Blume, Ottesen, and Norgaard Headline 2021 Danish Olympic Roster

In a recent press release, the Danish Swimming Federation announced their 9-strong roster for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics this summer:

Tokyo 2020 Danish Olympic Roster

The headliner of the Danish Olympic swimming roster for Tokyo is 2016 Olympic gold medalist Pernille Blume. Blume swam to 50 freestyle gold in Rio 5 years ago, hitting a 24.07 to top the podium. Since then Blume has been a solid force for the country in the sprint freestyle, picking up bronze in the 50 and 100 at 2017 short course European Champs, bronze in the 100 at 2017 World Championships, and silver in the 50 at 2018 long course European Champs. Most recently Blume took silver at the 2021 European Swimming Championships with a 24.17.

Besides Blume’s individual gold in the 50 free, Denmark’s only other swimming medal in Rio came in the women’s 400 medley relay, where Mie Nielsen, Rikke Moller Pedersen, Jeanette Ottesen, and Blume finished 3rd in 3:55.01: a new European Record and just .01 seconds behind Australia for silver.

This year, Denmark doesn’t have a qualified medley relay and their only qualified relay is the women’s 400 free relay.

All four members of the qualified 400 free relay; Signe Bro, Ottesen, Julie Kepp Jensen, and Blume, will race the event in Tokyo on the heels of their new Danish Record at the 2021 European Championships. While Ottesen, Kepp Jensen, and Blume raced the 4×100 relay at Rio 2016 with Mie Nielsen, this will be Signe Bro‘s first Olympic trip.

Ottesen hasn’t qualified to race any events individually and will only swim the 4×100 free relay in Tokyo. She will be racing at her 5th Olympics this summer, having competed in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 for Denmark. While she hasn’t picked up any individual medals across her 4 Games, Ottesen has reached 3 finals and contributed to Denmark’s bronze medal finish in the 4×100 medley in 2016.

Alexander Norgaard will be making the trip to Tokyo for his first-ever Olympic Games to race the men’s 1500 freestyle, an event in which he holds the Danish record with a 14:47.75 from the 2019 World Championships. Norgaard swam that time during the prelims of the event but then fell to a 15:20.47 in the final to take 8th place overall.

Along with Blume, Ottesen, and Bromer, 2016 Danish Olympian Anton Ipsen will be heading to Tokyo to race the 800 and 1500 freestyles. Ipsen raced the 800 at the 2019 World Championships and managed to notch a 7:48.74 national record for 9th place. More recently Ipsen raced the event at the 2021 European Championships and placed 5th in the final with a 7:52.07.

Along with Bro and Norgaard, this will be Tobias Bjerg, Helena Rosendahl Bach, and Emilie Beckmann‘s first time competing at the Olympics.