The fastest time in two years – then Louise Hansson secured her second consecutive Olympic Games final on 100 meters butterfly.
The Helsingborg swimmer advanced with the eighth and last time of 56.93.
Hansson, World Championship bronze medalist in February, made her fastest time in two years and was a hundredth of a second faster than the bronze time from Doha, Qatar.
It's a seasonal best and that was the goal in the semifinal. It was really nice. I'm going into the final as eighth and have nothing to lose tomorrow, she says about Sunday evening's final.
Nervous wait
Since Hansson swam in the first heat, she had a nervous wait before the final spot was clear.
It was very long minutes. It's almost as if you have more pulse after the race when you're standing and checking. It's always nice when the margins are on your side, says Hansson, who finished ninth in last year's World Championship, just outside the final.
Hansson had recovered from the swimsuit trouble in the morning's attempt – when she was denied the use of five different swimsuits and her coach had to rush and fetch a sixth variant.
Strong finish
Then she also managed to go under 57 seconds – something she has struggled with for the past 18 months.
Now she struck when it was most needed after a strong finish to the race.
But if she is to fight for a medal in the final on Sunday evening, she will probably have to beat her personal record from the Olympic Games in Tokyo, 56.22, when she finished fifth.
American Gretchen Walsh recently broke Sarah Sjöström's world record from 2016. With 55.38 in the semifinal, she also erased Sjöström's Olympic record (the previous world record) by a tenth.
Torri Huske, USA, had the second-fastest time in the semifinal with 56.00, and Chinese Zhang Yufei recorded the third time with 56.15.
