Swimmer's Daily

  • The 2014 edition of the FINA/Mastbank Swimming World Cup will kick-off in Doha (QAT) on August 27-28 with the presence of many stars aiming at shining in this prestigious 25m-pool circuit. Among them, the 2013 winners of the series, Chad Le Clos (RSA) in the men’s field and Katinka Hosszu (HUN) in the women’s category.

    At the Hamad Aquatic Centre, around 150 swimmers from 30 countries will compete over the 36 events on the programme. Besides Le Clos and Hosszu, other athletes to watch include Ashley Delaney and Robert Hurley (both from Australia), Sanja Jovanovic (CRO), Mireia Belmonte (ESP), Daniel Gyurta (HUN), Fabio Scozzoli (ITA), Alia Atkinson (JAM), Inge Dekker (NED), Pawel Korzeniowski (POL), Roland Schoeman (RSA), George Bovell (TRI), Oussama Mellouli (TUN) and Daryna Zevina (UKR).

    The FINA/Mastbank Swimming World Cup 2014 comprises seven legs distributed on three clusters, according to the following schedule:

    Cluster 1

    • August 27-28, Doha (QAT)
    • August 31-September 1, Dubai (UAE)

    Cluster 2

    • September 29-30, Hong Kong (HKG)
    • October 4-5, Moscow (RUS)

    Cluster 3

    • October 24-25, Beijing (CHN)
    • October 28-29, Tokyo (JPN)
    • November 1-2, Singapore (SIN)

    In order to reward the best athletes and performances, a total of nearly US$ 2 million is available and includes the prize money provided at each meet, cluster, and overall ranking, plus bonuses for the establishment of World Records.

    The FINA/Mastbank Swimming World Cup 2014 can be followed on the FINA website thanks to a live TV streaming and live info feed for the finals at each meet.

    HOT LINKS
    – News
    – Results
    – Live TV streaming
    – Live Info Feed
    – Media Book
    – Rules & Regulations

    Press release from FINA

  • Britain secure top spot on the medal table

    With three more titles on the last day Great Britain secured the first place both in the swimming medal table and in the overall. The Team Trophy went to Italy. The Danish women’s medley relay set a new European Record – that was also a new Championship Record, the 29th CR of this edition. Russia’s Nedezhda Bazina won the last title on offer, winning the 3m in diving.

    Fran Halsall opened the British marching on the last day by winning the 50m free, later she added a bronze in the medley relay, her 5th medal in Berlin. Then Jazmin Carlin won the 400m free, it was her second title (note that the silver medallist Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands and the bronze medallist Mireia Belmonte of Spain both stood on the podium in the open water events as well). And to secure a perfect ending to the championships, the Brit’s men medley relay team also triumphed.

    GB’s Adam Peaty won his 4th gold overall in the relay team – the same feat Florent Manaudou reached a bit earlier when he clinched the title of the men’s 50m free.

    Sarah Sjoestroem and Katinka Hosszu also piled up some medals: the Swede finished with 7, adding two silver to her tally after coming second in the 50m breast and in the medley relay while Hosszu got her 6th by finishing third in the 200m fly. The Hungarian Iron Lady got 5 individual medals (including 3 gold) just as Mireia Belmonte (ESP) who won the 200m fly on Sunday and later got a bronze in the 400m free – the best individual efforts at these Europeans.

    Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) staged a rather successful globetrotting: after winning gold medals at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing (CHN) she flew in for the last two days of the Europeans and clinched the title of the 50m breast.

    David Verraszto completed Hungary’s swept of the individual medley titles by winning the 400m (Hosszu won both in the women’s field, Laszlo Cseh got the men’s 200m) – it was his first title in long-course pool.

    As the highlight of the day the Danish women medley relay set a new European record with 3:55.62min – it was the 4th continental mark of the meet. Thanks to this gold the Danes clinched the second place in the swimming medal table, ahead of Hungary and Italy.
    The last title was on offer in the diving pool, where a real drama unfolded in the women’s 3m event. For most of the time Tania Cagnotto was in the lead and the Italian was en route to repeat her historic feat of winning three gold medals in one edition (just as in 2009), she held a 12-point lead before the last dive but she couldn’t come up with a clean attempt and that cost her the title which went to Russia’s Nadezhda Bazina.

    As a consolation, she – just as Patrick Hausding – received the 2013 LEN Award from LEN President Paolo Barelli.

    Soon after, in the frame of a short closing ceremony, Mr. Barelli thanked for Berlin, the LOC and the German Federation for hosting this great event which was outstanding success again. As a final act, LOC President Christa Thiel handed over the LEN Flag to David Sparkes, CEO of British Swimming, as London will be the next host of the European Championships.
    See you there in 2016!

    Press release from LEN

    Images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu

  • Medal hunt: three top the overall with 8 gold apiece

    Two more gold medals in the dash events kept the Brits atop of the swimming medal table and rocketed them to the first place in the overall. The competitions in the pools are really exciting but rarely was the hunt for the medals so balanced as in Berlin: the first three countries (GBR, RUS, ITA) stand with 8 gold apiece in the overall. In swimming Poland also enjoyed a fine day with two titles – in diving Germany’s Patrick Hausding couldn’t equal his 5-medal winning performance of 2010.

    The dash events brought two more titles for Great Britain: though Adam Peaty couldn’t repeat his World record-breaking rush in the 50m breast – admittedly committed a mistake at the start –, he collected his second individual title in Berlin. Fran Halsall’s new love for backstroke got a great push today as she managed to out-touch her team-mate Georgia Davies by 0.01sec and came off with a gold in her very first big international race in this stroke.

    The Polish waited the penultimate day of the Europeans with high hopes and their aces were up to the task. In 100m fly, Konrad Czerniak, clocking the best time in the heats and having medals in this event from the previous two World Champs, did a clean job, he won the title with a margin of 0.51sec ahead of Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh.

    Radoslaw Kawecki (POL) has been ruling the European field in recent years, he was the title-holder, won the last three s/c Europeans and had a silver from the 2013 World Champs so it was no surprise that he reached the wall way ahead of the rest, gaining more than 1sec on the field.

    In the women’s 1500m Mireia Belmonte (ESP) earned her first gold medal in Berlin, while in the 200m Federica Pellegrini (ITA) showed her class again while keeping Katinka Hosszu (HUN) at bay: the Italian did a splendid job in the second half of the race.

    The home crowd also had something to cheer for: the 4x200m free relay offered tremendous excitements, the French were in front during the first three legs, the Russians chased them and the Germans were also close. During the last leg the Velodrom was almost blown up as Paul Biedermann started to erase the hosts’ deficit. For the last 50m it was clear that the Germans would retain their title, Biedermann’s split (1:44.95) was by far the best individual effort, the Russians came second and a bit surprisingly the Belgians also managed to pass the French.

    In diving Patrick Hausding’s attempt to repeat his 2010 performance of winning 5 medals in as many events failed on the last day: he finished 4th in the men’s platform after a thrilling final. Russia’s Victor Minibaev was simply too good, he just couldn’t make any mistake, all but one of his dives were close to 100 points or even received higher totals. Mark 10s appeared on the scoreboard after three of his dives, the last one received four 10s for 106.20 points, even Minibaev described it as his best dive ever.

    Tom Daley (GBR) added a silver to his tally this time: the Brit came up with a bit of unbalanced performance, he saw a couple of 10s after two of his dives but also made two mistakes – still, it was enough for the silver.

    Ironically and ultimately it was Hausding’s synchro team-mate Sascha Klein (GER) who prevented the Berliner from earning his fifth medal in his home pool. Klein produced a more solid performance this time so he got the bronze while Hausding had to settle for the 4th place. Though with three gold and a silver in his bag he doesn’t have to be too disappointed, after all.

    Among the women Tania Cagnotto came a step closer to repeat her hat-trick of 2009: after the 1m she won the 3m synchro with Francesca Dallape and has a great chance to get the third gold in the 3m, the very last event of these Europeans on Sunday.

    Press release from LEN

    Images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu

  • Peaty breaks WR, Italy and Denmark clinch two titles apiece

    Adam Peaty’s new World record in the 50m breast was the highlight of the evening session at the 32nd European Championships in Berlin. Since 2008 the Brit is the first to bring down an individual WR at the long-course Europeans. Italy and Denmark earned two gold medals apiece, the Italian quartet set a new ER in the mixed free relay. In diving the Russians stopped Patrick Hausding’s march, the German had to settle for the silver this time, after winning three golds in the previous three days.

    Adam Peaty (GBR) has already made his name by winning the 100m breast – now he caused some sensation in the semis of the 50 as he set a new World record by clocking 26.62. Peaty is the first swimmer since 2008 who betters an individual WR at the Europeans. He admitted it wasn’t a perfect swim so more are in sight on Saturday.

    The Danish women enjoyed a great day. Rikke Moeller Pedersen wasn’t even challenged in the 200m breast, still, she produced a great swim and cracked the Championship Record with an 2:19.84 effort, close to her own WR. She also won the 100m, smashing the CR in that event, too.

    Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) even surprised herself by ending up on the top of the podium: Sarah Sjoestroem (SWE) seemed to be red hot and invincible at these Europeans but Ottesen out-touched her by the smallest recordable margin (0.01sec). The same gap separated the bronze medallist Ilaria Bianchi (ITA) and 4th placed Inge Dekker (NED).

    The men’s 800m produced the very same podium picture as the 1500m: Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri clinched this title as well, Pal Joensen (FAR) came second while the winner’s training partner, Gabriele Detti (ITA) came third. The Italians added another gold at the end of day by winning the inaugural 4x100m mixed free relay with a new ER (3:25.02).

    The crown of the blue-ribband event, the 100m free went to Florent Manaudou this time: the French produced the only sub-48sec effort, in fact it was his first race when he managed to break this barrier (47.98). Much to the delight of the French, they made a 1-2 as Fabien Gilot came second.

    In the diving pool Patrick Hausding’s golden march was halted in the 3m synchro event as the Russian duo of Ilia Zakharov and Evgenii Kuznetsov emerged as the winners. In fact it wasn’t an upset as they are the reigning Olympic champions who could even beat the Chinese in London. Hausding with Stephan Feck led only after the first round, then the Russians went in front and their win was never in danger any more. They came up with an almost flawless performance, only they could produce 90+ point dives (twice) and this earned them a comfortable win.

    Sarah Barrow (GBR) clinched the women’s platform title after delivering a well-balanced performance. She had three dives worth of 76.80 points each – none of her rivals could exceed 72 points in any rounds, except former winner of this event, Ukrainian Yulia Prokopchuk who received the highest score for a single attempt (77.55) but her other four were all under 70 points. Still, before the last round Noemi Batki (ITA) came close to Barrow, trailed by just 2.10 points, but in the last round the DDs of the dives were different, the Brit had the more difficult (3.2 to 2.8) and since she executed it well no questions remained unanswered.

    Press release from LEN

    Images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu

  • Hosszu and Hausding complete hat-trick – so far

    Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu and Germany’s Patrick Hausding were the heroes of the day in the respective pools as they both won a third gold medal here in Berlin – and they have more events ahead. The Hungarians had a fine day with five medals, the British also added five to their tally and Denmark could celebrate two titles as well. The host Germans were also overjoyed after earning their first gold in swimming, courtesy of Marco Koch in the 200m breast.

    Katinka Hosszu piled up 8.5kg of medals in the past short-course World Cup season, had doubles at the s/c major events but she could never clinch two individual medals on the same day in the big long course championships. Until this day. The Hungarian Iron Lady came off with two titles, she won them in a span of 40 minutes. After the 200m IM victory ceremony she walked immediately to the start of the 100m back where she shared the first place with Denmark’s Mie Nielsen. And that wasn’t the end of her adventure: again, after the second victory ceremony she joined her team-mates for the 4x200m free relay and added a bronze to her tally. That features three gold medals now and she has more events to compete in.

    Hosszu broke the Championship Record in the 200m IM (2:08.11) and more CRs were also bettered on this day. Jazmin Carlin (GBR) launched the series of record-breaking performances in the 800m free (8:15.54), then Marco Koch (GER) also smashed it in the 200m breast (2:07.47) while delivering the first gold in swimming to the host nation and the Italian quartet also bettered the CR in the women’s 4x200m free relay (7:50.53). The CR count now stands at 16, showing the quality of the edition of the Europeans.

    Other notable achievements of the day included Viktor Bromer’s (DEN) fine win in the 200m fly and Vladimir Morozov’s triumph in the 50m back which marked the first swimming title for Russia in Berlin.

    History is in the making in the diving pool: Patrick Hausding made it three out of three in as many days after winning the 3m individual title. He came on the rocky road: after an erroneous first dive he found himself in the bottom of the field, at the 12th place. He bounced back quickly with a 92.75 pointer and started to chase his rivals. Though his most difficult, 3.7DD attempt wasn’t the best, he still started the last round from the second place, trailing 10 points to Ilia Zakharov (RUS). Nerves took over, the Russian’s dive wasn’t that good while Hausding managed to come up with a fine one only to win by a rather tiny 4.65-point margin.

    The German won the 1m, the 10m synchro and now this event in three days and tied the legendary Dmitry Sautin’s record as the Russian was the only male diver till date who won three gold medals in one edition at the Europeans back in 2000 (Tania Cagnotto also made the hat-trick among the women in 2009). Hausding will have two more events (3m synchro, 10m) so he can become the first one in history to clinch four gold medals in one edition. Since he competes in his home pool (he has been training here since 1999) it wouldn’t be that surprising – but it would still be a magnificent feat.

    Press release from LEN

    Images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu

  • Paltrinieri cracks ER, Cseh wins 12th career title

    Two great individual efforts highlighted the third day of swimming action at the 32nd European Championships in Berlin. Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri crashed the European record in the 1500m free, while veteran Laszlo Cseh earned his 12th gold medal at the Europeans while winning his 5th straight crown in the 200m IM. In the meantime Germany’s Patrick Hausding clinched his second title in his second competition in the diving pool.

    Gregorio Paltrinieri has become the first European swimmer who swam the 1500m free under 14:40 minutes. The Italian title-holder started the race with an unbelievable pace and after 200m he gained more than a body-length on the field. Soon the gap grew to 15m, while all his splits remained under 30sec. The crowd got louder and louder as the big screen showed that he was way ahead of the magical red line (the mark for the ER pace). At the end he smashed the European record, shaving off more than 3sec of the old one for 14:39.93. His training partner, Gabriele Detti earned the bronze, while Faroer’s Pal Joensen managed to clinch the silver with a great finish.

    Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, nearing to his 29th birthday, seemed ageless while battling with his six-year younger rivals. The Hungarian medley maestro did it again in the 200m: it was his closest win ever at the Europeans – 0.07 sec ahead of local favourite Philip Heintz (GER) –, still, he retained his crown. It was his 12th European gold, the first came 10 years ago. Now he also equalled his own record by winning the same event five times in a row: he did in the 400m IM between 2004 and 2012 (he skips this here) and he won his 5th straight gold in the 200m IM in Berlin.

    The Germans had an unlucky day, indeed: before Heintz’s minor loss to Cseh, Paul Biedermann was also out-touched by Serbia’s Velimir Stjepanovic by 0.02sec – it was a magnificent race, decided by millimetres.

    The women winners from Scandinavia were busy to better their respective events’ Championships Records: Rikke Moeller Pedersen (DEN) won the 100m breast with ease (1:06.23), just as Sarah Sjoestroem (SWE) did in the 100m free (52.67) – it was the second title for the Swede in two days.

    The hosts had something to cheer for in the diving pool. The second stage of Patrick Hausding’s quest was just as successful as the first one. After his win in the 1m, the 10m synchro came next and together with Sascha Klein they were superior again . The reigning world champions led from the beginning, they had great dives, once even a mark 10 appeared on the scoreboard and they finished the event with an almost 40-point advantage, ahead of the Belorussian pair, Vadim Kaptur and Yauheni Karaliou.

    The women’s 1m was like a thriller, the first and the fourth diver was separated by 3.80 points with the eventual winner, Tania Cagnotto prevailing by 0.75 points! The Italian diva held a comfortable 10-point lead after 3 dives but she committed a mistake in the penultimate round and the gap suddenly narrowed to 0.75 points between her and Russia’s Kristina Ilinykh. Interestingly, the margin remained the same as both earned the same totals for their last dives (62.40 – even the bronze medal winner German Tina Punzel received this amount) so Cagnotto won again just as in Rostock last year.

    Press release from LEN

    Images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu

  • Very Great Britain: 7 medals in one day!

    The British swimmers enjoyed a perfect day in Berlin: they earned seven medals including three gold at the European Championships and their mixed medley relay even set a new World Record. The Germans and the Russians clinched one gold and a silver apiece in the diving pool.

    The second day of the swimming finals started with an extraordinary scenario: though dead-heats are not a rarity in the dash events, but to see two in one is something really special. We had two gold medallists – Florent Manaudou (FRA) and Yauhen Tsurkin (BLR), both clocked 23.00sec – and two athletes stood on the third step of the podium, Andriy Govorov (UKR) and Benjamin Proud (GBR), after they came home equally in 23.21sec (and the former champion of this event, Spain’s Rafael Munoz Perez was just 0.03 sec away to share the bronze as a third one in the party…).

    Then the Brits started to roll… First came Christoph Walker-Hebborn who came first in the men’s 100m back (53.32) and a bit later, the 100m breast brought a 1-2 finish for Team GB, Adam Peaty won ahead of Ross Murdoch. Among the women the Brits also had some fine races, Fran Halsall won a bronze in the 50m fly – here Sarah Sjoestroem continued the Swedish traditions by clinching the gold medal, it was their 7th in the 9 races held since 1999 –, while Elizabeth Simmonds finished runner-up behind Spain’s Duane Da Rocha Marce in the women’s 200m back.

    And to have the icing on the cake, the Brit’s won the historic first European title in the newly introduced mixed medley relay. No one had any better starters for the first half of the race as the freshly crowned champions, Walker-Hebborn and Peaty. They’ve built a massive lead, Jemma Lowe and Fran Halsall managed to save an 1.91sec advantage for the end, ahead of the Dutch, while setting a new World Record (3:44.02).

    In diving Russia and Germany had a great day: a gold and a silver apiece were put in the respective bags. Patrick Hausding (GER) started his five-event quest with a gold medal, though even surprised himself a bit by winning the 1m springboard with Evgenii Kuznetsov (RUS) coming second. The order was reversed in the women’s synchro platform where Ekaterina Petukhova, Yulia Timoshinina (RUS) finished ahead of Maria Kurjo, My Phan (GER) – the new Russian pair was really impressive, especially considering their age (18 and 16 years old respectively).

    Press release from LEN

  • Seven Championships Records bettered in swimming’s opening day

    The swimming competition has got under way at the European Championships in Berlin. The first day saw seven Championship Records falling and Velimir Stjepanovic (SRB) clinching the first swimming gold medal in the men’s 400m free, then Katinka Hosszu (HUN) defended her title in the 400m IM. The 4x100m free relay golds went to Sweden (women) and France (men) respectively. Russia opened the diving events with a gold in the team competition.


    [pullquote]Velimir Stjepanovic (SRB), Gold – 3:45.66:
    “I went out really fast but that’s the way I usually race. At the final 50m I saw the Italian coming but I told myself that there were only a couple of meters left so I had to give the maximum.”

    [/pullquote]

    Serbia’s Velimir Stjepanovic already stunned many with a magnificent swim in the morning in the men’s 400m free and in the final he managed to reach another gear. With some big guns falling in the heats – Yannick Agnel (FRA) and Paul Biedermann (GER) were among the victims – the youngsters could make their names and 21 year-old Stjepanovic lived up to the occasion. He started with a devastating speed, though the others chasing him seemed to get closer in the third 100m but the Serb had enough left in the tank, bettering Andrea d’Arrigo (ITA) and Jay Lelliott (GBR), both 19 years old, and earned the first title of the swimming events.

    [pullquote]Katinka Hosszu (HUN) Gold – 4:31.03 (CR):
    “I was dead by the end because went out very fast during the first 300m. Anyway, this is a step forward compared to my previous European title-winning time.”[/pullquote]
    Katinka Hosszu cracked the Championship Record in the heats (4:31.53) and went out with an unbelievable speed in the women’s 400m IM final, she was way below the WR split even after 300m but the pace burnt her speed for the free leg and she could just better the CR again (4:31.03), 0.72sec shy of her ER (clocked in a shiny suit).Championship Records were also set by Andriy Govorov (UKR, men’s 50m fly, heats: 22.87), Sarah Sjoestroem (SWE, twice, women’s 50m fly heats: 25.12 and semis: 24.87) and Adam Peaty (GBR, men’s 100m breast, semis: 58.68).

    [pullquote]Sarah Sjoestroem (SWE), Gold – 3:35.82:
    “This waiting on the pool deck knowing that one team is disqualified is a rather unique feeling. You never know with the relays. This time it was to our benefit.”[/pullquote]
    The 4x100m free relay among the women ended in a drama: the Danish reached the wall first but a failed take-over – the second one was recorded with –0.07sec – put them out of contest and the gold went to the Swedish. The men’s race brought the usual clash among France, Russia and Italy with the French prevailing again. They sailed home with a 1.03sec advantage, thanks to the splits of Florent Manaudou (47.54) and Jeremy Stravius (47.56), the two best individual efforts of the entire race (and enough for a new CR: 3:11.64). The battle for the silver was much closer, the Russians out-touched the Italians by 0.11sec.

    The diving competitions also got under way with the team event. It’s become a rather exciting duel between the Russians and the Ukrainians. The ‘match’ – Victor Minibaev, Nadezhda Bazina vs. Oleksandar Bondar, Yulia Prokopchuk – had its twists and turns by all means, the lead was constantly changing, and even though Bondar produced the dive of the day for 90.10 points in the penultimate attempt, Minibaev’s last dive was enough to secure Russia’s win.

    Press release from LEN

    Images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu

  • Golden day for Reymond, Grimaldi, Romashina and Ukraine

    The final day of the open water and synchronised swimming events brought some fantastic performances of different types. While Axel Reymond (FRA) and Martina Grimaldi (ITA) were crowned the respective king and queen of endurance, Svetlana Romashina thrilled the spectators again with her magical routine in the synchro solo event and later the Ukrainians clinched their first ever synchro gold medal at the Europeans.

    As a coach put it at the regatta course in Grunau: to walk 25km is a demanding challenge – imagine how tough it is to swim that distance. Still, eighteen men and fifteen women lined up at the start, ready for those heroic efforts.

    In the men’s race no one seemed to wish to take the lead so it was rather strange that the males clocked weaker splits than the first ones of the women’s competition… Things changed after 5km, the men’s pack started to reach the normal gear – and after 10km Russia’s Yevgeny Drattsev and France’s Axel Reymond went a bit further. In fact, they started to leave the others behind and built a massive lead as they swam a brutally fast 5th lap with a split well under 28min (a fine feat even in a 10km race). At 15km it was clear that we would witness a two-horse race as these two enjoyed a 3min advantage over the others which grew lap by lap as they always stayed under 30min while the others couldn’t go that fast (at the end their winning margin was unusually huge, 9.30 minutes).

    Mostly Reymond swam in front, but before the final lap Drattsev was in the lead. However, the Frenchman had the better finish and reached the panel with a 12sec advantage ahead of the Russian. The pack fought for the bronze, and Italy’s Edoardo Stochino had the most reserves for the last metres, he reached the panel 1.6sec ahead of the hosts’ favourite Andreas Waschburger.

    The women’s race was much balanced, the leading group stayed together all the way long. Each lap saw a different name at the top of the actual classification and it was obvious that the last couple of hundreds metres would decide this magnificent race. Finally the first six came in within 30 seconds, at the end of an almost five and a half hour contest. Italy’s world title-holder Martina Grimaldi was too strong for the others, she didn’t take the lead at any of the previous laps but went in front in the last and won by 6.9sec. The fight for the silver was really gruelling between 39 year-old Angela Maurer (GER) and 20 year-old Anna Olasz (HUN), but the youngster didn’t let the chance go, she battled hard to out-touch the German by 0.4sec.

    The synchro events were also exciting but in a different way. In solo Svetlana Romashina’s superiority was unquestionable: the world champion Russian created a magnificent show again, her win was well-deserved as always. Later in the day she got a fine bonus: she received the 2013 LEN Award as the best synchro swimmer of the last year – the statue was handed over by the LEN President, Paolo Barelli.

    Back to the solo event, Spain – thanks to Ona Carbonell’s brilliant performance – managed to finish ahead of Ukraine (Anna Voloshyna was the new soloist for them in these Europeans). But it turned out to be a lonely occasion: just as in the duet and team event, the Ukrainians outperformed the Spaniards in the free combination as well. Since the Russians skipped the ‘combo’ this time, the gold medal was at stake in the evening session and it went to Ukraine. Their girls made a huge celebration after watching the scores: for the first time in history they became European champions. And since they entered all four events and earned medals in each they also won the Team Trophy, much to the delight of their fans.

    Press release from LEN

    Images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu