The Swedish Olympic Committee has added Bjorn Seeliger and Victor Johansson to its list of pre-qualified athletes for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
They join five other swimmers who were named to the first pass of the Swedish Olympic Team in the fall.
- Sarah Sjostrom*****
- Michelle Coleman****
- Sophie Hansson***
- Louise Hansson***
- Erik Persson****
- Bjorn Seeliger**
- Victor Johansson**
Stars indicate number of Olympic appearances, including 2024.
Both Seeliger (a senior at Cal) and Johansson (who swam at Alabama and USC) are American-trained, and both raced at February’s World Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Johansson, a distance swimmer, posted an Olympic Qualifying Time in the 800 free in December in the Netherlands, swimming 7:50.14. In Doha, he was even faster, swimming the two best times of his career: 7:47.04 in prelims and 7:47.08 in finals, finishing 6th overall.
In his first Olympic appearance in 2024, he finished tied-for-10th in the 800 free and 18th in the 1500 free.
Seeliger, meanwhile, swims at the other end of the spectrum in the sprint freestyles, but he also swam a new lifetime best in Doha.
Seeliger swam 21.67 in the 50 free before adding to finish 7th in the final in 21.83. Both were easily under the Olympic Qualification Standard of 21.96.
Prior to that meet, he had plateaued a bit in long course: his previous personal best was a 21.92 from May 2021.
Also in Doha, he finished 16th in the 100 free semi-finals (48.84) and 14th in the 50 back semifinals (25.10). He also split 47.97 on a leg of Sweden’s 400 free relay in prelims.
At the Tokyo Olympics, he swam 22.19 in the 50 free in prelims, placing 23rd and missing the semi-finals. In 2021, he was one of the last Swedes named to the Olympic Team, with his addition coming on June 30, about three weeks before the Games.
Seeliger’s next meet will be next week’s NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana before he fully turns his attention to long course for the summer.
Sweden now has four men and three women on their official Olympic roster. In Tokyo, they sent four men and six women, with more expected to be named this year, at a minimum, for relay purposes.
Seeliger has an amazing first half of the 50 race, he just needs to continue to get stronger, has the size but not muscle yet compared to the best sprinters. Good potential.
Seeliger went 21.71 in May 2021 at Setti Colli (he swam it in the 100 free, so was a 50m split). Also Paris will be Persson’s 3rd Olympics not 4th.
Victor also swam more National Records in Doha, in the 400 Free he swam a 3.46.20 in the Prelims to lower Anders Holmertz 1992 Barcelona Olympic time (was 3rd back then with a 3.46.77) and than Victor swam a 3.45.87 for 6th in the final while he just missed the his own National record in the 1500m Free with a 14.58.73 (11th in the prelims).
“Seeliger swam 21.67 in the 50 free before adding to finish 7th in the final in 21.83. Both were easily under the Olympic Qualification Standard of 21.96.
Prior to that meet, he had plateaued a bit in long course: his previous personal best was a 21.92 from May 2021.”
lmao swimswam is conceding that Seeliger is a perennial choker and cornball that somehow can’t swim long course despite being 6’9
When i’m in a lack of reading comprehension challenge and my opponent is Andrew
Please, Swim Gods, save us from Andrew in this thread!
Andrew’s a bitter guy – take pity.
Our prayers weren’t answered 😔
🙁
Missed that 21.6 from Doha. Nice PB