Superior Louise Hansson – Sophie irons herself

It was different worlds for the Helsingborg sisters Hansson in Sunday’s trial session at the Foro Italico in Rome.

Louise Hansson won his trial heat by far and was clearly the fastest overall with 57.46, just over a second over his personal best.

– I just tried to focus on myself, find a rhythm and not push too much but find a flow without pushing the last bit. I’ll save that for tonight (the semi-finals). It was a nice feeling, says Hansson, who came fourth in the WC in June – with a contemptible five hundredths of a bronze.

Worst competitor Marie Wattel, France, World Cup runner-up, was 39 hundredths behind in the total and third Lana Pudar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, was separated by 83 hundredths.

Sara Junevik also advanced with 13th time, 59.30.

For the sister Sophie Hansson it was another frustrating race. She was sixth in the final of her main distance 100 meter breaststroke last Saturday night, well above her own Swedish record.

In the 200 meter breaststroke trials, she finished twelfth with 2.28.47 – just over four seconds above her personal best.

In good shape, she could challenge for a medal, but it didn’t look like that in the trials.

– It’s terribly heavy, I don’t recognize my body right now, it’s very frustrating, says Sophie Hansson.

She says that she is hesitating about swimming the semi-final tonight – and a couple of hours later that was also a fact. When the organizer released the starting lists for the semi-finals, she was not included.

According to the plans, Sophie Hansson will also swim the 50 meter breaststroke and the medley team event later in the EC.

However, Klara Thormalm is in the semi-finals after breaking her personal record by 1.72 seconds. She took the last place to the semi-finals with 2.29.15.

Björn Seeliger, Olympic swimmer in the 50-meter freestyle, held record speed in the trials of the 50-meter backstroke and polished his own Swedish record by 31 hundredths to 24.79.

– It was good, I swam relaxed the first 25 and then I pushed for the second 25. I want to get to the final, it will probably work, he says about the goal.

Seeliger also broke a personal record in the starting distance of the team race 4×100 meter freestyle. His 48.46 was almost four-tenths faster than he had swum before in the distance.

Seeliger’s rocket start didn’t help, however, and the team, which also included Robin Hanson, Elias Persson and Marcus Holmquist, finished ninth in 3.17.47 – almost a second from the final.

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