Strong Danish squad selected for the Kazan 2015 Swimming World Championships

The Danish Swimming Federation has selected the squad to compete for World Championship medals in Kazan in August.

There will be 12 Danish swimmers participating in the World Swimming Championships when they get underway in the Russian city of Kazan from August 2

It is a very strong and experienced squad who will be competing for medal and final positions in a wide range of events. Lars Green Bach, the Danish Swimming Federation‟s High Performance Manager, has expectations for a number of medals for the Danish squad.

“It‟s a relatively large Danish World Championship team and a squad where many of the swimmers have a good solid experience from previous World Championships. Swimmers like Jeanette Ottesen, Rikke Møller Pedersen and Lotte Friis have all previously won individual medals on the World Championship stage, and Mads Glæsner, Mie Østergaard Nielsen, Pernille Blume and Viktor Bromer are swimmers with significant international experience. It‟s a strong foundation for our chances in the Volga city”, says High Performance Manager Lars Green Bach and continues:

“Our overall aim is an ambitious five medals in 10-12 finals. It is a realistic aim with the potential that the Danish swimmers have but nothing happens by itself and this places great demands on us all. The swimmers and coaches are working extremely hard every day to optimise both the big and the finer swimming details and in many areas this work is carried out with valuable assistance from Team Denmark‟s experts. We want to be the best prepared we can possibly be in order that we can take up the fight against the top-flight international competitors in Kazan.”

In addition 5 swimmers have been subjectively selected in order to pursue special relay perspectives.

“The Sports Department has chosen to select Julie Levisen for the women‟s 4 x 100 free which is a strong team and who we believe could be in the running for medals against the likes of the U.S.A., Australia, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Sweden” said High Performance Manager Lars Green Bach .”

“We have also subjectively selected the men‟s 4 x 200 free relay because we think that this squad have the potential to secure an Olympic „quota‟ place – which is to finish in the top 12 positions in the discipline at the World Championships, and that this would give us a subsequent final potential at the Olympics in Rio next summer” conclude High Performance Manager Lars Green Bach finally.

Below is the squad that we can look forward to following when swimming‟s major international highpoint of 2015 begins.

Denmark‟s 2015 World Championship squad

• Jeanette Ottesen, Vejle Swimming Club Triton/NTC
• Rikke Møller Pedersen, Herning Swimming Club /NTC
• Mie Ø. Nielsen Aalborg Swimming Club
• Viktor Bromer, Aalborg Swimming Club
• Pernille Blume, Gladsaxe Swim/NTC
• Julie Levisen, Aalborg Swimming Club
• Lotte Friis, Gentofte Swimming Club
• Mads Glæsner, Sigma Swim
• Daniel Skaaning, STT-VAT/NTC
• Magnus Westermann, Herlev Swimming Club /NTC
• Anders Lie, Farum Swimming Club
• Søren Dahl, Herlev Swimming Club

First opportunity for achieving Olympic qualification times

At the World Championships in Kazan the Danish swimmers will start to feel that the 2016 Olympic Games are getting closer. In Kazan they will get their first opportunity to swim under the Olympic qualification times and so truly begin to tune in to what – in world swimming circles – represents the pinnacle event of them all. The Danish Olympic selection criteria can be found here:

http://www.svoem.org/_files/Dokumenter/sportsafdelingen/kravtider/ol2016/udtagelseskriterierolriodejaneiro2016..pdf

During the next few months the World Championship squad will continue its targeted training on Danish soil and will be present at the Danish Championships which are long course in July. The Danish Swimming Federation will hold a press conference with the World Championship squad at the Danish Championships. Further information about this press conference will be released at a later date.

Official website: http://kazan2015.com

Photo courtesy of Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto