Fanny Teijonsalo was the third fastest in the 50-meter backstroke semifinals and will fight for the top positions in Thursday’s final.
Joel Sippola,
Manu Myllyaho
Finland Fanny Teijonsalo won the 50m backstroke in the semi-finals at the European Championships in Belgrade. Teijonsalo improved his record by 28.08 and advanced to the final as the third fastest in the semi-finals.
Urheilu’s swimming commentator Ville Kallinen praised Teijonsalo’s performance and directed his thoughts to the EC swimming finals on Thursday.
– That was an excellent bet from Fanny! Raises expectations for tomorrow’s final. Already at this stage, you can say that with a button success, he can swim a medal for himself.
Ireland was the fastest in the semi-finals Danielle Hill and the second fastest in Greece Theodora Drakou. Finland Mia Pentti was 15th with a time of 29.26.
Teijonsalo stated that in the early part of the morning, his concentration was focused on the wrong things.
– I couldn’t wait to stay on my own track, but watched what others were doing. It was better now, but tomorrow you could improve on not going to the pages too much.
Teijonsalo believes that despite the record, he can beat the time even better.
– I try as much as possible not to get ahead of things. Let’s do our own swimming and see what it’s good for. Let’s try to swim under 28 seconds and see what it’s enough for, Teijonsalo stated about his medal chances.
28-year-old Teijonsalo competed in the 100-meter freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.
Updated 21.22: Added story with Teijonsalo’s comments.