European Championships: Sweden Claims Gold in 400 Medley Relay as Sjostrom, Hansson Throw Down Stellar Splits
To cap women’s action from the European Championships in Rome, a dominating performance from Sweden earned the country a gold medal in the 400-meter medley relay. The Swedish quartet touched the wall in 3:55.25, nearly a second ahead of the rest of the field.
Hanna Rosvall led off with a 1:00.66 split before turning the race over to the Hansson sisters. Sophie Hansson dove in for the breaststroke leg and put together a strong split of 1:06.26. That left it to Louise Hansson in the butterfly leg and she dominated with a stellar split of 56.29 to keep Sweden in the lead.
That left it up to anchor Sarah Sjostrom, who threw down a 52.04 anchor leg, by far the fastest in the field, to close out the gold-medal victory for Sweden.
France took the silver and set a national record with a swim of 3:56.36. Pauline Mahieu led off with a 1:00.17, followed by Charlotte Bonnet (1:06.49), Marie Wattel (56.09) and Beryl Gastaldello (53.61).
The Netherlands claimed the bronze medal in 3:57.01. Kira Toussaint led off with a 1:00.29, followed by Tes Schouten (1:06.75), Maaike De Waard (57.74) and Marrit Steenbergen (52.23).
Italy finished just off the podium as Margherita Panziera, Benedetta Pilato, Ilaria Bianchi and Silvia di Pietro finished in 3:57.23.
Great Britain finished fifth as Medi Harris, Kara Hanlon, Keanna MacInnes and Freya Anderson touched the wall in 4:00.04.
