Hanna-Maria Seppälä (born Dec 13th 1984), is a top Finnish international swimmer specialising in short-distance freestyle. Hanna-Maria was born in
the town of Kerava in southern Finland. She began swimming at the age of 5, following her older brothers into the sport.
By the time she had turned ten she had made the national junior team. Her first big break in swimming came in 1999 when she
placed 3rd and 4th in the 50m and 100m freestlye races respectively at the European Junior Championships.
In 2003 she took the title of World Champion in the 100m Freestyle at the World LC Championships in Barcelona. Since then she has gone on to rank
highly in subsequent World Championships, Europeans and the to represent her country at the Olympics. At present she has broken 68 national records.