Baku 2015 European Games – Summary: Swimming Day 4

Russia: five more titles

The Russians fully dominated the penultimate day of the swimming competitions, winning 5 out of 7 finals. They brought their gold medal tally to 15, capturing almost half of the titles on offer (31) so far. Still, the day’s most outstanding performance belonged to a Brit: Luke Greenbank.

The British backstroker doubled down the two big titles, after winning the 100m with a bit of luck – by 0.05sec on day 1 – he added the 200m, this time leaving no doubt. In fact, his magnificent time (1:58.69) puts him to the 9th place of the world rankings among the seniors.

A bit later Filipp Shopin (RUS), who was out-touched by Greenbank in the 100m, got his consolation in the dash, this time Goddess Fortuna held his hand as he reached the wall 0.04sec ahead of Germany’s Marek Ulrich.

France’s Nicolas D’Oriano also made a double, the 1500m champion came first in the 800m as well, with the only sub-8min effort in the field.

The women’s races saw a Russian hat-trick – a bit of sad news for Marritt Steenbergen of the Netherlands. The Dutch, who clinched the title in the 100m free, finished runner-up both in the 50m and in the 200m. The latter went to Arina Openysheva, while Mariia Kameneva won the dash, her winning margin could be kept usual on this day: 0.04 sec.

Polina Egorova was outstanding in the 100m fly, she was the only one inside the 1min barrier, and just as in the previous days, the Russians bagged a relay gold in the end, this time in the mixed medley. This win also boosted the individual medal collections of the girls taking part: Openysheva now has six gold medals while Kameneva has five.

European Games – Swimming – Medallists, Day 4

Men

800m free

1. Nicolas D’Oriano (FRA)​ 7:59.87
2. Marcos Rodriguez (ESP)​ 8:01.73
3. Henning Muehlleitner (GER) ​8:04.33

50m back

1. Filipp Shopin (RUS)​ 25.40
2. Marek Ulrich (GER)​ 25.44
3. Andrii Khloptsov (UKR)​ 25.71

200m back

1. Luke Greenbank (GBR)​ 1:58.69
2. Mikita Tsmyh (BLR) ​1:59.46
3. Roman Larin (RUS)​ 1:59.60

Women

50m free

1. Mariia Kameneva (RUS)​ 25.23
2. Marrit Steenbergen (NED) ​25.27
3. Julie Jensen (DEN)​ 25.41

200m free

1. Arina Openysheva (RUS)​ 1:58.22
2. Marrit Steenbergen (NED) ​1:58.99
3. Leonie Kullmann (GER)​ 1:59.77

100m fly

1. Polina Egorova (RUS) 59.36
2. Amelia Clynes (GBR) ​1:00.12
3. Varvara Lebl (GRE)​ 1:00.54
3. Laura Stephens (GBR) ​1:00.54

Mixed

4x100m medley

1. Russia​ 3:49.53
2. Great Britain ​3:52.03
3. Germany​ 3:54.27

All athletes are also considered junior European Championships medallists in 2015.