Julie Jensen Breaks Danish Record to Qualify 1st From 50 Back Prelims

2022 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

With only three athletes in attendance, Denmark has been quiet so far at this week’s World Championships, but their breakthrough came on Thursday in the women’s 50 backstroke heats when Julie Kepp Jensen qualified first in a new Danish Record of 25.85.

That time broke her own record of 26.08 done two years ago at the 2020 Danish Championships. That leaves her three-tenths of a second ahead of the next-best Danish woman in the history of the event, Mie Nielsen.

All-Time Danish Rankings, Women’s 50 backstroke (SCM):

  1. Julie Jensen – 25.85
  2. Mie Nielsen – 26.39
  3. Victoria Bierre – 27.21
  4. Louise Ornstedt – 27.26
  5. Julie Svendsen – 27.39

Kepp leads a field of stars into the semi-finals of the women’s backstroke. That list includes all three 2021 medalists and the World Record holder Maggie MacNeil of Canada, who qualified through 7th in 26.09.

Jensen now ranks as the 11th-best performer in the history of the event:

Top Performers All-Time, Women’s 50 SCM Backstroke, Globally

  1. Maggie MacNeil, Canada – 25.27*
  2. Kira Toussaint, Netherlands – 25.60*
  3. Kylie Masse, Canada – 25.62*
  4. Etiene Medeiros, Brazil – 25.67
  5. Sanja Jovanovic, Croatia – 25.70
  6. Olivia Smoliga, USA – 25.74
  7. Minna Atherton, Australia – 25.81
  8. Zhao Jing, China – 25.82
  9. (TIE) Emily Seebohm, Australia/Louise Hansson, Sweden – 25.83*
  10. Julie Jensen, Denmark – 25.85*

* – qualified for Thursday’s semifinals.

It took 25.86 to land on a podium last year, and Jensen was under that time in prelims, but with a stacked field, it’s probably going to take better than that to land on a podium on Friday evening.

 

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About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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