Hulkko Wants to Be 1:07.0 In Helsinki Finals Following Recent 100 BR Finnish NR

2021 Helsinki Swim Meet

• Apr. 22-23, 2021
• Helsinki, FIN
• FINA Olympic Qualifying Standards
• Live Results

The tw0-day 2021 Helsinki Swim Meet kicked off in Finland on Thursday morning with its first preliminaries session. Highlighting the morning was the women’s 100 breast, were Finnish natives Jenna Laukkanen (1:08.51) and Ida Hulkko (1:08.70) swam the top two times of the morning to nab the middle lanes in tonight’s final. Laukkanen was less than two-tenths off her season best of 1:08.33, which placed third at the 2021 Latvian Open in Riga.

During the 2021 Swim Open Stockholm in Sweden from April 8-11, Hulkko took down her own 100 breast Finnish national record by 0.02s to swim her season best of 1:06.90, joining Estonian Eneli Jefimova (1:06.82) and Swede Sophie Hansson (1:06.84) in the record-breaking frenzy in a competitive final. Hulkko’s sub-1:07 swim currently ranks within the top-20 times in the world this season. All three swimmers easily swam under the FINA Olympic A cut of 1:07.07, an automatic Olympic qualification.

When interviewed on her AM 100 breast swim, Hulkko commented that she was pleased with her good, solid swim, despite a few racing mistakes following a tough training bout. With her main focus being the 100 distance in preparation for the Olympics over her preferred 50 breast discipline. Hulkko expects to go much faster this evening, aiming to break 1:08 and/or hit 1:07.0.

Hulkko AM Splits: 31.42/37.28 (1:08.70)

More Day One Prelims Highlights:

• Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu of Hungary swam four prelims events this morning, nabbing top seeds in the 100 fly (1:01.29), 200 IM (2:17.35), and 200 back (2:19.75). The FL/BK specialist also swam the 100 breast prelims, placing 9th at 1:11.90. Finland’s Laukkanen placed second behind Hosszu in the 200 IM at 2:19.15.
• Austrian Christopher Rothbauer swam both the 50 breast and 200 breast prelims, swimming top times of 27.66 and 2:14.62. Hungarian David Verraszto will also swim the middle lane of the 400 IM final (4:17.06) and 200 fly final (2:01.43).