Julia Henriksson is clear for the European Championship final on 200 metres – after equalling the Swedish record.
The Swedish sprint comet Julia Henriksson has long had her eyes on the Swedish record on 200 metres.
In the semi-final at the European Championship, the 23-year-old finally got a taste of the record time. The Swede finished second with a time of 22.82 – exactly the same time as Linda Haglund's 45-year-old Swedish record and an improvement of seven hundredths of a second on her personal record.
Henriksson says she thought she was faster than Haglund's record time.
She says there is more to take in the final and she is aiming for a medal.
It was not far from being another Swede in the European Championship final.
The 19-year-old Nora Lindahl struck with a new personal record in her semi-final on 200 metres after a strong finish – but her time, 22.89, was not enough to make it all the way. She was five hundredths of a second short of reaching the final.
She started the day with a personal best of 23.13. Improved it by 14 hundredths in the heats and a further ten in the semi-final.
She had trouble reloading for the semi-final.
On the other hand, she did not vomit after any of the races at the European Championship.
