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The Swedish Olympic Committee has pre-selected six athletes to represent the nation at the 2020 Olympic Games this summer in Tokyo. Two swimmers Louise Hansson and Erik Persson were among those athletes selected. Both of them will be making return trips to the Games after making their debuts in Rio in 2016.
Both Hansson and Persson made the final at the World Championships in their respective best events with Hansson getting seventh in the 100 fly and Persson getting eighth in the 200 breast. They will not need to rest for the Swedish Open in April and will be able to save a full rest for the Olympic Games in 176 days.
Those two have added their name to the Swedish Olympic swim team that now has three members, with superstar Sarah Sjostrom being the third to have already qualified.
Louise Hansson
Photo Courtesy: SIPA USA
Louise Hansson is currently in her senior year at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where she has won three NCAA titles in her career. She is the fastest swimmer in short course yards in the 100 butterfly, having won the last two NCAA titles in that event, and is also the reigning NCAA champion in the 200. The Swedish Open is two weeks after the women’s NCAAs so she will not have to compromise any sort of full rest needed at NCAAs to try and make the Swedish Olympic team in April as she has already secured a spot for Tokyo.
Hansson, 23, will be making her second trip to the Games after finishing 31st in the 100 fly and 29th in the 200 IM when she was 19. She also swam on all three of Sweden’s relays with both freestyle relays reaching the final. The 4×100 free finished fifth and the 4×200 free finished sixth.
Louise Hansson was seventh at the 2019 World Championships in the 100 fly.
Erik Persson
Erik Persson; Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant
Erik Persson, 26, will also be making his second trip to the Olympic Games, having finished 32nd in the 100 breaststroke in Rio. He is better at the 200 distance, having made it to the semi-finals in Rio with an 11th place finish and new Swedish record of 2:10.1. He has since lowered that time to a 2:07.8 which he did in 2017.
This past summer, Persson was eighth in the 200 breast at the World Championships with a 2:08.3, his first final at the world level. He most recently won the silver in the 200 breast at the European Short Course Championships in December behind Arno Kamminga and ahead of former world record holder Marco Koch.
