Swimmer's Daily

  • British empire: three titles, five medals in one day

    The day belonged to Team GB as they amassed three titles – all in the women’s events – and five medals altogether. Kathleen Dawson won the 100m back (in fact twice), Molly Renshaw did a clean job in the 200m breast, while the 4x200m free relay won by a mile. Italy’s Simona Quadarella was a cut above the rest in the 1500m free and won her second title here, like Russia’s Martin Malyutin, in the men’s 200m free. The hosts clinched gold in the 50m fly, thanks to the lucky touch of Szebasztian Szabo who won by 0.01sec.

    • Gold Medal SZABO Szebasztian HUN Silver Medal GOVOROV Andriy UKR Bronze Medal ZHILKIN Andrey RUS 50m Butterfly Men Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Gold Medal RENSHAW Molly GBR Silver Medal MAMIE Lisa SUI Bronze Medal EFIMOVA Yuliya RUS 200m Breaststroke Women Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Gold Medal MALYUTIN Martin RUS Silver Medal SCOTT Duncan W GBR Bronze Medal DEAN Thomas GBR 200m Freestyle Men Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Gold Medal GREAT BRITAIN HOPE Lucy GBR VAN SELM Tamryn GBR HIBBOTT Holly GBR ANDERSON Freya GBR Silver Medal HUNGARY JAKABOS Zsuzsanna HUN FABIAN Fanni HUN VERES Laura HUN KAPAS Boglarka HUN Bronze Medal ITALY PIROZZI Stefania ITA GAILLI Sara ITA QUADARELLA Simona ITA PELLEGRINI Federica ITA 4x200m Freestyle Women Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Gold Medal DAWSON Kathleen GBR Silver Medal PANZIERA Margherita ITA Bronze Medal KAMENEVA Maria RUS 100m Backstroke Women Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Gold Medal QUADARELLA Simona ITA Silver Medal KIRPICHNIKOVA Anastasia RUS Bronze Medal CARAMIGNOLI Martina Rita ITA 1500m Freestyle Women Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • DAWSON Kathleen GBR 100 Backstroke Women Final Gold Medal Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • RENSHAW Molly GBR 200 Breaststroke Women Final Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • MALYUTIN Martin RUS 200 Freestyle Men Final Gold Medal Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • GBR GREAT BRITAIN HOPE Lucy VAN SELM Tamryn HIBBOTT Holly ANDERSON Freya 4 x 200 m Freestyle Women Final Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Silver Medal HUNGARY JAKABOS Zsuzsanna HUN FABIAN Fanni HUN VERES Laura HUN KAPAS Boglarka HUN 4x200m Freestyle Women Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • DAWSON Kathleen GBR Great Britain WOMEN – 100M BACKSTROKE Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • WOMEN – 100M BACKSTROKE Podium Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • QUADARELLA Simona ITA Italy CARAMIGNOLI Martina Rita ITA Italy 1500m Freestyle Women Final Swimming Budapest – Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

    Team GB enjoyed a brilliant evening in the Duna Arena by winning three out of the four women’s events. Kathleen Dawson indeed won the 100m back final twice, once early in the session as scheduled, then again late in the evening when the event was re-swum.

    As it turned out, the voice-signal system, which aides the backstrokers at the start, malfunctioned at a couple of blocks and Sweden’s Louise Hansson – who was otherwise a late replacement of Israel’s Gorbenko – started off almost two seconds later and Kira Toussaint of the Netherlands also talked about confusion around the starting signal after the final. Sweden lodged an official protest and the LEN officials gave way to repeat the final, after the conclusion of the original programme.

    Dawson was dominant again and won by a margin of 0.52sec once more, and she set a new Championship Record once more, 58.18 (she clocked 58.13 previously). The twist came in the runner-up position: while at first Netherlands’ Kira Toussaint finished second with 59.02, in the re-run Italy’s Margherita Panziera claimed silver (59.01), while the bronze remained in Russia’s Maria Kameneva’s hand who was slightly off her original pace (59.13 v 59.22). It was Toussaint who could not near her original effort (59.02 v 59.32), despite taking the fastest start in the second swim.

    Molly Renshaw’s victory in the 200m breast was much more peaceful in all sense: she went in front over the second lap and never let it go after. After a silver in 2014 and a bronze in 2018, Renshaw finally made it: she gained 0.71 seconds on Switzerland’s Lisa Mamie who was in shock upon learning that she just took the silver medal. Her astonishment was quite understandable: the Swiss has never been close to the podium in women’s breaststroke events. Russia’s title-holder Yuliya Efimova – who earned her first title back in 2008 over this distance – out-touched compatriot Evgeniia Chikunova by 0.01sec for the bronze.

    The Brit’s completed a golden hat-trick by landing another relay title, No. 4 here in Budapest, this time in the 4x200m free. It was a dominant performance, their winning margin was huge, 3.11sec, ahead of the hosts’ quartet who claimed silver a bit surprisingly from lane 7, while Italy got the bronze.

    That was a fine way to end the day for the Italians – besides Panziera’s lucky silver – as it already started off well when Simone Quadarella retained her 1500m free title in the opening event of the session. She did the 400-800- 1500 treble in Glasgow 2018, here she stands 2/2 so far, with the 400m coming on the last day.

    As for the men, Russia’s Martin Malyutin achieved the great double too, added the 200m title to his 400m gold while setting a new CR. The Russian was the only one under 1:45sec – he geared up lap by lap (his placement at the turns: 4th-3rd-2nd-1st). It was a fine win, 0.40sec ahead of the Brits, titleholder Duncan Scott and Thomas Dean.

    The 50m fly, as a tradition, brought the closest contest imaginable. Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo had the luckier touch at the end, 0.01sec ahead of worldrecord holder and 2016-18 champion Andriy Govorov of Ukraine, to win his first-ever gold at majors (he had a silver from the 2019 short-course Europeans). The bronze was also decided by the smallest margin possible, Russia’s Andrey Zhalkin edged out Konrad Czerniak of Poland by 0.01sec too.

    Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

  • The Budapest organisers commit everything to make the atmosphere in the Duna Arena a bit friendlier despite the lack of spectators. Many winners were caught by surprise when they noticed their respective family members waving to them on the giant screen.

    GLINTA Robert ROU 100 Backstroke Men Final Swimming Budapest – Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

    The aquatic family loves to return to Budapest as the Hungarian fans usually create a vibrant atmosphere, even the foreign athletes felt themselves fired up whenever they raced in the Duna Arena. However, the 2021 European Aquatics Championships have to be different due to the well-known reasons in the current Covid-19 situation in Europe – the sanitary protocols and safety concerns demanded to hold the event behind closed doors.

    While the athletes are greeted with applause and cheering via the audio system (as it’s usual at broadcasted football games), upon their introduction, at the end of the races and during the victory ceremonies, the local organisers tried to add something unique to make the event even more memorable.

    Many winners were astonished upon leaving the pool that all of a sudden one or more of their family members waved them from the giant screen: Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu was greeted by her mother while Ukrainian 1500m free Mykhaylo Romanchuk was really moved upon noticing his beloved wife on the video wall and Romania’s new champion Robert-Andrei Glinta looked also pretty stunned and happy to see his mother just seconds after claiming his first-ever European title.

    Mykhaylo Romanchuk (UKR) Swimming, Day 3, Finals Duna Arena, Budapest 19/05/2021 Budapest/Hungary Photo © A. Kovacs/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

    “We wanted to compensate the athletes for the lack of the usual uplifting cheers from the packed tribunes” said David Szanto, CEO of the organising committee. “Though we cannot create the same atmosphere what 5,000 people could have made here but we came up with this idea and the athletes love it. We tried to reach almost 300 favourites’ families, whenever they gave their consent. Most of them agreed so watch out in the remaining days, you may see some very heart-warming scenes at the end of the races.”

    Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

  • Kimberly Davis reports.

  • Crews continue to search for a 50-year-old man who vanished Wednesday while swimming off Cape Canaveral, according to officials.

  • Today we go to Cancun, Mexico to dive with an underwater sculpture museum. Hundreds of sculptures under the sea promoting the growth of new coral reefs in Mexico. This place is called MUSA, and you can scuba dive or snorkel with these awesome sculptures. Come to Mexico to see these dreamy underwater sculptures of people, houses, vw cars, and more. This is the Cancun Mexico Travel Vlog underwater.

    https://youtu.be/nk_FEUQP0o0

  • The CDC is reporting that treated swimming pools are linked to Legionnaires outbreaks.

  • Throughout the lockdowns here in the UK, I’ve sought solace in the icy cold waters of our 18th Century swimming pool. Cold water immersion therapy is my favorite discovery of the past twelve months, helps me sleep and gives me the energy I need to power through my day.

    A few weeks ago, our wonderful gardeners here at Mapperton drained the pool, relocated all the little critters living there, and cleaned the walls and floors. Now it looks amazing, even if it has taken a few weeks to fill back up again!

  • New York City is one step closer to welcoming an unusual new landmark: an Olympic-length public pool floating in the East River.

    After more than 10 years of crowdfunding, testing and campaigning, the project’s designers say city authorities have now given them a green light to proceed with the plan.

    The proposal, dubbed “+ Pool,” will see a 285,500-gallon public pool built on a floating island. Layers of “filtration membranes” will make the water safe for swimming while simultaneously cleaning the surrounding river, according to project organizers, who say the pool will clean 600,000 gallons of river water every day.

    Read CNN

  • New stars on the rise: Seemanova, Glinta, Gonzalez make a splash

    New faces smiled to the cameras while posing with the respective gold medals: Czech Barbara Seemanova earned a stunning win in the women’s 200m free, followed by Romania’s Robert-Andrei Glinta in the men’s 100m back and Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez in the 200m IM. There were a couple of title-defences too, Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas continued her winning streak in the women’s 200m fly, just like Russia’s Anton Chupkov in the men’s 200m breast. The Brits won another realy gold, the third here, this time in the mixed medley, with a new European record.

    • Gold Medal KAPAS Boglarka HUN Silver Medal HOSSZU Katinka HUN Bronze Medal CHIMROVA Svetlana RUS 200m Butterfly Women Swimming Budapest – Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Gold Medal GLINTA Robert-Andrei ROU Silver Medal GONZALEZ DE OLIVEIRA H. ESP Bronze Medal CHRISTOU Apostolos GRE Bronze Medal NDOYE BROUARD Yohann FRA 100m Backstroke Men Swimming Budapest – Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Gold Medal SEEMANOVA Barbora CZE Silver Medal PELLEGRINI Federica ITA Bronze Medal ANDERSON Freya GBR 200m Freestyle Women Swimming Budapest – Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Gold Medal CHUPKOV Anton RUS Silver Medal KAMMINGA Arno NED Bronze Medal PERSSON Erik SWE 200 Breaststroke Men Swimming Budapest – Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Gold Medal GONZALEZ DE OLIVEIRA H. ESP Silver Medal DESPLANCHES Jeremy SUI Bronze Medal RAZZETTI Alberto ITA 200m Individual Medley Men Swimming Budapest – Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Gold Medal GREAT BRITAIN DAWSON Kathleen GBR PEATY Adam GBR GUY James GBR HOPKIN Anna GBR Silver Medal NETHERLANDS TOUSSAINT Kira NED KAMMINGA Arno NED KORSTANJE Nyls NED HEEMSKERK Femke NED Bronze Medal ITALY PANZIERA Margherita ITA MARTINENGHI Nicolo’ ITA DI LIDDO Elena ITA MIRESSI Alessandro ITA 4x100m Medley Mixed Swimming Budapest – Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Gold Medal CHUPKOV Anton RUS Silver Medal KAMMINGA Arno NED 200 Breaststroke Men Final Swimming Budapest – Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Celebrating Gold Medal GONZALEZ DE OLIVEIRA H. ESP 200m Individual Medley Men Swimming Budapest – Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • KAPAS Boglarka HUN 200m Butterfly Women Swimming Budapest – Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • Celebrating Gold Medal GLINTA Robert-Andrei ROU 100m Backstroke Men Swimming Budapest – Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    • SEEMANOVA Barbora CZE Czech Republic Celebrate PELLEGRINI Federica ITA Italy 200m Freestyle Women Final Swimming Budapest – Hungary 19/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

    The Duna Arena turned into a site of long-seen scenarios – gold for the Czechs, a Spanish and a Romanian male swimmer. This latter one indeed was an act never-seen-before: after delivering a silver in the 50m back, RobertAndrei Glinta claimed his country’s first-ever European title among the men by winning the 100m back (and it was long ago when they had a gold at all: their federation’s current president Camelia Potec was the last victor back in 2004).

    It was a real thriller as only 0.14sec separated the first six and only 0.09 the first four. Glinta won by 0.02sec ahead of Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez while Apostolos Christou from Greece shared the bronze with France’s Yohann Ndoye Brouard. Interestingly, this was the third straight bronze for the Greek – his first also came after a tie in 2016 (and this was the 4th shared medal here in Budapest).

    Gonzalez was back for more in the 200m IM where he stunned the field with a brave swim and claimed his first-ever senior European title – a first for Spain among the men since Rafael Munoz’s triumph in 2010, also here in Budapest. The Spaniard bested title-holder Swiss Jeremy Desplanches who turned first at 150m but couldn’t beat back Gonzalez’s surge who came from behind (was 4th) to win the race. The bronze went to Italy’s Alberto Razzetti, ahead of Hungary’s legend Laszlo Cseh who finished fourth, this time beating compatriot and SF-winner Hubert Kos (17 years younger than the former king of this event).

    A third upset came in the women’s 200m free where Barbara Seemanova could out-touch Federica Pellegrini for the title. The gap was 0.02sec, only 0.28 between the first and the fourth – still, it was amazing to see Queen Fede being beaten in her pet event where she won four straight gold between 2010 and 2016 (skipped Glasgow) and back-to-back world titles in 2017 and 2019. The Czechs had 3 titles in the history of the Europeans till today and their last came in 2012 when Petra Chocova triumphed in the 50m breast.

    In two finals the old guard ruled the field: Boglarka Kapas carried on her winning streak in the 200m fly. The Hungarian switched to this event after she had got enough freestyle swimming over the longer distances but while in Glasgow 2018 and in Gwangju 2019 she kind of surprised even herself by claiming the titles, now with one more year devoted to practice she kept the race under firm control and delivered a flawless performance. Compatriot Katinka Hosszu returned to this event after 2012 (back then she had won, also in 2010) and finished runner-up, something of a tradition for the Magyars who claimed 5 silvers in the last 7 editions. Indeed the golds also have also belonged to them in the 200m fly for a while: in the last three majors (2018, 2021 Europeans, 2019 Worlds) Kapas won 3/3 like Kristof Milak among the men.

    Anton Chupkov is in a similar though a bit longer winning rush: the Russian hit the wall first at the 2017 Worlds here in Budapest, since then he won in Glasgow, in Gwangju and here again. His last 50m was as devastating as ever and blew away the Nordic challengers, Finland’s Matti Mattson, leader at 150m, and Sweden’s SF-winner Erik Persson who came third as Arno Kamminga also staged a tremendous finish (he was even 0.03sec faster than Chupkov over the last lap).

    In the relay ‘overall’ the Brits took a 3-2 lead over Russia – while Kolesnikov&Co. won the two men’s relay so far, the Brits took the women’s 4x100m free and now went 2/2 in the mixed by coming first in the medley and they also set a new European record with 3:38.82.

    By the way, talking of records and Kolesnikov, the Russian came up with another blast as he clocked 52.09 in the opening backstroke leg in the relay. This is better than the current European record (52.11), though the rules do not recognize individual records while men and women swim together. It was also a message for the field of the 100m back: Glinta’s winning time was 52.88 – just Kolesnikov couldn’t make that final on Wednesday as he went for the 100m free title and was unable to recover for the semis.

    Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto