Wheeling, W. Va. - Every year, the top Swimmers in Sweden come together for the Swedish Nationals with the goal of winning the Swedish Champion Title. This year, there will be a Cardinal among the competitors in the field as Wheeling Men's Swimmer Gustav Lofqvist will compete as a member of Vasteras (VSS). The event runs from June 25th to June 29th in Norrkoping, Sweden, and will be Lofqvist's second trip to the event.
"Trainings been going well," said Lofqvist. "I've gotten in two solid months of work, and while I might not be in peak form just yet, I feel like there's a chance I can pull something off. The goal is to get close to last year's times where I put up a solid performance placing top 10 in my main events."
The Swedish Nations are the biggest national meet for the country with strict qualifying standards. The top swimmers come together and compete across four days of competition as they help their teams compete for the Swedish Champion title. As of the writing of this article, Lofqvist has already qualified for both the 50- and 100-Yard Breaststroke, Butterfly, and Freestyle. While he qualified for six different events across three different strokes, being that he is a sprint style swimmer, he will likely be competing in the 100 fly, 100 freestyle, 50 freestyle, 50 fly, and 50 breaststroke so he doesn't go back-to-back in any events.
"Butterfly and freestyle are my main focus and, while I had some success with breaststroke in the U.S., swimming long course meters is a whole different beast," said Lofqvist. "No walls means no turns to work with, so I won't be doing the 100 Breaststroke this time around. My coaches are finalizing everything and will be sending in the entry list soon."
The Swedish Nationals will kick-off on Wednesday, June 25th, with the 400-Meter from D event at 9 AM Swedish time. Each day will consist of two separate sessions, a morning swim and an afternoon swim. The morning swims will serve as the qualifier for the final swims at night, with relay events also happening during the second session. All four games will see the morning swims begin at 9 AM followed by the evening swims at 4:30 PM. Lofqvist is set to swim in at least one event on each of the four days of competition as he looks to build off his success with the Cardinals.
During his freshman season with the Wheeling Men's Swimming team, Lofqvist established himself as a leader for the young Cardinal team. He became the program's first-ever Mountain East Conference (MEC) Individual Champion when he competed in the 50-Yard Freestyle. He would swim a time of 21.24 to claim the conference title and kicked off a week that saw him win two individual All-MEC honors and two Relay honors. His other individual honor came in the 100-Yard Breaststroke, where he swam a time of 59.29 to take home Honorable Mention All-MEC honors. He rounded out the week being a part of a pair of relay All-MEC honors, swimming in both the 200-Yard Freestyle and the 400-Yard Freestyle. He helped his groups earn a 2nd Team All-MEC honor and an Honorable Mention All-MEC honor to round out the week.
As he heads into this week's Swedish National event, Lofqvist is excited to swim against top level talent and get the chance to learn from them to continue to improve.
"The thing I'm most excited about is (hopefully) swimming the senior 4X100 mixed freestyle relay," said Lofqvist. "It's not confirmed yet, but if it happens, it would be a big deal – it's part of the senior nationals (age 21+), which is broadcast on Swedish national TV. On my team, I'd be racing with two swimmers who have competed at the European Championships, so I'll definitely need to bring my A-game. One of them just graduated from Florida State University, where she served as a team captain and swam DI nationals every year. Basically, the big fish in Swedish swimming, and it'd be pretty awesome to share the relay with them."
The Swedish Nationals will be help in Norrkoping, Sweden from June 25th – 29th. For more information about the Swedish Nationals, click HERE.
