Trophy - LEN European Junior Swimming
Championships, Bucharest (ROU) – Day 6
Romania’s David Popovici (50-100-200m
free), Turkey’s Merve Tuncel (400-800-1500m free) repeated their respective
feats after 2021, completed the freestyle trebles for the second time at a LEN
European Junior Swimming Championships.
Estonia’s Eleni Jefimova joined them
by winning all three breaststroke events while Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk swept to
victory in each of the backstroke distances.
Hungary finished atop on the medal
table, thanks to its two outstanding female swimmers who bagged six medals
respectively, Dora Molnar (four golds, two silvers) and Nikoletta Padar (four
golds, a silver and a bronze).
For the first time at the LEN
European Juniors Italy clinched the Team Trophy.
Once more, packed stands and
electrifying atmosphere welcomed the teams – but especially David Popovici who
was to complete his mission at the home meet by winning the 100m free on the
closing day. He did it in style, with another 47sec blast, though 0.5sec shy of
his junior WR from the Budapest Worlds. He finished the event with four titles
and a silver medal and earned the trophy of the best male performer of the meet
as his 47.69 from the Sunday final was still the best individual effort based
on the FINA points.
Turkey’s Miss Metronome, Merve Tuncel
delivered once more as precisely as the clocks are ticking: just like in Rome,
she won the longer distances – she was no match for the others in the 400m this
evening. She also had a bronze in the 200m, so she says goodbye to the
age-group competitions as a 6-time junior champion.
Estonia’s Eneli Efimova was the third
who made a treble here, she didn’t leave much chance for her rivals in the 100m
breast, so after taking a gold-silver-bronze collection in Rome, now she leaves
Bucharest with three titles.
Bosnia’s Lana Pudar was close to
achieve the same in butterfly, but she had been out-touched by 0.03sec in the
100m fly final by Roos Vanotterdijk – in the 50m she hit back and won today by
0.15sec ahead of the Belgian. In fact, Vanotterdijk still enjoyed a great week,
her versatility catches the eye as besides getting two medals in fly events,
she came third in the 100m free on Saturday and on the closing day she missed
the title in the 100m back by 0.02sec – but still claimed a medal in three
strokes!
In this latter final Hungary’s Dora
Molnar finished off her rivals with another monstrous second 50m to snatch her
fourth title here. Later she was back and got a sixth medal with the Hungarian
medley relay, together with Nikoletta Padar who got a bronze in the 400m free
and fifteen minutes later anchored the relay. That silver crowned the Magyars’
magical week and secured the top spot on the medal charts, for the first time
since Budapest 2005.
Poland came second (amassed the most
medal in total, 16) – Ksawery Masiuk contributed with a third backstroke title.
He wanted to bring down the junior WR in the 100m back, he was a bit far but
still posted a Championship Record (the only one in the men events).
Italy’s Lorenzo Galossi copied his
‘mentor’ Gregorio Paltrinieri’s tactics – King Greg tested that at the Olympics
last summer (almost worked), and again two weeks ago at the Worlds (worked
perfectly). Following the advice from the legend, Galossi also booked a side
lane in the heats, then in the final pushed extremely hard, out of sight from
those battling in the middle. This earned him the 400m crown while swimming on
lane 1 (as a curiosity, the other home hero Vlad-Stefan Stancu and Poland’s
Krzystof Chmielewski shared the silver by clocking identical times, an absolute
rarity over this longer distance). What makes Galossi’s victory even more
remarkable that it came just a day after he had grabbed two golds in the 800m
and in the 4x200m free relay in 15 minutes.
There were other fine duels between
outstanding individuals in the men’s field. In breaststroke, Ukraine’s
Volodymyr Lisovets bettered the Netherlands’ Koen de Groot 2-0 as after the
50m, he also passed him in the 100m. On contrary, Czech Daniel Gracik and
Denmark’s Casper Puggaard finished 1-1 – today it was the Dane’s turn in the 50m,
to give the first title to his country here.
Team GB also had to wait till the
last day to finally celebrate gold – and they could do it twice. The first was
landed fast, in the opening final of the session as Leah Schlosshan won the
200m IM convincingly. The second came then in the very last final of the meet
where the men’s medley relay won a thrilling clash, ahead of Ukraine and
Poland.
Before that, the French came first in
the women’s medley – a relieving outcome for Mary-Ambre Moluh, whose Championship
Record-swim in the 50m back earned her the best female performer’s trophy –
though she fell short in a couple of other events where she was considered the
favourite. Breaststroker Justine Delmas could stand on the top of the podium
too after two silvers in the individual finals.
Quotes
Leah Schlosshan (GBR), gold, 200m IM
“It’s a big PB, which is great. I did
one in the semis, today I wanted to go inside 2:14, and I ticked that too.
After I qualified first from the heats and then from the semis, I thought, OK,
I could get the gold so yeah, it’s a kind of relief that I won. Last year I was
nowhere close to the final, so it’s feeling great.”
Dora Molnar (HUN), gold, 100m back
“I came here today that I want this
gold badly. I was aware that the others had great times, the French girl’s PS
was a second faster than mine – still, my strong finish gave me this win. My
underwater kicks helped me again to come back for the second 50m, then pushed
hard enough to touch in first. I’m extremely happy and proud of this result. It
was a long week, I had sixteen starts altogether but it was an awesome ending
to get another medal with the girls in the relay.”
Ksawery Masiuk (POL), gold, 100m back
“It’s a hattrick, very nice. I wanted
to break the junior world record but I’m a bit tired, it’s the last day, I had
13 starts and I feel that. The first 50m was great, 25.5 but then the pain
kicked in. At least I have a goal to achieve, I want that record so when I’ll
be fresh, I’ll do it.”
Eneli Jefimova (EST), gold, 100m breast
“This was a good swim, I enjoyed it.
I missed my personal best by a bit, but I could achieve that in the 200m so
it’s all good. It was about to give a special gift to my grandfather who
celebrated his birthday yesterday. I couldn’t be with him, because I’m here so
I though this gold would be a nice present.”
David Popovici (ROU), gold, 100m free
“The expectations were simple: to win
and to have fun. In terms of improvement, bettering my times, I have time for
that. This event was about the show, and it was absolutely worth it. There was
no pressure at all as I told myself I should never take any pressure from
anyone, the only pressure I should feel can come from myself and that’s
something I can control. As for swimming and home support, the love I felt
during the week – this was the most beautiful thing I could imagine here at
home.”
Volodymyr Lisovets (UKR), gold, 100m
breast
“My first 50m was really good, I
think, I won, and this is great, though I’m a bit tired now. I think I’ll stay
in Hamburg for the next weeks, train there and try to prepare myself for the
European Championships in Rome.”
Lana Pudar (BIH), gold, 50m fly
“This was great once more, I’m really
happy with this gold. Comparing this to Rome 2021? Well, then I have one gold
and two silvers, now I have two golds so it’s better. My 200 was much butter, the
other two not that much but I had two events before, so I wasn’t in the best
shape.”
Casper Puggaard (DEN), gold, 50m fly
“It’s amazing, to do this personal
best, that’s something I didn’t expect. I tried to stay focused during the
week, take care of the swims, the sleep, the food, to get everything right for
the big day but this time, I mean… That’s simply incredible, cannot describe
with words.”
Merve Tuncel (TUR), gold, 400m free
“I expected something similar, I was
close to the time I wished to clock but I’m happy with these gold medals. It
was a tiring week, but it was another good championship for me.”
Lorenzo Galossi (ITA), gold, 400m
free
“I’m tired… No, I’m dead. It was so
great… Yes, it was intentional in the morning to swim a time which puts me on
the side lane. This was Greg (Paltrinieri) did at the Worlds, he is a great
friend of mine and we talked, and he gave me that advice. Go for the side and
this is the way to win the match. It worked, and I’m so happy now that I could
achieve this, and also made my friends happy.”this, and also made my friends
happy.”
No comments:
Post a Comment