Fanny Teijonsalo, 28, who finished sixth in EC swimming, made a surprising change of travel with the Paris Olympics in mind.
Joel Sippola,
SpongeBob Forsberg
Swimmer Fanny Teijonsalo achieved the best competitive ranking of his career by swimming sixth in the 50m backstroke final of the Long Course European Swimming Championships in Belgrade. The Finn’s time was 28.36.
In the semifinals, Teijonsalo set his record and the third fastest time of 28.08. In the final race, that time would have been enough for fifth place.
Teijonsalo said on Wednesday that in the preliminaries and semi-finals he looked around too much. Now he had challenges with the track ropes.
– It wasn’t lap swimming. In the last 15 meters, I hit the track rope. It was going well until then, but the speed drops a lot when the rope hugs. It could have gone better.
– On the other hand, it was the first EC final and sixth place. A month ago, that would have been my best record, so I can’t be terribly disappointed.
Teijonsalo’s main route changed
In the previous Olympic year, Teijonsalo’s main event was the 50-meter freestyle. In it, the Jyväskylä native advanced to the semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics.
– In the spring, there were changes to our sports program. There have been so many difficulties in the 50m freestyle. I said that it’s pointless to keep beating your head about it when the backstroke is going so well.
The 50m backstroke is not an Olympic distance. He is still trying to chase a place at the Paris Olympics in the 100-meter backstroke. The preliminary heats are swum on Friday morning.
– You have to see how much of your time can be taken away. If I could get a ticket to Paris.
Instead of sixth in the European Championships in Belgrade, they have also reached Ida Hulkko in the 100-meter breaststroke as well Lunch Vegetable In the 400 meter medley. Ada Hakkarainen was seventh in the same medley final.
Tomas Koski (200 m above sea level), Laura Lahtinen (200 m ru) and Aliisa Soini (100 m breaststroke) did not make it to the finals from the semi-finals. 17-year-old Soini butterflyed his own record of 59.61.