Veera Kivirinta was satisfied with her WC swims, even though she finished eighth in the women’s 50m breaststroke final.
Matti Lehtisaari,
STT Sports
14:45•Updated 14:48
Veera Kivirinta scooped eighth place in the women’s 50m breaststroke final at the World Short Course Championships in Melbourne. Kivirinta reached the final with a time of 29.84. He had set his record of 29.72 in Saturday’s preliminaries.
Kivirinta described her final swim as a bit tight. He concentrated on swimming the first 25 meter pool length with a calmer frequency than on Saturday.
– It wasn’t as good a swim as my previous swims at the Games, but not incredibly bad either. I was a bit slow at the start and tried to go the first 25 meters with a calmer frequency. In the turn I pushed myself too much, but the swim was good in the second 25 meters. It ended up being a wall kiss, I would have hit the wall faster almost on my head than with my hand, Kivirinta told Urheilu.
The championship of the trip was won by ME woman, Lithuania Ruta Meilutyte at 28.50. On Saturday, the Lithuanian swam an amazing ME 28.37 in the semi-final.
A year of big changes
Kivirinta, who is doing training related to becoming a police officer, moved from Tampere to Helsinki in the fall, so joint training Ida Hulkon with left behind. Kivirinta, originally from Oulu, did not expect that the WC swimming would go so well.
– My life situation changed quite a bit in the fall compared to the beginning of the year. I am incredibly proud of how I have been able to perform after my difficult fall. Nice to see that my level has remained even though my life has changed.
Last fall has brought significant changes to Kivirinna’s life.
– My training period has affected the amount of training, I have been careful with the quality. It has been a really stressful autumn mentally. On the other hand, it’s been great that I haven’t had time to really think about swimming, Kivirinta said.
In addition to the stone throw, Finland’s Laura Lahtinen, who was eighth in the women’s 200-meter butterfly on Thursday, reached the final in the Melbourne World Cup pool.
Women’s 50 meter breaststroke / WC final
1. Ruta Meilutyte LTU 28.50
2. Lara Van Niekerk RSA 29.09
3. Lilly King USA 29.11
4. Qianting Tang CHN 29.22
5. Enter Elendt GER 29.30
6. Imogen Louise Clark GBR 29.47
7. Benedetta Pilato ITA 29.48
8. Veera Kivirinta FIN 29.84