Matti Mattsson 1 of 3 National Record Breakers at Finnish Nationals

2017 Finnish SC National Championships

• November 16th-19th, 2017
• Oulu, Finland
• 25m (Short Course Meters) pool
• Full results

The roller-coaster career of 24-year old breaststroker Matti Mattsson had another high last weekend, when he was one of 3 swimmers to break short course National Records at the 2017 Finnish Championships in Oulu.

Mattsson, who was the 2013 Worlds bronze medalist in the 200 breaststroke but was later derailed by injury, won the men’s 200 breaststroke by three-and-a-half seconds, swimming a 2:06.76. That broke his own National Record of 2:07.50: a record that was set in 2013, a few months before his long course World Championship triumph.

While Mattsson is unchallenged domestically in the 200 breaststroke, he did face competition in the 100, where he also won but by a much narrower margin. Mattsson swam 59.51 in that race, with veteran Ari-Pekka Liukkonen not far behind in 59.57.

Liukkonen would also win the 100 free (47.66), missing the Finnish Record by .11 seconds, and the 50 free (21.26) that he missed by an even smaller .03 seconds.

Other records set:

• Riku Pöytäkivi from Helsinki won the men’s 100 fly in 51.17, which broke his own record of 51.26 swum at the Moscow stop of the FINA World Cup Series. The prior record was a 51.93 done by Tero Välimaa at the 2004 Swedish Championships – a record that stood for more than 13 years.
• 23-year old Mimosa Jallow broke the National Record in the women’s 50 free in 24.35 in prelims and then again with a 24.25 in finals.. That took down another very old record: a 24.38 done by Finnish swimming legend Hanna-Maria Seppälä in 2008. She also won the 100 free, 50 fly, 100 fly, and 50 back, the latter of which was just .04 seconds from the Finnish Record. She opted not to swim the 100 back, where she’s already the National Record holder.