The Finnish swimming federation has announced a roster of 9 swimmers for the 2014 Short Course World Championships that will run December 3th-7th in Doha, Qatar.
The team will look to build on its success from last summer at the long course World Championships, where Matti Mattson took bronze in the 200 breaststroke: the country’s first long course World Champs medal from a male swimmer since 1994.
Mattson, who has been battling injuries, won’t make the trip to Doha, however, so the country will be looking elsewhere for headlines.
This is a talented roster that includes 2003 100 free World Champion Hanna-Maria Seppala and American-born, NCAA All-American Tanja Kylliainen.
Much of the roster will be a carryover from that team that went to Barcelona, giving the program good consistency.
Breaststroker Jenna Laukkanen, who made the semi-finals in the 200 breaststroke at the World Championships in 2013 at 18-years old, will be looking to take the next stop in Doha into a final.
The brightest hope will be the giant, 6’10”, National-Record-holding sprinter Ari-Pekka Liukkonen. He earned a bronze medal in the 50 free at the European Aquatics Championships in August with a 21.93, and generally-speaking he’s an even better short course swimmer than long course swimmer.
In total,Finland will take 9 swimmers and a staff of 4 to the meet. The full team is below.
A-standard swimmers:
Anni Alitalo (Cetus)
Hanna-Maria Seppälä (Cetus)
Jenna Laukkanen (SCV)
Tanja Kylliäinen (Louisville)
Ari-Pekka Liukkonen (Cetus)
Eetu Karvonen (UiTa)
Riku Pöytäkivi (Cetus)
Invited swimmers:
Emilia Pikkarainen (Vanders)
Mimosa Jallow (SWIM)
Staff:
Jari Varjonen, Team Director
Bo Jacobsen, Head Coach
Olli Kantola, Coach
Linda Laihorinne, Physiotherapist
Joukkueenjohtaja = Team Director
Päävalmentaja = Head Coach
Valmentaja = Coach
Fysioterapeutti = Physiotherapist