Henrik Christiansen swam into bronze in the 1500 meter freestyle during STOL Championship in Israel Friday.
With time 14.23,60 improved his own record of the trial with four and a half seconds.
Overall, he has improved his own Norwegian record by 14 seconds from what he had before he came to the championship. An enormous progress, and time is also a Nordic record.
When passing 800 meters he also Norwegian record. 7.36,06 7.38,58 delete from the record books.
The medal is Christiansen’s first international medal at senior level.
– This is totally sick, wrote Christiansen’s trainer Ronnie Anstensen on Twitter during the race.
Verdensrekordløp
Adepten was echoed his coach after he came out of the water after the race.
– It is absolutely fantastic. Actually, I have no words. It is totally sick, says Christiansen to SVT after the race.
– It is the coolest thing I’ve ever been in. It is absolutely magical. I am absolutely speechless. This is what I spend countless hours in training. It’s the best feeling in the world.
Two Italians ended in front Christiansen in what was a real rekordløp.
Gregorio Paltrinieri pulled early from the rest of the field and was in a class by itself. He had his own agenda: the legendary world record to Grant Hackett in 2001 (14.10,10).
The Italian won the time 14.08,06 – new world record.
– Opened enough little hard
Christiansen was long took silver, but in the second half of the race came Paltrinieris compatriot Gabriele Detti strong . Detti secured eventually silver and swam onto 14.18,00.
Christiansen was at one point six seconds ahead of his own passage from the record during the trial. It got him noticed.
– I opened probably a bit hard, but I’m very proud of myself and what I can achieve. It’s probably just the start of something very big, I think. It will be interesting in the future.
Bronze medal was never threatened. Czech January Micka finished fourth with 14.35,11.
– I’m almost speechless by what he gets here. It’s incredibly fun that Norway is about to bring out a new flagship. What we need now, says coach Petter Løvberg to SVT.
Dense generation gap
Long-distance swimming’s big break on senior side came under VM tract in the summer where he was fifth at the 800m free. On Wednesday the 19-year-old finished fourth in the 400 meter freestyle.
He even silver and bronze medals from both the junior European Championships and Youth Olympic Games to his credit.
Christiansen has in many ways dense generational gap that has existed since 2012. Alexander Dale Oens death, along with several medal sank end profiles (Aleksander Hetland, Sara Nordenstam and Ingvild Snildal) gave up shortly after has resulted in a medal vacuum for the Norwegian swimmers.
– We have had to build up a new team since 2012. It is the team that starts to show off . It is a little earlier than we had expected. That he makes such verdensklassetid is brilliant, says Løvberg.
The medal is Norway’s first senior international medal since Aleksander Hetland World Championship gold in 50 meter breast STOL in 2012. It is the 39th European Championship medal for Norway throughout history.
Nine times Norwegian swimmers become European champions. Irene Dalby (x2), Terrie Miller, Alexander Dale Oen (x3), Aleksander Hetland, Sara Nordenstam and Ingvild Snildal are the only ones who have taken two steps higher than Christiansen did in Netanya this Friday night.
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