Louise Hansson Of Sweden To Train At Britain’s Loughborough University

Louise Hansson. Photo Courtesy: McKenna Ehrmantraut

Louise Hansson will continue her post-grad swimming career as part of the Loughborough University postgrad group in the United Kingdom.

Loughborough coaches first confirmed the move, which Hansson also confirmed.

“They came to USC to have an information session and I decided to just go and check it out,” Hansson told Swimming World. “After that session, I contacted the coaches and it just felt right. I’m really excited to be able to combine swimming and my studies.”

Hansson is a Swedish Olympian, three-NCAA champion, 12-time All-American and second-year USC captain, is a 2020 senior and the defending NCAA champion in the 100y and 200y fly, though like all college seniors, did not have the chance to participate in the NCAA championships in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Louise Hansson also appeared on the cover of Swimming World in March 2020.

She is the NCAA record holder in the 100y fly, the third-fastest ever in the 200y fly and owns USC records in both fly events as well as in the 100y and 200y free and the 100y back, plus four relays (all but 200 free relay). Hansson is also the three-time defending Pac-12 champion in the 100y fly.

Internationally, Hansson competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She competed in four events for Sweden. She helped the her country earn fifth in both the 4x100m and 4x200m free relays and also finished 29th in the 200m IM (2:15.66) and 32nd in the 100m fly (59.73).

Competing at her fourth World Championships in 2019 in Gwangju, South Korea, Hansson had never before made it out of prelims in an individual event. But on the meet’s first day, she qualified seventh in the 100 meter fly prelims and then eighth in the semifinals to secure her spot in the final, lowering her lifetime best to 57.10. She ended up seventh in the final, one spot ahead of France’s Marie Wattel, who will be training with Hansson at Loughborough.

Louise Hansson is the second big-name swimmer to join Loughborough, joining Greek national record holder Andreas Vazaios.

“This is all part of a new strategy by us to recruit postgraduate students that have graduated from the NCAA system and are keen to continue their studies in the UK alongside developing their swimming careers both for the university at BUCS and also internationally. It is underpinned by a revamped scholarship system that is unrivaled in the UK,” Loughborough coach Andi Manley said.

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