Markus Lie Improves Upon His Own Norwegian Record With 49.63 100 Freestyle

Bergen Swim Festival 2021

• Friday, June 11, 2021 – Sunday, June 13, 2021
• Bergan, Norway
• Long Course Meters (50M)
• Meet Site
• Results

The 2021 Bergen Swim Festival began Friday in Bergen, Norway. The meet, which was held last in April 2019, has routinely played host to a number of big names including Sarah Sjostrom, Katinka Hosszu, and Kosuke Hagino, but has been considerably scaled back this season. Due to a decrease in the number of athletes travelling to meet due to COVID-19 as well as the meet’s proximity this year to the Olympic Games, the meet is mostly a domestic affair, with a few of the country’s best swimmers participating, along with a number of rank-and-file local competitors.

Swimming in day 1 finals, Markus Lie lowered his own Norwegian record in the men’s 100 freestyle with a winning time of 49.63. That swim was an improvement upon his previous mark 49.65 that he swam at the 2017 World Championships.

Lie did not race the event at the 2019 World Championships but he did compete recently at the 2021 European Swimming Championships and placed 51st in the 100 freestyle with a 49.85.

Both his recent 49.63 and 49.85 freestyles are faster than the FINA B standard in the event of 50.03 while hovering over the FINA A standard in the event of 48.57. The swims have not yet officially earned Lie a spot on the 2021 Norwegian Olympic squad which currently only includes Henrik Christiansen in the men’s 800 and 1500 freestyles and Ingeborg Løyning in the women’s 100 backstroke.

• Access the Norwegian Olympic Qualification Standards here.

Another record-breaking swim on day 1 of the Bergan Swim Festival came from Helene Torsvik Lorentz who swam a Norwegian junior record in the women’s 200 butterfly with a 2:15.51. That swim is an improvement upon the 2:16.35 that she swam in the semi-finals of the event at the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival in July 2019.

Other Day 1 Event Winners

• Marte Løvberg won the women’s 100 freestyle with a 56.81.
• Mari Moen posted the quickest women’s 400 IM time with her swim of 5:01.49
• The men’s 400 IM went to Marius Rist Jensen with a 4:40.40
• Ingeborg Løyning (28.25) and Simon Moe (26.63) took the respective women’s and men’s 50 backstroke titles.
• Eva Kummen won the women’s 100 breast in a 1:09.82 while André Grindheim earned gold on the men’s side with a 1:00.23.