According to Danish newspaper Politiken, the Danish Swimming Federation has decided to drop their participation at the European Long Course Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, choosing instead the Sette Colli Trofeo in June as the last resort for Kathrine Holm Sørensen and Mathias Gydesen to qualify for the Olympic team. It is the first time in history that the Danes do not send anyone to the Europeans, the decision based upon 4 weeks being too little time to peak again after the Danish Trials.
Another interesting comment in that story is, that the men’s 4×200 final at Debrecen 2012 will be deciding whether Spain, Sweden and Italy will qualify for the Olympics in this event, maybe pushing Denmark out.
And, it doesn’t seem finally settled that Mathias Gydesen needs to qualify at the Sette Colli, there is talk of a possible pre-selection when the Danish Swimming Federation meets with the Danish Olympic Committee and Team Danmark to evaluate his near-Olympic qualification result at the Indy Grand Prix.
According to the news item, Sørensen and Gydesen will be joined by the Danish Olympic team minus Mie Ø. Nielsen at Sette Colli, who will go to the European Junior Championships in Antwerpen instead. I’m guessing that maybe, just maybe, the Danes will allow Mads Glæsner to try for a last shot at Olympic qualification in the 1500 freestyle, with him and the rest coming directly from altitude training in Flagstaff.
