Hanna-Maria Seppälä
Hanna -Maria Seppälä at the European Swimming Championships 2008 in Eindhoven
Hanna -Maria Seppälä ( born December 13, 1984 in Kerava ) is a Finnish swimmer.
Career
She has specialized in the short freestyle and capable of stretching. My biggest success was the world champion over 100 m freestyle at the World Swimming Championships in 2003.
Hanna -Maria Seppälä began with five years at the club Keravan Uimarit for which it still starts today, with the swimming. This was triggered mainly her older brothers, who practiced the same sport. In the Finnish junior national team, she was first appointed in the autumn of 1995. In January 1999 she presented the 50m freestyle on their first Finnish record. In the same year she also won her first medal at the European Junior Championships. A year later, she won the title at the same event more than 50 m and 100 m freestyle. Since then she starts at senior level.
At the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 she was the youngest starter in Finland, but did not get beyond a 18th place. Also in World and European championships were the first successes yet to come. Between 2000 and 2003 she came often in the finals, but not in the medal ranks. That should change with the World Swimming Championships in 2003. About 100 m freestyle she won in 54.37 seconds, surprisingly, the gold medal. In the same year she also won a bronze medal at the European Short Course European Championships 2003. 2004 should not be their year. In the Olympics, they disappointed with a 12th place on their gold haul. Then it should, however, go uphill again. The Short Course European Championships in 2005, she won gold in the 100 m medley and silver in 100m freestyle. In the following spring she won the Short Course World Championships in Shanghai Silver 100m individual medley and at the European Short Course in the fall she could defend her title over this distance.
So far, Hanna -Maria Seppälä was 86 Finnish championship win and swam 66 national records ( 29 on the long and 37 on the Short Course ). From her fans she is often just called Hans, which results in a combination of first and last name.