Sindri Jakobsson back on track after a traumatic year

Icelandic-born Sindri Þór Jakobsson (21) was one of the two Norwegian national team members who were in the room when Alexander Dale Oen was found lifeless during their altitude camp in Flagstaff, USA last year. He competed at the following Debrecen 2012 Europeans and the Dutch Open, but was struggling with the traumatic experience. Read bt.no (in Norwegian)

– I took a four-month break from everything related to swimming last summer. I didn’t event want to get close to a pool, he admits.
– I spent a lot of time thinking about stuff and reflecting on what had happened. But then the desire gradually came back, and of course I missed the milieu.

Now at the Bergen Swim Festival, he was third in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.14, and only 0.09 seconds from his Norwegian record in the 200 fly, with a time of 1:57.29 behind Eindhoven 2012 European silver winner Viktor Bromer in 1:57.13. And most important, he seems more hungry and motivated than ever, according to Norway’s national head coach Petter Løvberg.

The other guy, 20-year-old Sverre Næss, is unfortunately still not back in swimming. National coach Løvberg: “To me who am committed to building upon a new culture, it is important to have new blood. Those two boys were on the rise. Now Sindri proves that he is back, and I hope deeply that also Sverre returns. Nothing would please me more”

(Sindri at the Debrecen 2012 Europeans)