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Denmark’s Lotte Friis will not be moving with Bob Bowman and Michael Phelps to Arizona in the year before the 2016 Olympics, saying she will remain with the North Baltimore Aquatic Club.
Friis told reporters at the FINA world championships that she has been training with Erik Posegay, NBAC’s new head coach, for “the past five or six months” in preparation for this week’s world championships. She qualified second for the 1500 freestyle final with a 15:54.23, and is in position to at least win a silver medal to go along with the silver she won behind Katie Ledecky in 2013.
Friis, 27, had been part of a talented group of elite postgraduate swimmers at North Baltimore since fall 2013, moving to the United States after a stint in France. She didn’t perform well in 2014, and concerns about finances pushed her to consider a return to her homeland. When Bowman accepted the job as head coach at Arizona State University, some of the NBAC swimmers chose to follow Bowman to Arizona, while others moved to new teams.
Along with Phelps, Allison Schmitt and Chase Kalisz will spend the next year in Arizona preparing for the Olympic Trials. Friis will continue to have fast teammates in Baltimore, including newly-minted Pan American Games champion Sierra Schmidt. Friis said she’s enjoyed the changes that have come with moving to the United States, and finds North Baltimore to be the best fit at this point in her career.
“I feel like Denmark was at one end of the spectrum, and France was at the other end, and I feel like the United States was in between,” Friis said.
