Henrik Christiansen of Norway broke his own 800m freestyle Norwegian national record Tuesday morning in order to qualify for the final ahead of some of the top worldly competitors.
Qualifying in eighth, Christiansen put forth a 7:49.70 effort in order to take a huge chunk off his 7:57.07 national record from 2014.
If it wasn’t for the best time, Christiansen wouldn’t have earned himself a spot in the final. Sitting in ninth was Egyptian Akram Ahmed with a time of 7:49.83, just 0.13 seconds behind Christiansen.
Christiansen is currently making the change from junior international competition to senior international competition. Just last season he competed at the 2014 European Junior Championships, earning himself three medals.
There he was second in the 400m freestyle and third in both the 800 and 1500m freestyles.
Christiansen is currently one of the top swimmers on the Norwegian national team. He holds every single national record from the 400m freestyle to the 1500m freestyle. Christiansen is also the national record holder in the 400m IM.
Heading into the 800m freestyle final the top three are currently sitting in the 7:44 to 7:46 range. If Christiansen can make that drop and get himself onto the podium, he will be the first Norwegian swimmer to medal at a world championships since the late Alexander Dale Oen.