London 2016 LEN European Championships – Day 13

Hungary v GB 2-2 today, 8-5 in aggregate, one day to go

The nations who topped the respective medal tables in the last two editions, Hungary in 2012 and Great Britain in 2014, kept their battle going on the penultimate racing day at the European Aquatics Championships in London. The Magyars managed to maintain the distance (8-5) as both teams added 2 titles apiece to their tallies. Italy is also in the hunt with 5 titles before the closing day, with 8 finals to be contested.

Boglarka KAPAS HUN Gold Medal 1500m Freestyle Women Final London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Day 13 21-05-2016 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

NETHERLANDS NED DREESENS Dion BRZOSKOWSKI Maarten STOLK Kyle VERSCHUREN Sebastiaan 4x200m Freestyle Relay Men London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Day 13 21-05-2016 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Francesca HALSALL GBR Gold Medal 50m Backstroke Women London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Day 13 21-05-2016 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Federica PELLEGRINI ITA Gold Medal 200m Freestyle Women Final London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Day 13 21-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

CZERNIAK Konrad POL Silver Medal CSEH Laszlo HUN Gold Medal MEDELLA Mehdi FRA Bronze Medal 100m Butterfly Men FINA London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Day 13 21-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

HEEMSKERK Femke NED Silver Medal PELLEGRINI Federica ITA Gold Medal BONNET Charlotte FRA Bronze Medal 200m Freestyle Women Final London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Day 13 21-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

NIELSEN Mie Oe. DEN Silver Medal HALSALL Francesca GBR Gold Medal DAVIES Georgia GBR Bronze Medal 50m Backstroke Women FINAL London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Day 13 21-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

TOUMARKIN Yakov Yan ISR Silver Medal KAWECKI Radoslaw POL Gold Medal RAPSYS Danas LTU Bronze Medal 200m Backstroke Men Final London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Day 13 21-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

STEVENS Peter John SLO Silver Medal PEATY Adam GBR Gold Medal MURDOCH Ross GBR Bronze Medal 50m Breaststroke Men FINAL London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Day 13 21-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

BELGIUM Bronze Medal CROENEN Louis SURGELOOSE Glenn DEKONINCK Dieter TIMMERS Pieter NETHERLANDS Gold Medal DREESENS Dion BRZOSKOWSKI Maarten STOLK Kyle VERSCHUREN Sebastiaan ITALY Bronze Medal D’ARRIGO Andrea Mitchell MAGNINI Filippo DOTTO Luca DETTI Gabriele 4X200 M FREESTYLE – FINAL London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Swimming Day 13 21-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Hungary took a flying start on Saturday – Day 13 on 21 May, lucky combination perhaps – and bagged the first two titles on offer. Boglarka Kapas clinched her third gold here, adding the 1500m free crown to her wins in the 800m free and 4x200m free. Today she was swimming in a different gear as she enjoyed an almost 10sec winning margin over her Spanish chasers, Mireia Belmonte and Maria Vilas while cracking the Championship record.

Laszlo Cseh also hunted down the CR in the 100m fly, he was way ahead of the others while delivering the only sub 51sec effort. Poland’s Konrad Czerniak and France’s Mehdy Metella settled for the minor spoils.

The Brits held a ‘gold-dash’ day. Fran Halsall won a thrilling race in the 50m back where the first three hit the wall in a span of 0.30sec, finishing off Denmark’s Mie Nielsen and compatriot Georgia Davies. Another home 1-3 came in the men’s 50m breast, title-holder Adam Peaty getting close to his WR set in Kazan (0.24sec), Ross Murdoch got the bronze so he had a hat-trick in the three breast events, 1-1-1). Slovenia’s Peter John Stevens earned a silver.

Italy’s gold came in a classical thriller, Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands led all the way in the 200m free but Italy’s Federica Pellegrini managed to out-touch her by 0.04sec, capturing her 4th straight title in this event, while France’s Charlotte Bonnet was a distant third.

Radoslaw Kawecki was also on the winning trail in the 200m back, this was his third successive title. Together with the four short-course golds the Polish swimmer is unbeaten in this event since 2011 in Europe.

The Dutch captured their third relay title in London with a great performance in the men’s 4x200m free – the race for the other medals couldn’t have been any tighter. Three teams reached the wall in a span of 0.03 seconds, Belgium came up the best with the silver, Italy got the bronze, just ahead of Poland.

For detailed results please visit LEN’s renewed website: www.len.eu

Direct link: http://len.eu/?p=4378

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia