2026 European Swimming Championships
Sweden is a nation best known internationally for its sprinters, but it is turning a corner in the distance races as well.
That was highlighted on Monday morning at the European Championships, where the country broke National Records in a pair of 800 meter races: the individual women’s freestyle event and the men’s 4×200 meter free relay.
Thilda Haell knocked more than three seconds off her own Record in the women’s 800 free in prelims, swimming 8:33.12 to qualify 5th for the final. That left her about 4.3 seconds behind the third-place performer in the heats Vivien Jackl of Hungary and about 10 seconds behind the top qualifier Simona Quadarella of Italy.
For the 21-year-old Haell, who trains in America at the University of Louisville (another program famous for its sprinting), that took three seconds off her prior National Record of 8:36.67 from the Sacramento Pro Swim Series in May. She also broke the record with an 8:38.48 at the Indy Spring Cup earlier in May.
Prior to 2026, Gabrielle Fagundez held the National Record at 8:39.06 since 2008. Haell has been under that time thrice in 2026 alone.
Splits Comparison:
| Thilde Haell | Thilde Haell | Thilde Haell | |
| Pre-2026 Personal Best | Previous National Record | ||
| 100m | 63.44 | 61.99 | 61.45 |
| 200m | 66.02 | 64.96 | 64.83 |
| 300m | 66.41 | 65.33 | 64.45 |
| 400m | 66.41 | 65.41 | 64.87 |
| 500m | 65.56 | 65.02 | 64.90 |
| 600m | 66.03 | 65.03 | 65.10 |
| 700m | 65.62 | 65.19 | 64.68 |
| 800m | 64.86 | 63.74 | 62.84 |
| Total Time | 8:44.35 | 8:36.67 | 8:33.12 |
Sweden has never won an European Aquatics Championships medal in either the women’s 800 free or women’s 1500 free. The last Sweden men’s distance medal was won by Bjorn Borg in the men’s 1500 free in 1938.
In her freshman season at Louisville, Haell finished 10th in the 500 yard free and 7th in the 1650 yard free at the NCAA Championships to earn All-American Honors.
The other record of the session came in the men’s 800 free relay, where Sweden’s relay finished 9th in 7:10.02, missing the final by half-a-second.
The team of Robin Hanson, Ludvig Bartolek, Victor Johansson, and Charlie Skoglund MacMillan combined to take four full seconds off the old record from 2018.
Johansson and Hanson were holdovers from the prior record-setting relay, and both swam much faster here.
Splits Comparison:
Hanson is the individual 200 free National Record holder with a best of 1:45.91 from last year.
Besides Haell, Sweden’s lone other representative in the Monday evening session will be 21-year-old Sofia Astedt, who was 14th in heats of the women’s 100 meter free. With two swimmers ahead of her dropping with the “two per country” rule, she is the 12th seed for the semi-finals.
