Kolesnikov: two golds in 50min, shared gold for Large and Shkurdai
Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov set two new CRs while doubling down the 50m and 200m back on Day 4 at the LEN European Junior Swimming Championships in Helsinki. Germany joined the circle of the title-winning nations just as Belarus, the latter’s win came after a tie in the women’s 100m fly.
Kliment Kolesnikov enjoyed a busy afternoon as the Russian backstroker genius had to swim the 50m semis first at 17.06, then came the 200m final from 18.01 and soon the final of the dash at 18.54. He completed his daily job in style as he set new CRs on all three occasions and bagged both golds to complete his backstroke treble. This time he left no chance for Romania’s Daniel-Cristian Martin who forced a tie in the 100m on Day 2 – Kolesnikov gained 2.54sec on his rival.
And Helsinki witnessed another shared gold: Emily Large (GBR) and Anastasia Shkurdai (BLR) hit the wall simultaneously in the 100m fly and the timekeeping device couldn’t record a bigger difference than 0.009sec. The Brits grabbed another title in the afternoon, Freya Anderson managed to beat Elizaveta Klemanovich (RUS) again after them 100m free, this time only 0.08sec separated them in the 50m.
Germany, the No 2 nation in the all-time ranks (with the GDR medal haul they would be first) claimed its first title here (note they had a fine day with five medals altogether). It was an upset as Marie Isabel Gose could pass Hungary’s Ajna Kesely in the closing metres and won by 0.1sec in the 200m free. Thus Kesely’s amazing winning run came to an end: since 2016 she won 11 connective individual finals, including the previous two titles in this event, this time she had to settle for the silver (her SF swim in the 200m IM 30min earlier could have an effect).
The Magyars didn’t remain without gold this day either, though, Akos Kalmar added the 800m title to the 1500m with another convincing performance. Still, the RUS v HUN duel seems to have already been decided as the Russians took a 13-9 lead in the golden race since Kolesnikov’s double was followed by the mixed medley relay’s triumph which came with a new junior European Record.
Champions, Day 4
Men
800m free: Akos Kalmar (HUN) 7:55.41
50m back: Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) 24.52 C3
200m back: Kliment Kolesnikov (RUS) 1:55.83 CR
Women
100m free: Freya Anderson (GBR) 25.35
200m free: Marie Isabel Gose (GER) 1:58.17
100m fly: Emily Large (GBR) & Anastasia Shkurdai (BLR) 59.37
Mixed
4x100m medley: Russia 3:47.99 EJR
(Daria Vaskina, Vladislav Gerasimenko, Andrei Minakov, Elizaveta Klemanovich)
Medal standings
| RUS | 13 | 8 | 3 |
| HUN | 9 | 2 | 4 |
| GBR | 6 | 3 | 2 |
| ISR | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| GER | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| ROU | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| BLR | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| ITA | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| POL | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| DEN | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| FRA | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| LAT | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| NOR | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| NED | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| SUI | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| AUT | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| MLD | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| LTU | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| SLO | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| TUR | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| UKR | 0 | 0 | 1 |
For detailed results and free live streaming please visit www.len.eu
Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia/Andrea Masini
