By Josh Jeffrey
In what is setting up to be a very fast summer for European swimmers, Anna Karin Kammerling broke Inge De Bruijn’s 50m butterfly world best at the Swedish National Championships, held July 1st through the 4th in Halmstad. The teenager blazed to a 26.39 finish, erasing the new record of 26.54 set by Inge De Bruijn at the Dutch Nationals in Amersfoort just two weeks ago.
Not to be outdone, the other half of the Swedish butterfly juggernaut, Johanna Sjoberg, set a new European record in the 100m butterfly, making waste of an East German standard in the process. Sjoberg’s 58.93 banished Kristin Otto’s 59.00 set at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Sjoberg’s time ranks as the second fastest in the world behind Misty Hyman’s 58.89 from US Nationals in March.
These two landmark swims for Scandinavian women set the pace for the European Championships just a month away in exotic Istanbul, Turkey. It’s time to add Sweden’s yellow and blue to the rainbow of parity emerging in European swimming.
Josh Jeffrey is a frequent contributor to Swimming World.