Second individual title for Popovici, Masiuk and Efimova, two golds for Vergnes
The specialists all added a second individual title for their respective treasuries and are also getting ready to complete a treble in the same stroke in the 100m events. Romania’s David Popovici won the 50m free after his triumph in the 200m, while Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk won the 200m back after the 50m, just like Estonia’s Eneli Efimova in the women’s breaststroke. Daniel Gracik claimed the first title for the Czechs, while Lucien Vergnes snatched two golds in this session, came first in the 200m breast, then was part of France’s winning mixed medley relay.
David Popovici cleared the trickiest hurdle on his way to repeat his Rome 2021 treble – the 50m offered the best chance for the others to catch him as anything can happen over one length. But the home star didn’t make any mistake and came home first with a convincing 0.4sec margin, thus he needs to add the 100m crown to complete his mission.
Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk is on the same path in the backstroke – the Polish had made the 100-200m double in Rome and had been silver medallist in the 50m (where he won bronze two weeks ago among the seniors at the World Champs). Now he waited for his moment in the 200m final and his fiery finish left no chance for his rivals, at the end, he gained a full second on the others.
Camp Treble may welcome a female as well: Eneli Efimova also had three medals a year ago (bronze in 50m, gold in 100m, silver in 200m) – now she is 2/2 as she managed to out-touch the title-holder from France, Justine Delmas. It was a brilliant duel, a year ago almost three seconds separated the two competitors, now only 0.01sec and luck sided with Efimova.
The French took the men’s title in the 200m breast, Lucien Vergnes played the chasers’ role perfectly, and came from behind to lead the race only once, over the very last meter. He pipped Austria’s Luka Mladenovic for the title by 0.19sec.
Hungary also had its ‘daily’ gold to keep up with the hosts on the top of the medal charts (these two have 4 apiece as of now) – Dora Molnar earned it, in the 200m back, with a fine and smart performance (it’s the third title for her as she was part of the Magyars’ winning relays).
Daniel Gracik grabbed the Czechs’ first medal here, a gold, as he was outstanding in the 100m fly. Michal Piela contributed with gold to Poland’s remarkable day – his team bagged four medals in total. Swimming on lane 1, Piela did a splendid job in the 400m IM to add a gold to the bronze he had
clinched in the 200m 24hrs earlier to defy the demanding schedule (usually medley swimmers don’t have to compete in the two events on back-to-back days).
The French grabbed a second gold this evening in the mixed medley relay – Lucien Vergnes covered the breaststroke leg so he could stand on the top of the podium for the second time in one and a half hours. The results were announced after a long review but at the end runner-up, Poland and third-placed Italy were both disqualified. As a matter of interest, the Polish were also DSQd in the morning but were later reinstated as the review proved that their last takeover was within the limit (–0.02). Still, they couldn’t escape their fate in the evening when apparently a violation of swimming technique rules cost them the medal, just in case of the Italians.
For detailed results, visit: http://ejcotopeni2022.microplustiming.com
Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of LEN/Simone Castrovillari
