The North Sea Swim Meet 2018
- November 2-4, 2018
- Kristiansand, Norway
- SCM (25m)
- Meet Website
- Start Lists
The 45th edition of the North Sea Swim Meet will take place this weekend in Kristiansand, Norway, the second time the capital of Norway’s southern region will play host to the competition. The meet will be contested in short course metres.
The field is full of European stars, including reigning European Champion Florian Wellbrock and 2016 champ Franziska Hentke, both of Germany.
Wellbrock, who won the 1500 at the Euros in August and also added a bronze in the 800, heads into the mile seeded 2nd behind Norwegian Henrik Christiansen, and will also swim the 100, 200 and 400 free, the 200 fly, and the 400 IM. After setting a new German Record this summer in the long course 1500 in 14:36.15, it certainly looks like he should be able to surpass his short course best of 14:33.25, and could potentially take a run at the National Record of 14:20.44 set in 2009 by Jan Wolfgarten.
In addition to the 1500, Christiansen heads in as the top seed in the 400 free, and also sits 2nd in the 400 IM to Liechtenstein’s Christoph Meier. He holds both Norwegian SCM records in the 400 (3:37.26) and 1500 (14:21.53).
A couple other Norwegian National Record holders on the men’s side will also be in action in Markus Lie and Tomoe Hvas. Lie is entered in seven events, including the #1 seed in the 100 back, #2 in the 100 IM and #4 in the 50 fly. He holds the national SCM records in the 100 back and 100 IM, along with the 100 and 200 free which he’ll also compete in.
Hvas, an 18-year-old who is coming off a three medal performance at the Youth Olympic Games (including a 200 IM gold where he broke the national record), is entered in the 2000-01 age group (the others are in the ‘Senior’ category), and enters seven events with the top seed in six of them. He’ll swim the 200 and 400 free, the 200 back, the 100 and 200 breast and the 50 fly, along with the 50 back where he’s seeded 2nd behind Switzerland’s Thierry Bollin.
Other notable men in action include Jesse Puts, Kyle Stolk, Mathys Goosen and Maarten Brzoskowski of the Netherlands, Stephen Milne of Great Britain, Ari-Pekka Liukkonen of Finland, and Yannick Kaeser of Switzerland.
Hentke, the 2016 European gold and 2017 World Championship silver medalist in the 200 fly, is entered in six events, including the 200 fly and 400 IM where she’s the top seed.
Another German Sarah Kohler headlines the women’s distance events with the top seed in the 400 and 800 free, and Belgian Fanny Lecluyse also comes in with four top seeds in the 50, 100 and 200 breast, and the 200 IM.
Similar to the men, a stacked group of Dutch woman will be in action, including Kim Busch, Maaike de Waard, Tes Schouten and Valerie van Roon. Lucy Hope and Kathryn Greenslade of Great Britain are also slated to compete.
Check out the full start list here.