Hopkin Finishes 13th at World Championships
Nearly two weeks into the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju, South Korea and Anna Hopkin finally got her chance to shine. Representing Great Britain, Hopkin earned a 13th place finish in the 100-meter freestyle on Thursday morning with a time of 53.65 to set a British record.
“Anna had an amazing day at the World Championships,” said swimming and diving head coach Neil Harper. “She came into this meet ranked 19th, after prelims this morning she was in third and had a new personal best by almost a second. She swam next to the Olympic champion and swam her race and not her own. I am disappointed for her that she didn’t make the championship final, but she has come so far in just a year and has created the perfect build up for the Olympics next year.”
“That’s a huge PB and I felt really good, so I’m just excited for tonight now,” Hopkin told BritishSwimming.org. “This is my first World Champs but I just felt really relaxed, I didn’t feel nervous as the couple of international competitions I’ve done have prepared me well and I’m gradually getting used to racing in this environment.”
The junior Razorback performed well against her competition in the preliminaries, securing a third-place finish with a time of 53.21, recording the fastest 50-meter time in the event (25.48 seconds).
She will return to the pool on Saturday (July 27) for the women’s 50-meter freestyle for the final event of the World Championships.
The FINA Championships, which include such disciplines as swimming, diving, water polo, open water swimming and synchronized swimming are held every two years. The 19th FINA World Championships, to take place the summer of 2021, will be in Fukuoka, Japan.
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