When Louise Hansson arrives at the mixed zone in Duna arena in Budapest, only ten minutes have passed since she swam to the finish line as fourth in the World Cup final.
Hansson looked to have the bronze medal in his hand, but with only a few meters left of the race, the Chinese Zhang Yuefi passed her.
In the finish, Zhang Yuefi was seven hundredths ahead of Louise Hansson.
When did you realize you were four?
– When I looked at the stool and the lamp did not shine, Louise Hansson says with a cracked voice.
25-year-old Louise Hansson has previously won individual World Cup medals in short track and individual European Championship medals in both short track and long track.
But she lacked an individual medal in the World Championships.
The hope was that she would take it on Sunday night when the World Cup final 100 meter butterfly was decided, but the margins were not on Hansson’s side this evening.
After 50 meters Louise Hansson was in sixth place, but during the final 50 meters she was really strong and advanced upwards.
The problem was perhaps that she wanted too much, and therefore lost the medal in the last meters.
– It’s my Achilles heel. Instead of just running on my flow, I start tearing in the water, says Louise Hansson.
– I swim the fastest when I do not take in, and in a World Cup final you want to take in.
Louise Hansson has belonged to the Swedish national swimming team for almost ten years, but it is the last year that she has taken a real step in her development.
At the World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi at the end of last year, she swam home seven medals, three individual and four in team competition.
Despite Sunday’s missed World Cup medal in the 100 meter butterfly, Louise Hansson’s fourth place showed that she continues to take steps in the right direction.
This was her best individual placement in a long-distance World Cup – even if it did not give much comfort immediately after the final.
– This is my second fastest race ever, and it’s not a bad race by any means. But it’s always sour to be four. Especially when it was so close and immediately after the race you could list several things that you could have done better, says Louise Hansson who in the final swam at 56.48.
– But it is difficult to make an honest analysis when the emotions are so strong.
Won the gold did Torri Huske from the USA. Her victory time of 55.64 was only 18 hundredths slower than Sarah Sjöström’s world record in the distance.
Second came Marie Vattel from France.