Im back from Helsinki now and a great EJM for Sweden and Hanna Bergman, and its time to write a review about the SUMSIM competition that was held in Malmö from 27/6 to 01/7.
Poseidon entered the competition with 13 swimmers with individual qualifications and 4 relay swimmers. All coaches were excited to see how the swimmers could perform because training was progressing really good and the swimmers were looking fresh and fast. But none of us was expecting what actually happenned.
1st day: We start the competition with three relay teams in the 4x200 fr. First team in the water the boys 15 and younger with Ivan, Nils, Melvin and Carl. They improved their time with 6 seconds and we are off with a very good start. Next team is the boys 16-17 with Axel, Anton, Daniel and Pontus and an improvement of 16 seconds. Really impressive!!! Last team was the girls 16-17 with Boel, Moa, Mary and Hanna. 9 seconds improvement and a second place for the girls! First realy medal for Poseidon since 2003. Not bad at all for a first day!
2nd day: The second day started with Anton swimming the 400 fr, and a 7 second personal best (4.17.10) which gave him a place in the afternoon final. There, he tried to start the race faster but wasnt able to keep that speed throughout the race finishing with an 8th place in the final (4.21.16). Next one was Hanna swimming the 100 fr. Hanna was preparing for EJM, so SUMSIM was a part of her preparation and now the major goal. She qualified first in the final (57.78) where she won the race with a 56.57 and 7/10 personal best and 14/100 from SUMSIM record. After Hanna it was Jakobs time to race in the 100 br. Jakob started his first SUMSIM race really good with a very fast first 50 but a few mistakes at the end of the race costed him a new personal best. He finished the race 2/10 over his best time (1.17.86) and good start for Jakob at SUMSIM competitions. In the next event (200 IM girls) we had two swimmers in the water. Boel improved her personal best by 3 seconds (2.33.32) and Mary by 4 (2.30.31). Both girls have a lot of room for improvement on the medley events and we are looking forward to see how they will developing the future. Last swimmers competing in the morning was Nils and Ivan in 200 fj. Nils swam 1 second over his personal best and qualified into the final where he swam around the same time (2.20.56) and finished in 7th place. When Nils finds the right balance in his opening speed he will swim much faster! Ivan swam 2 seconds over his best time (2.38.96) but with proper pacing he will swim much faster in the future. In the afternoon, Moa swam the 1500 fr 16-17. With great pacing throughout the race and a very good tactic in the rac, Moa finished the race with a 8 seconds personal best (18.07.12) and a 5th place. Last event of the day was the 4x100 medley for boys 15 and younger with Joel, Jakob, Nils and Melvin. There a timing mistake between backstroke and breaststroke made the two swimmers to have a false exchange wich resulted in disqualificating the team. We can only learn from this kind of experience and we can only work so we make sure that this doesnt happen again.
3rd day: Third day started with Moa swimming 400 fr. Moa qualified for the final where she swam a bit slower that her personal best (4.39.52) and into a 6th place. Moa is trying to find the right balance between opening speed in the race and maintaining a good pace for the rest of the distance but her improvement throughout the season has been great and Im sure well see more from her in the future. Next swimmer was Frida swimming the 100 br. Frida was the youngest swimmer in the team (born in 2006) and she did a great job. New personal best by 2 seconds (1.20.32) and quite an impressive performance since she was competing with girls older than her. After Frida, it was Melvins time to jump in the pool for his 200 IM race. Melvin improved his best time by 2 seconds (2.32.35) and he debuted SUMSIM in an individual event with a shout. Next event was the 200 fj for girls where Poseidon competed with two swimmers. Ditte was the first one in the water and she delivered a 2.26.63. 6 seconds personal best and JSM qualification. Mary swam a bit later but equally fast. 2.24.60, 2 seconds personal best and SM qualification. Both girls swam a bit slower in the final and finished in a 5th and 4th palce respectively. Working on focusing on their own race will be the next step in their development and I feel that it will produce great results for both of them. Last event of the day was the 1500 fr for boys with Anton and Pontus in the water. Pontus was the first one competing and he picked up the pace from the beginning of the race finishing in 17.28.30 and 32 seconds personal best and just 2 seconds from JSM qualification. Anton led the race from the beginning and finished with a time of 17.19.82, an 18 seconds improvement and a JSM qualification. Both boys have developed a lot in the event since we started training and itll be interesting to see how they will develop in the future. The finished with a nice 8th (Anton) and 10th (Pontus) in the final standings.
4th day: The day started with the 100 fj for boys which was the evnt with the most participants from Poseidon, four. In the younger class we had Melvin and Jakob. Melvin finished the race with a nice 1 second improvement (1.08.54) and Jakob (he followed the same tactic as in his 100 br) ended the race 2 seconds slower than his best time (1.12.81). In the middle class (15 yo) we had the other two participants, Ivan who improved his best time by 0.5 second (1.07.06) and Nils who improved by 4/100 (1.03.11). Next goal for them will be an improvement in speed so they can maintain a higher speed throughout the race. Next swimmer was Anton in the 200 fr and with a time of 2.01.57 he improved his best time by 2 seconds. After Anton it was Boels turn to race in the 200 br. We have made a lot of changes in Boels breaststroke and its too early too see the full effect of them in her performance. Sometimes they work sometimes they dont. Unfortunately, they didnt work this time (3.00.27) but breaststroke is a stroke that will keep working with Boel and the results in the future will show this work. After Boel it was Emil time to debut at SUMSIM in 200 ry. Emil started the race really relaxed and fast but the sun didnt let him finish the race (it was blinding the backstroke swimmers) the same way. He swam 0.5 over his best time but he left us with the feeling that there was something more in his race. Im sure well see that next year. In the afternoon, Moa swam the 800 fr. Moa swam with great balance in her race and finished in 5th place just a second over her best time (9.30.48).
5th day: Last one, fast one! The day started with Nils swimming 400 IM. He swam 8 seconds faster than his best time (5.06.43) with great balance between the strokes and we know there is more to come in this event for Nils. In the final he was a bit slower and finished in 7th place. Next event was the 100 fj for girls with Ditte and Mary in the water. Ditte improved her best time by 2 seconds in the morning and for 0.5 more in the final ending up with a time of 1.07.37 and an 8th place. Mary improved her time by 1 second (1.05.42) which is a JSM qualification and a 7th place in the final. After the fly girls we had the freestyle girls, three of them. Boel swam first and improved her time by 2 seconds (2.16.19), Moa was next and swam 8/10 slower (2.14.51) and Hanna was last, swimming in the final a 2.04.22 and her second gold medal in the competition. Last individual event was the 800 fr for boys and Pontus with Anton jump in the pool for in last race. They improve their times by 6 (9.11.84) and 11 seconds (9.03.14) respectively and they finish 11th and 8th. They only appropriate way to end the competition is the same way we started, with a relay medal! The four girls, Boel, Moa, Mary and Hanna improved their 4x100 fr time by 5 seconds (4.03.25) and earned a well deserved bronze medal.
All in all a great competition for Poseidon. We managed to earn 52 more points than last year, have more swimmers in finals and get relay medals after 15 years. Were really excited to see the swimmers continue their development in the next years and see how far they can go.
One thing that was really special was the team spirit and the way that the swimmers supported each other. I know that this had a key role to the success we had in this competition as a team and individually.
I would like to thank all swimmers for their efforts not just during the competition but during the whole season. All of them have developed as athletes tremendously, both physically and mentally. Special thanks to all the coaches and parents!
You can find more pictures from the competition at our instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/skposeidon_1940/?hl=sv
