Anton McKee and Snaefridur Jorunnardottir have been confirmed as Iceland’s 2 official nominees for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic for the sport of swimming.
McKee will be racing the men’s100 and 200 breaststrokes which is the same event lineup that he had at the last Games in 2016. He nearly managed to qualify for a semi-final 5 years ago in the 200 breaststroke, hitting 18th place overall with a 2:11.39. He was a bit further off in the 100, swimming to a 35th place finish in the 100 with a 1:01.84.
After not racing at the 2017 World Championships, McKee entered in the 50/100/200 breaststroke triple at 2019 Worlds and got his times down to a 1:00.24 and 2:10.32, respectively in the prelims. He went on to place 16th overall 200 breaststroke when he hit a 2:10.68 during the semi-finals. McKee also swam the 50 breaststroke and finished 20th overall during prelims with a 27.46.
McKee sat out of the recent European Swimming Championships in May and his last swim on record is a 1:04.45 from the VA May Qualifier. McKee has yet to crack 1:00 and 2:10, respectively, and holds the Icelandic records in those events at a 1:00.32 and 2:10.21. He’ll likely need to clear those marks during prelims at the Olympics if he wants to make it past the 2nd round considering the growing number of 58 and 2:08 breaststrokers we’ve seen this season.
McKee’s fellow Icelandic entrant in Tokyo will be Snaefridu Jorunnardottir who is set to race the 100 and 200 freestyles at the Games. Jorunnardottir is entered with a 56.32 which she swam recently at the 2021 Danish Open. Her PB in the event is 0.01 quicker, sitting at a 56.31. In the 200 she will go in with her 2:00.50 lifetime best and Icelandic record from the 2021 Danish Olympic Trials.
Jorunnardottir repped Iceland at the 2021 European Championships, hitting a 56.63 for 52nd in the 100 and a 2:01.31 for 28th in the 200. Like McKee, Jorunnardottir will likely need to improve upon her best times during prelims in order to guarantee herself a spot in round 2.
While Iceland has never collected an Olympic medal in swimming, the country did get 2 athletes into finals at the 2016 Games. Eygló Ósk Gústafsdóttir and Hrafnhildur Lúthersdóttir both pulled off an 8th place finish at Rio 2016 as Gústafsdóttir notched a 2:09.44 in the women’s 200 backstroke and Lúthersdóttir a 1:07.18 in the women’s 200 breast.
Örn Arnarson has participated in three Olympics in 2000, 2004, and 2008. He is the first Icelandic male swimmer ever to participate in the finals for the Olympics, in 2000 he finished 4th in the 200m backstroke.