The 26-year-old Jönköping swimmer is in the form of his life.
He finished fourth on 400 meters freestyle and has so far broken the Swedish record in all three races he has swum.
The trial time on 800 meters freestyle was a capture of his just over a year old record by as much as 2.23 seconds.
He finished second in his trial heat and defeated both Olympic gold medalist Daniel Wiffen, Ireland, and German star Lukas Märtens, gold winner on 400 meters freestyle in Singapore and in the Olympic Games in Paris.
Now you don't know how much they took in, it's just a trial swim. But it's so damn fun to be one in the gang now, says Johansson.
”Ice in the stomach”
True to his habit, Johansson went out cautiously and was last in the beginning, but then he started picking up place after place.
Great race, fun that I dared to have a little ice in my stomach and have the second half, trust the process. I didn't know I was doing so well, I just saw him next to me and wanted to take him, he says.
Tunisian Ahmed Jaouadi, who won Johansson's heat, was the fastest overall with 7.41,58, 64 hundredths ahead of Samuel Short, Australia.
Third-place Sven Schwarz, Germany, was 2.02 behind.
Up to him, it was 1.21 seconds for Johansson.
The fourth place on 400 meters freestyle on Sunday was Victor Johansson's best World Championship placement in his career.
Last year, at the World Championship in Doha, he finished sixth on both 400 and 800 meters freestyle. To then fail in the Olympic Games where he did not reach the final in any of the distances and not even on 1,500 meters freestyle.
Star-studded final field
After the fourth place on Sunday – can it even be a medal in the final?
It's a tough final. There are Olympic gold medalists and World Championship gold medalists in the whole heat. All of these, except me, have World Championship or Olympic medals. I'm just happy to be one in the gang, so we'll see how far it takes, he says.
How do you prepare for the final?
Just take it easy, stay in the room and fill up with fluids. You need salts and water to be able to handle 800, he says.
The final will be decided on Wednesday afternoon Swedish time.
