Trebles for Popovici, Masiuk, Tuncel, Jefimova, Hungary tops the medal charts, Italy wins Team Trophy

Romania’s David Popovici (50-100-200m free), and Turkey’s Merve Tuncel (400-800-1500m free) repeated their respective feats after 2021, and completed the freestyle trebles this time as well. Estonia’s Eleni Jefimova joined them by winning all three breaststroke events and Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk by sweeping all titles in backstroke. Hungary finished atop the medal table, thanks to its two outstanding female swimmers who bagged six medals respectively, Dora Molnar (four golds, two silvers) and Nikoletta Padar (four golds, a silver, and a bronze). For the first time among the juniors, Italy clinched the Team Trophy.

Once more, packed stands and an electrifying atmosphere welcomed the teams – but especially David Popovici who was to complete his mission at the home meet by winning the 100m free on the closing day. He did it in style, with another 47sec blast, though 0.5sec shy of his junior WR from the Budapest Worlds. He finished the event with four titles and a silver medal and earned the trophy of the best male performer of the meet as his 47.69 from the Sunday final was still the best individual effort based on the FINA points.

Turkey’s Miss Metronome, Merve Tuncel delivered once more as precisely as the clocks are ticking: just like in Rome, she won the longer distances – she was no match for the others in the 400m this evening. She also had a bronze in the 200m, so she says goodbye to the age-group competitions as a 6-time junior champion.

Estonia’s Eneli Efimova was the third who made a treble here, she didn’t leave much chance for her rivals in the 100m breast, so after taking a gold-silver-bronze collection in Rome, now she leaves Bucharest with three titles.

Bosnia’s Lana Pudar was close to achieving the same in butterfly, but she had been out-touched by 0.03sec in the 100m fly final by Roos Vanotterdijk – in the 50m she hit back and won today by 0.15sec ahead of the Belgian. In fact, Vanotterdijk still enjoyed a great week, her versatility catches the eye as besides getting two medals in fly events, she came third in the 100m free on Saturday, and on the closing day she missed the title in the 100m back by 0.02sec – but still claimed a medal in three strokes!

In this latter final Hungary’s Dora Molnar finished off her rivals with another monstrous second 50m to snatch her fourth title here. Later she was back and got a sixth medal with the Hungarian medley relay, together with Nikoletta Padar who got a bronze in the 400m free and fifteen minutes later anchored the relay. That silver crowned the Magyars’ magical week and secured the top spot on the medal charts, for the first time since Budapest 2005.

Poland came second (amassed the most medal in total, 16) – Ksawery Masiuk contributed with a third backstroke title. He wanted to bring down the junior WR in the 100m back, he was a bit far but still posted a Championship Record (the only one in the men’s events).

Italy’s Lorenzo Galossi copied his ‘mentor’ Gregorio Paltrinieri’s tactics – King Greg tested that at the Olympics last summer (almost worked), and again two weeks ago at the Worlds (worked perfectly). Following the advice from the legend, Galossi also booked a side lane in the heats, then in the final pushed extremely hard, out of sight from those battling in the middle. This earned him the 400m crown while swimming on lane 1 (as a curiosity, the other home hero Vlad-Stefan Stancu, and Poland’s Krzystof Chmielewski shared the silver by clocking identical times, an absolute rarity over this longer distance). What makes Galossi’s victory even more remarkable is that it came just a day after he had grabbed two golds in the 800m and in the 4x200m free relay in 15 minutes.

There were other fine duels between outstanding individuals in the men’s field. In breaststroke, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Lisovets bettered the Netherlands’ Koen de Groot 2-0 as after the 50m, he also passed him in the 100m. On contrary, Czech Daniel Gracik and Denmark’s Casper Puggaard finished 1- 1 – today it was the Dane’s turn in the 50m, to give the first title to his country here. Team GB also had to wait till the last day to finally celebrate gold – and they could do it twice. The first was landed fast, in the opening final of the session as Leah Schlosshan won the 200m IM convincingly.

The second came then in the very last final of the meet where the men’s medley relay won a thrilling clash, ahead of Ukraine and Poland. Before that, the French came first in the women’s medley – a relieving outcome for Mary-Ambre Moluh, whose Championship Record-swim in the 50m back earned her the best female performer’s trophy – though she fell short in a couple of other events where she was considered the favorite. Breaststroker Justine Delmas could stand on the top of the podium too after two silvers in the individual finals.

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

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

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