Back to back: Provo woman, Team USA dive to victory at 2025 international mermaid competition
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- Mia Sim, in black, and members of Team USA pose for a photo during the 2025 Merlympics competition May 24, 2025, in Wolfsburg, Germany.
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- Team USA captains Mia Sim, right, and Emily Shaw, left, pose for a photo after the annual Merlympics competition held May 24, 2025, in Wolfsburg, Germany.
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- Mia Sim, top right, and members of Team USA pose for a photo during the 2025 Merlympics competition May 24, 2025, in Wolfsburg, Germany.
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- Members of Team USA pose for a photo during the awards ceremony at the 2025 Merlympics competition May 24, 2025, in Wolfsburg, Germany.
Mia Sim impressed the judges and fellow underwater athletes by being named the fastest mermaid in the world last May at the 2024 International Mermaid Olympics, also called the “Merlympics,” in Switzerland.
The 24-year-old from Provo returned to the competition this year on May 24, in Wolfsburg, Germany, as vice captain for Team USA, where their performance resulted in a first-place win in the adult team category.
“I am really honored to be part of the team that once we got our score back, with the United States being first place at 95 points, which felt really, really good,” Sim told the Daily Herald.
As for Sim, she was ranked the highest-scoring female athlete for Team USA and was the fourth overall highest scorer among all adult female athletes at the event with 351.5 points.
Team USA consisted of Sim along with another Utah athlete and four others from different parts of the country who all traveled for the international athletic event.
The team was selected and put together through an application process managed by Emily Shaw, the team captain, who lives in Mississippi, according to Sim.
The self-proclaimed “Provo Mermaid” said she valued the camaraderie and support of having a full slate of team members this time around, which made for a much different experience from her previous appearance at the mermaid Olympics.
“When you’re playing solo, you really are winging it,” she said. “So I had no idea what I was doing last year. I just knew I had to show up, whereas this year we had pretty much everything down to the wire as teammates. We would call each other all the time. We would talk about the rules limitations, how to make each of our routines better (and) how to improve each event.”
Though she admits that with most of the team being in various parts of the country, getting their routines down required some detailed coordination.
As a collective, the six members only had two opportunities to practice together, which included shortly before the event once they arrived in Germany.
Even after nearly a year of practicing their planned routine mostly on their own and through online video sessions, Sim said there was still somewhat of an eerie feeling going into the Merlympics.
“We all knew the routine, but could we crack down on our timing with each other, knowing the way each other hits the stroke in the water, or how we front flip, or where to grab our hands, because we have a lot of interactive bits, so that was the hardest part to work around,” she explained.
In all, she said they had a combined total of six hours to practice as a unit.
Aside from the synergy of competing in a team setting, Sim also noted the differences in her personal preparation process and stress levels between the two years.
In the 2024 competition, Sim said her practice regimen focused on gaining comfort in the water and mastering the different aspects of what the event may entail.
“I didn’t really know how to train for these events,” she said. “So I started with just getting over being in the cold water, then breaking down each of the events of (the previous year) — the photo challenge, the ecology and the speed and all of that — and seeing what were the best ways to be functional and consistent that way.”
She said training for the 2025 mermaid Olympics centered more on the performative and visual aspect of how the overall team wanted to execute their routine.
Despite any obstacles they may have endured, she’s proud of Team USA’s and her own accomplishments this year.
“I’m really thankful that they wanted to come do this with us, because it is a daunting task. To take on the financial burden and to travel internationally, and meet up with a bunch of basically strangers and try to work together and try to build a team from scratch, is utterly insane. And I’m really impressed that we were all able to do it,” Sim said.
A brief retirement?
While the second trip to the international water sports stage and amassing more recognition was fulfilling, Sim said she will likely take a break from the mermaid Olympics as she wants to increase her volunteering with local conservation efforts.
She cites the impact on her body, due to the amount of training needed in a short amount of time to prepare for such a yearly event.
“My body is really having a hard time keeping up with how intense of swimming that I’m doing. And maybe it was my own fault because of the way I was training and preparing for this, and I just got burnout … or (maybe) it’s just the sport in general,” she explained.
Regardless, Sim plans to step away from competing internationally for at least a year; then she’ll reassess her interest.
In the meantime, she plans to devote more time to community service through her work with Conserve Utah Valley and beautification efforts around places like Utah Lake and other local waterways.
Growing up in Utah County, and spending memorable moments at the lake, Sim said she’s always had passion for water conservation and her work as a mermaid has played a part in spreading ecological awareness.
Prior to her focus on participating in the Merlympics, Sim said she volunteered more frequently with Conserve Utah Valley, but then she had to cut back in order to prepare for the competitions.
“And that kind of might have diminished my confidence in the work I was doing, because I felt like I wasn’t able to do enough,” she said.
Sim added: “I feel like I’ve done all I can do as an athlete right now, and there’s always more work to be done for conservation.”
But she’s not completely tucking her mermaid tail away. Sim also plans to continue appearing in character at various events and private bookings for the foreseeable future.
