Two titles for Galossi in 15min, gold No. 4 for Padar

Lorenzo Galossi was the hero of the day: the Italian bagged two gold medals on the penultimate day of the European Junior Swimming Championships. First, he won the 800m, then 15 minutes later he anchored the Italian 4x200m free relay to another title. Nikolett Padar made the 100-200m double in the women’s free – this was gold No. 4 for the Hungarian –, while Turkey’s Merve Tunced achieved the same in the 800-1500m; Sunday these two young greats will stage the ultimate showdown in the 400m final.

In the first final of the penultimate racing day, Bosnia’s Lana Pudar consoled herself for her bitter loss in the 100m fly. She had been out-touched by 0.03sec two days ago, now she left everyone behind in the 200m to win it by a mile (3.14sec). Forty minutes later she was back to book her lane in the 50m final, she qualified in the 4th place, so after clinching gold and two silvers in Rome in the fly events a year ago, she is set to leave Bucharest with three medals once more.

Nikoletta Padar bagged her fourth gold here after a convincing win in the 100m free. She produced the only sub-55sec swim, team-mate Dora Molnar came second to give Hungary a 1-2 finish, something the country had last seen some 70 years ago at the senior Europeans in Torino 1954 – ever since the Magyars barely made the finals in the blue-ribband event.

After a flood of semis, the 800m free finals offered more excitement for the spectators who showed up in big numbers once more. The men’s race was somewhat similar to the 1500m free, though this time Italy’s Lorenzo Galossi staged a duel with Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski and left him behind over the last 300m. What’s more, the champion of the 1500m, Romania’s Vlad-Stefan Stancu also passed Chmielewski to clinch the silver, much to the joy of the ensemble.

The women’s final offered less excitement as Turkey’s Merve Tuncel continued her winning streak. She had been unbeatable in the 400-800-1500m a year ago in Rome, now she added the 800m crown with ease after winning the 1500m. Tuncel can insert the last piece to the golden puzzle on Sunday in the 400m free final – though she will have a showdown there with Padar.

The session-ending men’s 4x200m free showcased Galossi once more who had a seemingly comfortable task, to put the icing on the cake as his team-mates built a massive lead in the first three legs. Galossi, just 15 minutes after his 800m triumph, did his job and secured the Italians’ victory without any struggle.

Well, there was more to watch beyond the original schedule: in an extremely rare scenario, two swim-offs were needed in the women’s 50m fly between France’s Emmy Preiter and Britain’s Hollie Widdows for the reserve position for the final. Their first clash also ended in a dead heat, so they were called back for another round and finally, Preiter prevailed, by 0.08sec.

For detailed results, visit: http://ejcotopeni2022.microplustiming.com

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of LEN/Simone Castrovillari

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

Stancu keeps the hosts on the golden track, first title for Germany and Belgium

Not only David Popovici can deliver gold for the hosts at the home European Junior Swimming Championships. While the home hero swam only a semi-final on the third day, team-mate Vlad-
Stefan Stancu came up with a brilliantly built 1500m swim to generate some noise again on the packed stands. The session also saw the first titles for Germany and Belgium respectively, while the Turks claimed their third, thanks to Yigit Oktar’s impressive win in the men’s 200m IM. Hungary’s Nikoletta Padar bagged her third gold here, now she anchored the women’s 4x200m free relay to a fifth victory in the last six editions.

Though this day was intended to be relatively calmer since David Popovici took part only in a semi-final – qualified in the first place to the 50m free final –, still, the home crowd had a lot to cheer for. First, Bianca Costea ended up on the podium in the women’s 50m free as she hit the wall 0.12sec behind Nina Jazy who delivered the Germans’ first gold here. The place was still noisy, the stands weren’t as packed as the day before, still, almost 1,500 fans attended the session and created a great atmosphere.

Then later in the session, the shortest distance was followed by the longest one, and Vlad-Stefan Stancu’s brilliant victory. It was a magnificent duel between him and Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski. The Polish, winner of the 200m fly, held on for almost 1200m, they turned parallel for every lap, but then Chmielewski couldn’t react to Stancu’s switching gears. To the joy of the crowd, the Romanian sailed away while building an 8sec winning gap by the end. Turkey’s Yigit Oktar did a clean job while winning the men’s 200m IM, gaining almost two seconds on Italy’s Simone Spediacci. The women’s 100m fly produced much more excitement, title-holder Lana Pudar of Bosnia-Hercegovina seemed to be on her way to another gold, but Roos Vanotterdijk came up with a tremendous finish and managed to pass her over the last 25m. Pudar made a last big push, but the Belgian still had it, by 0.03sec.

In the session-ending women’s 4x200m relay the Hungarians retained their title – indeed, apart from 2019, this event belongs to them as they won it five times in the last six editions since 2016. Still, their dominance has never been so overwhelming as it was this time when they gained 9.87sec on the Italians. Their anchor, Nikoletta Padar bagged her third gold here in as many days.

For detailed results, visit: http://ejcotopeni2022.microplustiming.com

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of LEN/Simone Castrovillari

First individual title for Popovici, two golds for Padar, Tuncel medals in two individual finals

Home hero David Popovici retained his title from last year with ease in the men’s 200m free in front of a capacity crowd of 2000 in Bucharest, on the second day of the European Junior Swimming Championships. Three more swimmers achieved the same feat, Hungary’s Nikolett Padar (200m free), Turkey’s Merve Tuncel (1500m free), and Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski (200m fly). Tuncel also had a bronze in the 200m free, while Padar added another gold in the mixed free relay where the Hungarians pipped the home quartet for the title despite another 47.34 blast from Popovici in the opening leg. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Lisovets won the most thrilling final so far, in the 50m breast 0.07sec separated the first three.

A rare scene at junior meets in any aquatic discipline: the stands were fully packed in Bucharest on the second day of the meet. Even Romania’s legendary tennis player Ion Tiriac showed up (his foundation is one of the main partners of the championships). The 2000 fans were eager to see the nation’s new phenomenon David Popovici who went for his first individual title here in the 200m free final. 

Indeed, he was a sure bet and guaranteed the celebrations for the crowd – the sky should have come down to prevent the reigning senior world champion from winning this event. And Popovici delivered in style, he didn’t let any room for doubt, it was a start-to-finish lead and win for him, in 1:45.45, 2.26sec faster than runner-up Lorenzo Galossi of Italy.

The women’s final offered something similar as the defending champion Nikoletta Padar of Hungary controlled the race for all the 200m and hit the wall a full second faster than her rivals. 

In the dash finals France’s Mary-Andre Moluh continued the series of dominant victories, she set a new Championship record (27.74) in the 50m back. The men’s champion Ksawery Masiuk copied the feat, the World Championships bronze medallist from Poland gained 0.56sec on the runner-up (Moluh won by 0.57), a large winning margin over one length of the pool. 

Eleni Efimova also ‘killed the party’ in the women’s 50m breast, the Estonian was 0.87 faster than the field – so after taking a full set of medals from Rome from the three breaststroke events (was third over this distance), now she is set to make a possible treble here. 

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Lisovets copied Efimova’s feat by stepping forward from the third position taken in Rome to the top spot here. Though this race was the first real thriller on Day 2, it all came down to the last stroke and the touch. The top three stormed to the wall in a span of 0.07sec and Lisovets was the luckiest, touching out the Netherlands’ Koen de Groot by 0.03, while Serbian Uros Zivanovic came further 0.04sec adrift. 

In the 200m fly it was the twin’s time once more. The Chmielewski brothers ruled the field, just like in Rome, leaving no chance for the others – again, Krzysztof bettered Michal, this time by 1.19sec (last year ‘only’ 0.8 were the difference). The champion’s feat is even more remarkable as he also swam in the morning and clocked by far the best time in the heats of the 1500m free. 

And there was a fourth successful title defence today: after Popovici, Padar, and Chmielewski, Turkey’s Merve Tuncel also repeated her win from Rome 2021 in the women’s 1500m free – though this time she was far from her junior ER set a year ago (15:55 then, 16:13.28 now). It was understandable, though, as she raced in Budapest, and also swam in the 200m free final at the beginning of the session where she took the bronze. 

The session-ending mixed free relay heated up the place once again, especially after Popovici produced an even bigger blast than a day before, a 47.34 in the first leg in the mixed free relay (again: he had won the senior world title with 47.58). However, this time the initial advantage wasn’t enough: the Hungarian girls’ low 54sec splits were unmatchable for the hosts, so the Magyars claimed the gold. It was the second one for Nikolett Padar, whose 54.28 was by far the best female split in the final, and the anchor, Dora Molnar also bested the others, her 54.49 was a full second faster than the rest of the field, and 2.02 better than the hosts’ last split. 

For detailed results, visit: http://ejcotopeni2022.microplustiming.com

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of LEN/Simone Castrovillari

The Popovici Show is on: Romania claims first-ever relay gold

David Popovici kicked off the party in style at European Junior Swimming Championships, his 47.54 blast over the opening leg of the 4x100m freestyle relay gave the Romanian quartet the necessary edge and in the end, they won by 0.08sec ahead of the Brits. Emma Carrasco claimed the first title of the meet, in the 400m IM, and the young Italian ladies were the fastest in the women’s free relay. 

Fans gathering in large numbers created a brilliant atmosphere on the opening day, especially when the hosts’ poster boy David Popovici was splashing the water. The 2-time world champion cruised to the 200m free final with an easy swim in the second place, sparing his energy for the session ending relay. 

There came the biggest thrills of the day: he produced a 47.54 blast in the opening leg – 0.04sec better than his winning time at the FINA Worlds in Budapest! – which put his team on track. Indeed, his split was almost identical to his Rome stunner (47.56) a year ago, but then the Russians managed to shave off the initial advantage by the end of the race. Over the following two legs it looked like the same would happen as the Brits took over the lead before the last 100m, but the hosts’ anchor Patrick Dinu stepped up. While in Rome he produced the weakest split (51.04), now he did a splendid job, clocked 49.72, gaining almost a full second on the Brits, and managed to out-touch them by 0.08sec at the wall. That brought the first-ever relay title for the Romanians (their time was also a second faster than a year ago – so Popovici did his best once more, while the others improved a lot during the last year). 

In the other relay final Italy sailed away with an easy win, took the title 0.51sec ahead of the Brits, while the Germans came a distant third (in a rare scene, the favored Hungarians’ second swimmer stopped after 60m, it turned out Zsofia Ratkai had swallowed water into her lungs, only medical treatment could ease her shock). 

In the opening day’s only individual final Spain’s Emma Carrasco claimed a stunning win from lane 8. She had been 4.38sec slower in the heats than the top finisher, but geared up for the afternoon session and left no chance for the others – her winning margin was 0.72sec. 

For detailed results, visit: http://ejcotopeni2022.microplustiming.com

Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of LEN/Simone Castrovillari