2023 TURKISH TEAM TRIALS
- Thursday, April 27th – Sunday, April 30th
- Edirne, Turkey,
- LCM (50m)
- Live Results
The 2023 Turkish Team Trials began with a bang from Edirne today as a 15-year-old nailed a Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualification time in the men’s 1500m freestyle.
Racing in the final event on day one, Kuzey Tuncelli fired off a big-time personal best of 14:56.67 to take the 1500m free event. He clocked the sole sub-15:00 time of the field, beating his competitors by over 23 seconds in the process.
Emir Batur Albayrak secured silver tonight in 15:20.96 while Muhammed Yusuf Ozden rounded out the podium in 15:33.78.
Splits for Tuncelli’s swim
As for Tuncelli, his effort crushed his prior career-quickest of 15:08.67, a mark he produced just last month. His result also overtook the previous Turkish national standard of 15:02.22 Mert Kilavuz put on the books en route to becoming the 2022 European Junior champion in the event.
Tuncelli’s time dipped under the 15:04.64 World Aquatics ‘A’ standard needed to qualify for this summer’s World Championships. But it also cleared the 15:05.49 Olympic Qualification Standard needed for the 2024 Olympic Games.
Entering this competition, Tuncelli’s previous PB ranked him as the #2 European Junior 18&U in this event, sitting behind Frenchman Pacome Bricout‘s season-leading 15:08.01. He now wears the Europen Junior ranking crown with his remarkable result.
At just 15 years of age, Tuncelli now ranks 11th worldwide in this men’s 1500m free event on the season.
2022-2023 LCM Men 1500 Free
Hafnaoui
14:31.54
| 2 | Bobby Finke | USA | 14:31.59 | 07/30 |
| 3 | Florian Wellbrock | GER | 14:34.89 | 04/21 |
| 4 | Daniel Wiffen | IRL | 14:34.91 | 04/14 |
| 5 | Samuel Short | AUS | 14:37.28 | 07/30 |
| 6 | Mykhailo Romanchuk | UKR | 14:40.21 | 04/14 |
| 7 | Lukas Martens | GER | 14:40.85 | 04/21 |
| 8 | Sven Schwarz | GER | 14:43.53 | 08/11 |
| 9 | Oliver Klemet | GER | 14:45.39 | 04/21 |
| 10 | Liwei Fei | CHN | 14:46.59 | 05/03 |
| 11 | Daniel Jervis | GBR | 14:46.95 | 04/06 |
| 12 | Gregorio Paltrinieri | ITA | 14:49.02 | 04/17 |
That Bobby Hackett record has to be the oldest Age/Open record on the books for any major swimming nation.
Vasallo’s 13-14 record is 1 month older but I think that’s about to change.
Wow I think that’s the fastest time ever for a 15 year old. I also believe he’s the youngest swimmer ever to break 15 minutes. Looking forward to seeing how he does congrats!
I believe so!
What’s American 15-16 nag
15:03.9 by Bobby Hackett, when he won Olympic silver a month before turning 17. Probably no relation to Grant? if anyone wants to confirm
No relation
Is this Merve Tuncel’s brother?
I don’t think so… Every Turk I have ever known has had a patrilineal surname (i.e. the same for son and daughter, directly from their father, effectively genderless), plus Merve swims in Ankara with Gjon whereas I think Tuncelli is in Istanbul.
Anyone know why Merve Tuncel hasn’t kept on improving after her promising junior years? It looked like she was headed for Ledecky territory.
whoa!
Franko Grgic territory.
(Where is he today?)
Wherever Hanser Garcia is
Lol
Franko Grgic had a very bad shoulder injury multiple times before tokyo so he needed to operate it
Future of Turkish swimming is bright.
This has to be the fastest time ever for this age, right?