Iris Berger: A breath of fresh air in the Austrian Basin

Iris Julia Berger loves Harry Styles’ music. The British musician is known for his hits and the big stage, but Berger certainly puts on the best show in the pool. She showed it at the Austrian Short Course Championships in Graz. The USC Graz swimmer has won gold at Oster eight times. “It wasn’t going to go well,” the 19-year-old said, laughing. After three semi-finals at the European Short Course Championships, she took her perfect form to states. Berger has been training and living in Denmark for a year with Thisted Svømmeklub under coach Mads Hansen. “It’s actually made me better. I’ve gone from being a good swimmer to being a better swimmer.” She goes to the pool ten times a week, and more sessions are also in the plan – and she’s also learning Danish. “It’s a mix of German and English, and I didn’t think it would work well.” However, she cannot name a favorite location. It may vary between freestyle, backstroke, and dolphin swimming. However, it can rule out breasts. She won gold in Eggenberg in the 50, 100, 200 and 400 meter freestyle, 50 and 100 meter dolphin, and 50 and 100 meter backstroke.