Michael Söderlund

Michael Söderlund
Personal information
Full name	Per Michael Söderlund
Nationality	Swedish
Born	30 March 1962 (age 64); Karlskrona, Blekinge
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Freestyle and backstroke
Club	Karlskrona SS
College team	University of California, Berkeley
Medal record
Olympic Games
European Championships (LC)

Michael Söderlund (born 30 March 1962 in Karlskrona, Blekinge) is a former swimmer from Sweden who competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, between 1980 and 1988. In the 1984 Summer Olympics, he was a part of the 4×100 m freestyle relay team, swimming one leg in the prelims. His best individual result in the Olympics was a 6th place on 200 m backstroke on the time of 2:04.10, which was a Swedish record for 27 years. Soderlund was on the 400-meter freestyle relay team that captured the bronze medal in the ’84 Olympiad at Los Angeles.

Career

Söderlund began his international career at the 1978 World Championships in West Berlin. He finished 13th in the 100-meter backstroke.^[1] The Swedish 4x100-meter medley relay team of Michael Söderlund, Jan Sjöström, Pär Arvidsson, and Per Holmertz finished fifth.^[2] At the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, Söderlund competed in four events. He swam the fastest qualifying time in the 100-meter backstroke but was eliminated in the semifinals, finishing tenth. His compatriot Bengt Baron won the gold medal.

Personal bests

Long course (50 m)

Event	Time		Date	Meet	Location	Ref
200 m freestyle	1:51.44		24 Mar 1988	US Summer Nationals	Orlando, FL, United States
200 m backstroke	2:04.10		26 Jul 1980	Olympic Games	Moscow, Soviet Union

Legend: WR – World record; ER – European record; NR – Swedish record;
Records not set in finals: h – heat; sf – semifinal; r – relay 1st leg; rh – relay heat 1st leg; b – B final; † – en route to final mark; so – swim-off; tt – time trial