The setbacks continue for the 29-year-old Swede in the long-distance championships.
The 2022 European Championship gold, the 2024 World Cup bronze and the Olympic final in the same year have been replaced by positions far down the results lists.
Last year she was eliminated in the heats at the World Championships, now she fell in the semifinals of the European Championships.
There's a heat wave in Paris and on Thursday the thermometer showed 36 degrees. Something that really affected Louise Hansson.
"I feel completely shaky all over, I've tried to drink a lot today but I feel like I'm a little low on fluids during the semifinal. That's absolutely no excuse," says Hansson after swimming 58.08 in the semifinal.
“No power”
It only gave eleventh place and was 21 hundredths short of a place in the final. Her heat time on Thursday morning, 57.67, had given her a place in the final.
She kept up well for half the race, was in second place at the turn, but got really stuck at the end.
I feel like I overthink before the turn, time it better but have no power in it and don't get out into the swim on the way back, says Hansson, who is swimming the 50-meter freestyle on Friday.
“Very cool”
National team debutant Felicia Klintemar earned a semifinal spot in the 100-meter butterfly after a lot of drama in the morning. She finished tied for 17th place with teammate Sara Junevik. When Czech Barbora Seemanova withdrew, the Swedes were tied for 16th place and were supposed to have a swim-off for the final semifinal spot. But Junevik withdrew and 20-year-old Klintemar was in the semifinals.
It was very cool to go out into a crowded arena and swim against some of the best in the world, says Klintemar, who had the 15th-fastest time of 59.00, 17 hundredths of a second above her personal best from the heats.
Robin Hanson also failed in the semifinals of the 200-meter freestyle. His 1:46.63 was almost a second away from a place in the final and he finished 15th.
