Pernille Blume Produces Solid Swims In First Post-Heart Surgery Racing

FINA CHAMPIONS SWIM SERIES 2019 #1 – GUANGZHOU

• April 27-28, 2019
• Guangdong Olympic Sports Centre Swimming Natatorium, Guangzhou, China
• LCM (50m)
• FINA Champions Series Info
• Live Stream (Olympic Channel)
• Live Stream (FINA TV)
• Live Results

The first meet of the inaugural 2019 FINA Champions Swim Series wrapped up today in Guangzhou, China, with many of the sport’s biggest stars putting their talents on display for a big payday.

Among the Australians, Americans and Chinese swimmers were a strong European contingency, including 2016 Olympic champion in the women’s 50m freestyle Pernille Blume.

Blume of Denmark contested her specialty 50 free event tonight, where the 24-year-old collected 3rd place in a mark of 24.28. She also finished in 3rd place in yesterday’s 100m freestyle, clocking a time of 53.68.

However, the fact that Blume is racing again is a victory in itself, as the freestyle ace underwent heart surgery just this past January to fix ‘a small hole’ in the organ. SwimSwam was told at the time that the purpose of the procedure was to reduce the risk of blood clots and cardiac arrest. The federation says that the surgery proceeded as planned and that there were no complications.

Blume was entered in the South African Grand Prix #2 in February, but wound up not competing. Then the star’s name was absent from the Danish Open earlier this month. The Danish Swimming Federation confirmed to SwimSwam that keeping Blume out of those championships was simply giving the star a chance to rest up, as she had been subjectively selected to the 2019 World Championships roster for Denmark.

With her health issues hopefully behind her, Blume is getting back on track, putting down some solid performances here on her way to getting back to form to potentially hit the podium this summer in Gwangju, Korea.