The World Swimming Championships were a celebration of female stars, but Finland was a real stomach-churner – the expert found only one successful

Veera Kivirinta spoiled swimming at the World Championships in the heat of the 50-meter breaststroke with a record of 30.33, but otherwise the World Cup swims in Fukuoka were a disappointment for Finns. Only Kivirinta and an Olympic medalist Matti Mattsson advanced from the preliminary round to the next round. Both the athletes and the national team’s top swimming head coach Eetu Karvonen too were disappointed with the way the games were given.

– Of course, Veera’s amazing performances raise the grade and the mood is really positive at the moment, but as a team, in the name of truth, we underperformed. Unfortunately, the rating is quite low for these games, Karvonen says in the Uimaliito’s press release.

He admits that, apart from Kivirinna, the other swimmers did not reach the performances that are sought after at the World Championships. ‘s expert Ville Kallinen agrees with Karvonen.

– The races went to the bottom. Kivirinta was the only clear winner, says Kallinen directly.

Expensive inches that Ida Hulkko and Mattsson swam their best speed of the season, but it is not enough for top positions in the tough World Championships. Olli Kokon and Laura Lahtinen Kallinen considers the performances to be clear disappointments.

The turn of critical analysis

According to Kallinen, the lackluster performances of the Finns were influenced by the athletes’ health concerns, but training and mental performance should also be looked at critically. The Finnish swimmers did not reach their best level, with the exception of Kivirinta.

For example, the Finnish record holder Ida Hulkko was disappointed with her results in both the 50-meter and 100-meter breaststroke. The swimmer said in the federation’s press release that he was not allowed to be punished for the things done in training at the Games. The 24-year-old swimmer found room for improvement, for example, in his turn in the 100-meter heat.

– To be honest, I feel very disappointed at this point. It wasn’t quite what we had trained for and went to get, Hulkko stated.

Olli Kokko, who qualified from the 50-meter breaststroke semifinals, said the finishing camp went well. In the World Championships, however, he was disappointed with his 29th place in the preliminaries. He thought that the strong atmosphere of the camp went to his head before the competitions.

– My performance in the preliminaries was a little over-attempted and of course the result is a big disappointment, the Tampered swimmer admitted.

Kallinen calls for a comprehensive sport analysis in Finnish swimming.

– There should be a broader discussion about whether to focus coaching in Helsinki or whether to invest in athlete-coach pairs, Kallinen reflects.

Kallinen would invest more in athlete-coach pairs, as resources are very limited in domestic swimming. In addition, history shows that the concept has brought success to Finns. The latest proof of this is the Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo as a result of Mattsson and Karvonen’s collaboration.

According to Kallinen, many swimmers have the opportunity to improve a lot in a year. He reminds that, for example, Mattsson is swimming now, a year before the Paris Olympics, harder than a year before the Tokyo Olympics. The former swimmer believes that the 29-year-old from Pori has a chance to swim for a medal at next summer’s Olympics.

– Mattsson wasn’t medal fit in 2020, but a year from now he was, Kallinen emphasizes.

The level in the world is wild

In terms of the Nordic countries, Sweden was the star of the WC swimming Sarah Sjostrom. He swam gold in both the 50m butterfly and freestyle. In addition, he already swam the freestyle world record 23.61 in the semifinals.

Sjöström passed in the number of individual medals Michael Phelps and moved to the top of the statistics alone. Sjöström, 29, now has a total of 22 World Long Course medals, but only one of them is in the relay. 13 of Phelps’ 33 long course World Cup medals are from the relays.

Kallinen says that Sjöström sees his career as a long process, which has borne fruit over the years with dozens of prestigious medals.

– In addition, he now enjoys swimming more than ever, so joy must be in the background, Kallinen analyzes the success of the 29-year-old swimmer.

The expert says that the Fukuoka World Swimming Championships were especially a celebration of female stars. In addition to Sjöström, for example, two Americans won individual gold Katie Ledecky as well as Australia, which was able to do the same Mollie O’Callaghan receive a special mention from Kallis. O’Callaghan also broke the 14-year-old world record in the 200-meter freestyle with a time of 1:52.85.

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Lithuania also won two golds Ruta Meilutytewho also swam the 50m breaststroke world record of 29.16.

Among male swimmers, Kallinen highlights China, which made history Haiyang Qin’s. He is the first swimmer to win World Cup gold in both 50, 100 and 200 meter breaststroke at the same Games.

– In addition By Leon Marchand three gold medals and Michael Phelps breaking the world record in the 400-meter medley was one of the absolute highlights of the Games, Kallinen enthuses the 21-year-old Frenchman.

Australia swims to the top of the medals table of the Games. It won a total of 25 medals, 13 of which were gold.

Overall, Kallinen considers the level of swimming to be wide. He says Fukuoka may have had a tougher level than any previous World Cup. According to the expert, progressing from the preliminary or semi-finals to the next round required a hard time in almost every sport.

– International swimming is moving forward at a fast pace, Kallinen emphasizes.

He encourages Finnish swimmers to compete more often against the world’s best.

– In the future, we have to go to tough international competitions even more than before, Kallinen advises.