This lifelong swimmer was very reluctant to water at first, and then other interests delayed him fully immersing himself in the sport until he was 13, but within a few months he was demonstrating his full potential.
Glen Christiansen was coached by 1960 Olympian, Berndt Nilsson and once together, his talents grew. Within a few years, he was competing at national championships, setting national records and eventually he made the Swedish National Team, competing in European and World Championships, until ultimately, the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, where he finished 11 th in the 200-meter breaststroke. The following year, 1981, Glen posted the fastest Short Course Meters time in the world in the 100 breaststroke in 1:01.60.
Just three years after leaving elite swimming, he returned to his winning ways as a Masters swimmer. He competed in the very first FINA Masters World Championships, in Tokyo, walking away with three gold medals and a world record in the breaststroke events. Over the course of nine age groups, 25 to 69, Glen’s Masters resume has been outstanding.
Since 1986 he has set 24 Masters world records, winning 15 gold medals in FINA World Championships. In 2000, the men’s high point award at the Swedish Masters Championships was named after Glen’s honoring his success as a Masters swimmer.
In 2013, Glen’s Masters career was interrupted by a stroke he experienced which caused him to fall down a flight of stairs, only to awake three weeks later in the hospital. Paralyzed on the left side, he had to re-learn how to speak, eat, and do everything again properly. Of course, swimming became Glen’s measure of recovery and just six months later he won a 2.5km open water race.
In 2022, Glen won his first international title in the 200 butterfly at the European Masters Championships. “New world records are coming slowly” Glen says, but he is “just happy to be alive and back into swimming.”
Today, Glen runs his “Swimmers without Borders” camp on the beautiful island of Tenerife, coaching and spreading his swimming wisdom to people of all ages.