2019 SWEDISH SENIOR/JUNIOR/PARA SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Friday, June 28th – Tuesday, July 2nd
- Lindängsbadet, Malmö, Sweden
- LCM
- Meet Information
- SwimSwam Preview
- Start Lists/Live Results
Day 1 of the 2019 Swedish Swimming Championships saw Sarah Sjostrom fire off 2 wins in Malmö. With the World Championships still 4 weeks away, this 5-day meet is a training affair for the nation’s elite headed to Gwangju to take on the world’s best.
Sjostrom’s first gold came in the form of the women’s 200m free, where the 25-year-old national record holder boasted a winning mark of 1:57.06. The Swede trounced the competition, winning by almost 7 seconds in a time that’s modest by her standards.
She owns the Sweden national standard with the 1:54.08 notched in Rio for Olympic silver behind America’s Katie Ledecky. She’s already been as quick as 1:55.39 from the Stockholm Open this past April, a time that renders Sjostrom #4 in the world this season.
Sjostrom’s next victim at these championships was the 50m backstroke, an event the Olympian races at meets few and far between, but she’s proven relatively dangerous when she has competed. She holds the Swedish NR with her lifetime best of 27.80 from 2017 and has registered a 2019-best of 28.66 for gold at the Luxembourg Euro Meet in January.
She was able to slide under the earlier time from this year with a 28.52 podium-topper here.
Breaststroking ace Erik Persson was also in the water tonight, contesting his specialty 200m breast event. The 25-year-old national record holder in the event put up a winning effort of 2:11.11 to beat the field handily, splitting 32.91/33.94. His season-best of 2:08.75 from April ranks Persson as the 14th fastest swimmer in the world heading into next month’s World Championships.
Additional Winners:
- The men’s 200m fly saw Samuel Tornquist get his hands on the wall first in 2:02.64.
- Christoffer Carlsen scored the only 100m freestyle time for the men under 50 seconds, clocking 49.98 for the victory.
- Sophie Hansson and Jessica Eriksson went 1-2 in the women’s 200m breaststroke, with the former hitting 2:27.64 to the latter’s 2:29.81 to represent the only swimmers under 2:30 in the final.
The more interesting bit came after the race, where Sarah did not rule out that she will swim the 200 free at the World Champs! Although in Sarah-like fashion she also said she probably never wanted to swim it again after this.
As for this competition, it’s still in heavy training for the Swedes heading to Korea. Taper time and pre camp in Japan start after this.
Twice yeah, but that 200 was quick out but… not impressed with the time. At all.
Sarah said she’s sorry—the last thing she wants is to let you down
A statement from Sarah Sjostrom:
“I would like to apologise for my actions to all those I hold dearest. My relatively poor back half and mere 1.57 200 free has brought shame upon me. I would like to sincerely apologise to my friends, my family, my fans and, most of all, to SwimSwam commenter Swimjon. I am truly sorry. Thank you.”
Damn its not that deep its one bad race, happened to Soni in 2009.
Wasnt even a bad race; She hit out hard, led by 5s at halfway then cruised home.
loved it ……..swim nerds are ready for Worlds i think ….😃