianos

Denilson Cyprianos (born 7 October 2002) is a Zimbabwean swimmer. He competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the men's 200m backstroke event. Early life and college career Cyprianos was born on 7 October 2002 in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. He has two brothers who also were competitive swimmers. He attended Christian Brothers College, Bulawayo. He was trained in swimming by his father, until his father's death in late 2020, and became one of Zimbabwe's top youth swimmers; by January 2021, Cyprianos, a backstroke swimmer, had set national records in the 50m, 100m and 200m events, also being the Zimbabwe Junior Sportsperson of the Year runner-up in 2020. He competed as a member of the Stingrays Swimming Club.

Cyprianos received an athletic scholarship to compete in college in the U.S. in 2021. As a freshman, he qualified for the NCAA Division II nationals and became an honorable mention All-American after placing 13th in the 200-yard backstroke event. In 2023, with the Eagles, he qualified for the NCAA B tournament and the swimming National Invitation Tournaments (NITs).

Cyprianos later transferred to South Dakota State University where he was part of school record-setting 400m and 800m freestyle relay teams and broke the school record for the 200m backstroke in 2024. International career Cyprianos began competing for Zimbabwe internationally by 2019 and broke the national 100m backstroke record that year at a tournament in Dubai. In February 2020, he served as captain of the Zimbabwe team competing at the CANA Zone IV Swimming Championships in Botswana. He finished 46th at the tournament in the 100m backstroke and also competed in the 200m, where he was 26th. He also won silver in the 200m at the African Games. Competing in the 200m backstroke, he set the new national record with a time of 2:01.91, although he did not advance from his heat. He finished 28th in his event.