Alexander Dale Oen

Alexander Dale Oen (born May 21, 1985) is a Norwegian swimmer. He represents the club Vestkantsvømmerne. Dale Oen's gold at the 2008 European Championships made him the first Norwegian male to win a medal at a major international long course championship.

Oen got his international breakthrough in 2005, placing seventh in 100 metre breaststroke during the 2005 World Aquatics Championships. During the European short course Championships in December the same year he swam the 100 m breaststroke in 59.05 seconds, placing fourth and setting a new Nordic record. He became the first Norwegian to swim this distance in less than 1 minute. At the Norwegian short course Championships two months later, he bettered that time to 58.81, a world best mark for the year.

Competitions

At the 2006 FINA Short Course World Championships in Shanghai Oen won a bronze medal in 100 m breaststroke, behind Oleg Lisogor and Brenton Rickard. Oen became the first Norwegian male to win a World Championships medal in swimming. Four months later, Oen followed that up with success at the 2006 European Swimming Championships, winning the silver medal on 100 m breaststroke and setting a new Nordic record on a 50m course, with 1:00.63.

Dale Oen won his first short course medal at the 2006 European Championships in Helsinki, taking bronze behind two Ukrainians in the 100m breaststroke in a new personal best of 58.70. In the 2007 World Championships on the 50m course, Dale Oen was second fastest in the heats (in another Nordic record, 1:00.34) and third fastest in the semi-final, but failed in the final, clocking well above 1:01.

Dale Oen repeated the feat of doing better in the semis than the final at the 2007 European Short Course Championships. After 58.60, a new personal best and the second-fastest time, in the semi-finals, Dale Oen finished in 58.81, fifth place and 0.24 seconds behind the gold medal. However, Dale Oen dominated the 2008 European Championships. Setting a record time of 1:00.11 in the heats, and being fastest in both the heats and the semi-final, Dale Oen swam the final in a European record time of 59.76, and won the gold by 0.02 seconds ahead of Hugues Duboscq, who also swam a personal best.

References