On the first day of the 2017 Spartan Invitational in Tampa, Florida, Nova Southeastern freshman Emma Sundstedt broke the NCAA Division II Record in the women’s 1000 yard freestyle.
Sundstedt, from Hasselby, Sweden, swam a 9:46.63, which broke the record set by West Chester’s Georgia Wright at NCAAs in 2017 at 9:48.87. Unlike in Division I, the 1000 free is raced at the NCAA Championships in Division II as a separate race.
Sundstedt’s previous best time was a 10:13.44.
Sundstedt split her race 4:52.68-4:53.95, including a 57.05 final 100 yard split.
Splits, by 100:
- 55.99
- 58.94
- 59.42
- 59.30
- 59.03
- 59.27
- 59.78
- 59.24
- 58.62
- 57.04
The next 5 finishers behind Sundstedt, all in over 10 minutes, were Division I swimmers from Rice, who are on a training retreat in Florida over the winter break.
The next-best D2 swimmer in the country this season in the 1000 is Laura Fornshell from Fresno Pacific at 10:06.91. The top 9 nationally in Division II in this event are all freshmen or sophomores. The fastest time overall is Katie Ledecky at 9:11.68; Sundstedt’s time would put her 11th overall in a ranking of all 3 divisions of NCAA swimming.
Prior to moving to America to train, Sundstedt was a distance freestyler in her native Sweden as well – having always been better in short course than long course. Her long course 800 best is 8:59.89, while in short course she’s been 8:42.85. She placed 3rd in the 400, 2nd in the 800, and 1st in the 1500 at this summer’s Swedish National Championship meet.
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Way to go Swedish Open Water // Glenn