Lana Pudar claimed the European
Junior 100m butterfly title and set a new European Junior Championship record
on the third evening of finals in Belgrade, Serbia.
The 17-year-old Bosnia and
Herzegovina swimmer finished in 56.95 seconds, to smash the previous mark of
57.39 secs, which had stood since 2019.
Martine Damborg of Denmark (58.35)
and Sweden’s Emmy Hallkvist (59.50) took silver and bronze respectively.
Pudar was not the only swimmer to
break a record in Belgrade with Kuzey Tuncelli of Turkiye impressively lowering
the previous men’s 1500m freestyle European Junior Championship record of 15
minutes and 1.59 seconds with a new landmark of 14:58.89.
It followed a gruelling race and
fascinating battle which saw countryman Emir Batur Alabayrak take bronze
(15:00.57) after being edged out of silver by just 0.06 seconds.
Romanian Vlad-Stefan Stancu claiming
the silver medal.
Miroslav Knedla of Czechia secured
his second gold medal in as many days by following up his 50m backstroke
success on Wednesday with a dominant display in the 200m individual medley
final.
He finished in 2:00.26, clear of
chasing Italian Christian Mantagazza (2:01.10), with Matthew Ward (2:01.10) of
Great Britain wining his second bronze of the competition.
2022 World junior silver medallists
Sara Curtis had secured lane four and the ‘pre-race favourite’ billing ahead of
the women’s 50m freestyle after impressive performances en route to the final.
The Italian looked confident ahead of
the start and delivered a strong sprint with her ‘windmill’ technique powering
the 16-year-old to victory in 25.14 seconds ahead of German Nina Jazy (25.38)
and Skye Carter of Great Britain (25.41)
The last final of the evening saw
eight teams battle it out for the 2023 LEN European Junior Swimming
Championships 4x200m freestyle relay title.
Hungarian Nikolett Padar, who won two
gold medals on Wednesday, gave her nation a strong first-leg lead which Lili
Gyurinovics and Dora Molnar helped maintain.
Lilla Minna Abraham then brought the
team home with their seventh title of the tournament in eight minutes and 0.25
secs, with Italy (8:03.22) and France (8:05.62) taking silver and bronze.
LEN EJSC 2023 DAY THREE RESULTS AND
REACTION:
WOMEN’S 50M FREESTYLE FINAL:
GOLD – Sara Curtis (25.14) – Italy
SILVER – Nina Sandrine Jazy (25.38) –
Germany
BRONZE – Skye Carter (25.41) – Great
Britain
“I’m very, very happy,” Sara Curtis
told LEN. “There was a little bit of pressure as it is before the Europeans as
it’s an important event and I was excited, but I really wanted to do a good
race. It was incredible (to see she my name as number one) and I looked to my
Italian friends and they also were very happy, so it was a lot of emotion.
Again, I’m very happy.”
MEN’S 200M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY FINAL:
GOLD – Miroslav Knedla (2:00.26) -
Czechia
SILVER – Christian Mantegazza
(2:01.10) - Italy
BRONZE – Matthew Ward – (2:01.17) –
Great Britain
“It definitely felt that way
(controlled), we train for this event a lot with all our practices,” said
Miroslav Knedla. “Before I won, I didn’t think I’d go faster than my PB as I
thought it was unbeatable or me. The crowd helped me. Family cheered me,
friends and my coach is a big part of my gold medal.”
WOMEN’S 100M BUTTERFLY FINAL:
GOLD – Luna Pudar (56.95) – Bosnia
and Herzegovina
SILVER – Martine Damborg (58.35) –
Denmark
BRONZE – Emmy Hallkvist (59.50) –
Sweden
“It means so much, especially because
the World Championships are coming this month and it means I’m in good form and
I’m really happy to finally swim under 57 seconds so it really means a lot to
me,” Lana Pudar told LEN. “I really like to compete and I’m really happy as
this competition in Belgrade is really close to my home so a lot of my friends
and family are here supporting me so I was really excited for this race and
this competition so I’m really enjoying this.”
MEN’S 1500M FINAL
GOLD – Kuzey Tuncelli (14:58.89) –
Turkiye
SILVER – Vlad-Stefan Stancu (15:00.51) – Romanian
BRONZE – Emir Batur Alabayrak
(15:00.57) – Turkiye
“I’m really happy and I didn’t expect
that time so I’m feeling so good right now,” said Kuzey Tuncelli after the
final. “My opponents were strong and I would like to congratulate them, but I am
of course very happy with the gold medal as it was my plan to try and win.”
WOMEN’S 4x200m FREESTYLE FINAL
GOLD – Hungary (8:00.25) – Nikolett
Padar, Lili GYURINOVICS, Dora MOLNAR, Lilla Minna ABRAHAM.
SILVER – Italy (8:03.22) – Matilde
BIAGIOTTI, Emma Vittoria GIANNELLI, Giulia ZAMBELLI, Giulia VETRANO.
BRONZE – France (8:05.62) – Valentine
LECLERCQ, Maeline BESSARD, Albane CACHOT, Giulia ROSSI-BENE.
“I was pretty confident in our team,
I think our girls are amazing, we came to win, we did it and I’m proud of team
Hungary,” said Lilla Minna ABRAHAM. Team-mate Dora Molnar added; “I thought it
would be painful but it was really good, so I’m really happy I could swim the
relay and that we won it.”
PHOTO István Derencsény/LEN
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