LEN European Junior Swimming Championships, Bucharest (ROU) – Day 5 Two titles for Galossi in 15min, gold No. 4 for Padar

 

Lorenzo Galossi was the hero of the day: the Italian bagged two gold medals on the penultimate day of the European Junior Swimming Championships. First, he won the 800m, then 15 minutes later he anchored the Italian 4x200m free relay to another title. Nikolett Padar made the 100-200m double in the women’s free – this was gold No. 4 for the Hungarian –, while Turkey’s Merve Tunced achieved the same in the 800-1500m; Sunday these two young greats will stage the ultimate showdown in the 400m final.

In the first final of the penultimate racing day, Bosnia’s Lana Pudar consoled herself for her bitter loss in the 100m fly. She had been out-touched by 0.03sec two days ago, now she left everyone behind in the 200m to win it by a mile (3.14sec). Forty minutes later she was back to book her lane in the 50m final, she qualified in the 4th place, so after clinching a gold and two silvers in Rome in the fly events a year ago, she is set to leave Bucharest with three medals once more.

Nikoletta Padar bagged her fourth gold here after a convincing win in the 100m free. She produced the only sub-55sec swim, team-mate Dora Molnar came second to give Hungary a 1-2 finish, something the country had last seen some 70 years ago at the senior Europeans in Torino 1954 – ever since the Magyars barely made the finals in the blue-ribband event.

After a flood of semis, the 800m free finals offered more excitements for the spectators who showed up in big numbers once more. The men’s race was somewhat similar to the 1500m free, though this time Italy’s Lorenzo Galossi staged a duel with Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski and left him behind over the last 300m. What’s more, champion of the 1500m, Romania’s Vlad-Stefan Stancu also passed Chmielewski to clinch the silver, much to the joy of the ensembled.

The women’s final offered less excitement as Turkey’s Merve Tuncel continued her winning streak. She had been unbeatable in the 400-800-1500m a year ago in Rome, now she added the 800m crown with ease after winning the 1500m. Tuncel can insert the last piece to the golden puzzle on Sunday in the 400m free final – though she will have a showdown there with Padar.

The session-ending men’s 4x200m free showcased Galossi once more who had a seemingly comfortable task, to put the icing on the cake as his team-mates built a massive lead in the first three legs. Galossi, just 15 minutes after his 800m triumph, did his job and secured the Italians’ victory without any struggle.

Well, there was more to watch beyond the original schedule: in an extremely rare scenario two swim-offs were needed in the women’s 50m fly between France’s Emmy Preiter and Britain’s Hollie Widdows for the reserve position for the final. Their first clash also ended in a dead heat, so they were called back for another round and finally Preiter prevailed, by 0.08sec.

 

Quotes

Lana Pudar (BIH), gold, 200m fly

“It all went according to plans. I made long strokes, built a big lead, and won at the end – this how I wanted to do this race. I love this distance and I really wanted to win this after losing the 100m by such a small margin.”

 

Nikolett Padar (HUN), gold, 100m free

“Well, I was a bit worried before the race, because of the French girl and Dori (Molnar), so I pushed hard, and the pain kicked in after the turn. Still, over the last 50, and especially over the last 25m I was thinking like ‘You trained so hard for this, to achieve big results, so this is the time for you to make it’. I just went for it and I’m really happy that we even achieved a 1-2. I’m also happy to go under 55sec, to clock a new PB. Honestly, never thought I could take four golds here.”

 

Lorenzo Galossi (ITA), golds, 800m free, 4x200m free

“It wasn’t easy and wasn’t my best performance in the 800m, but here only the win mattered, and I gave everything to achieve it. Then came the relay – when you are requested to swim for your country, you are doing your utmost, and it doesn’t matter how tired you are. Of course, I felt nothing but pain, but when I saw that it was about winning the relay, I forgot everything, just swam for the team and I’m really happy that we could finish the day like this.”

 

Merve Tuncel (TUR), gold, 800m free

“After the Mediterranean Games I feel a bit tired and here I also feel some pressure since watching my wins last year, everyone expects me to repeat these victories. I have a lot of challenges, next week the Nationals, then the Islamic Games, the European Championships and the junior Worlds… A lot of events, so I’m really happy that I could win this title too.”