The 2015 Danish Nationals kicked off this past weekend and runs through July 8th in Brønshøj, Denmark. Approximately 583 swimmers across 78 clubs have descended upon Bellahøj Swimming Stadium, all in a quest to take home national titles.
Anton Ipsen, who competes for North Carolina State during the American collegiate season, has already nabbed three titles thus far at the meet. Ipsen took home the 400m freestyle win in a time of 3:51.18, his fastest performance in the event this year. He next swam to victory in the 1500 freestyle in a time of 15:30.03, about eight seconds faster than the 15:38.11 he registered at Canadian Nationals back in April. Ipsen’s third win came in the 400m IM event, where he touched the wall in 4:27.62 to secure gold and national title in his fourth-best career time. Ipsen is slated to swim the 800m and 200m freestyle events later in the competition.
The women’s team saw Mie Nielsen stand atop the podium a total of three times so far as well. Nielsen earned gold in the 50m backstroke event in a time of 28.31 and went on to claim the 100m backstroke title as well, clocking a swift 1:00.47 for her efforts. She completed her trifecta of wins with a 200m IM title, clinching victory in a time of 2:16.46. Nielsen has already dipped well beneath the minute-mark in the 100 back, currently sitting as the 3rd-fastest female in the world with her time of 59.14 she earned at Mare Nostrum Marseille. At that same meet, she went sub-28 in the 50 back, registering a 27.94 to be positioned as the 8th fastest woman in the event for 2015.
Anders Lie Nielsen, Viktor Bromer and Søren Dahl all earned individual title wins in the 100m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 50m butterfly events respectively, while Louise Dalgaard and Emilie Beckmann also claimed event title wins in the 50m breaststroke and 100m butterfly races.
There were actually two different contests that ended in a tie during the first three days of the meet as well, making for some intense action at the wall. The first was a tie in the men’s 50m backstroke, with Magnus Jakupsson and Marco Loughran charging to the wall in matching times of 25.85 for a mutual gold. The second battle came to a head in the women’s 50m freestyle, with Marie Lauridsen and Sarah Bro touching in the exact same mark of 26.25 for the win.
Competition continues tomorrow with the women’s 400m IM, 50m butterfly and 200m breaststroke races and the men’s 100m backstroke, 50m freestyle, 200m butterfly and 800m freestyle events.