2015 European Games Day 2 Finals: Steenbergen Matches Semi’s Time for 100 Free Gold

Inaugural European Games; Baku, Azerbaijan

• Tuesdays June 23– Saturday June 27, 2015
• Baku Aquatic Centre, Baku, Azerbaijan
• Prelims: 12:30 am EST; Finals: 8:30 am EST
• Meet Preview
• Start lists, timeline and results can be found here.
• Live Video

Event Program for Second Session on Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Men’s 100 Backstroke – FINAL

Luke Greenbank of Great Britain is the winner of the men’s 100m backstroke race today, stealing the victory in a time of 54.76.  Greenbank was able to spin his arms just fast enough to catch up to and overtake Russian Filipp Shopin, who took charge of the race early on and still led through until the final 25m.  Running out of gas on the crucial final stretch, Shopin would settle for 2nd place in 54.81.  Germany’s Marek Ulrich wound up 3rd for the bronze medal in a time of 55.35

Women’s 400 Freestyle – FINAL

Russia’s Arina Openysheva opened the race on fire and simply did not look back, taking the women’s 400 freestyle by over 3 full seconds.  Openysheva topped the podium in a time of 4:08.81, smashing her previous best time this year, the 4:09.91 from Russian Championships, by over a second.   Openysheva is targeting a whopping eight gold medal at these Games and this race gives her a 2nd gold already, as she was part of Russia’s 4×100 freestyle relay last night.  2nd in today’s 400 was Germany’s Leonie Kullmann in 4:12.16 and Russian teammate Anastasiia Kirpichnikova came in 3rd in 4:13.13.

Men’s 100 Freestyle – SEMI-FINAL

As in most sprint freestyle events, the men’s 100 freestyle semi-finals came down to merely tenths and hundredths, as the top 12 competitors all scored times of 50-point, led by Scott Duncan‘s (GBR) top seed of 50.24.  2nd to him in the semi-final was Serbia’s Andrej Barna who earned a 50.50, followed closely by Italy’s Allessandro Bori in 50.60.  With the top 8 making it to the final within 7 tenths of a second, tomorrow’s showdown should be quite the battle to the wall.

Women’s 200 Butterfly – FINAL

A thrilling 200 butterfly race ensued in Baku, with Spanish swimmer Carmen Balbuena taking it out with the field, then surging to the front of the pack to lead right until the last 30 meters or so.  At that point, Balbuena started severely tightening up and the competitors around her started closing in, with Germany’s Julia Mrozinski capitalizing on the window of opportunity to take the race for herself.  Mrozinski indeed would charge ahead for the win in a time of 2:11.19, while Balbuena would fall back to 4th in a time of 2:12.43. As comparison, Mrozinski’s final 50 split was a 33.81 vs Balbuena’s 35.78. In between these two rising stars, we saw Italy’s Elisa Scarpa Vidal earn the silver in 2:12.27, while Hungary’s Boglarka Bonecz will wear the bronze, touching the wall in 2:12.42.

Men’s 200 IM – SEMI-FINAL

A solid two semi-final heats threw down some impressive swims in the 200 IM, but it was Austria’s Sebastian Steffan who earned the top seed for tomorrow’s final, clocking a time of 2:01.92 for the only sub-2:02 on the morning.  2nd seed went to Italy’s Lorenzo Glessi in a time of 2:02.23, followed closely by France’s Theo Berry‘s 2:02.58 for 3rd seed.  Great Britain is the only nation with more than one swimmer in the final and will be represented by Martyn Walton (2:03.17) who sits in the 5th seed and his teammate Jarvis Parkinson (2:03.53) who is positioned as the 8th seed.

Women’s 100 Freestyle – FINAL

The Netherland’s up and coming sprint star, Marrit Steenbergen did it again….literally!  Steenbergen steamrolled her way to the top of the podium in the women’s 100 freestyle in a time that exactly matched her semi mark of 53.97. Although a quicker reaction time off the block would certainly serve Steenbergen well, she was able to pull herself to the front of the raging wave of swimmers and lead the entire way, splitting 26.28/27.69.  A Russian duo swam into a 2-3 finish, with tonight’s earlier 400 freestyle winner, Arina Openysheva settling for silver in this shorter event in a time of 54.45 and her teammate Mariia Kameneva touching in 3rd in a time of 55.19.   As such, Steenbergen crushed Openysheva’s hope of earning 8 golds on the meet, but the Russian can still aim for an incredible 7 in Baku.

Men’s 200 Breaststroke – FINAL

A stellar demonstration of breaststroke was on display in the men’s 200 final, as the top 8 men stroked and glided through 4 lengths, all in the hope of taking home a gold medal.  Russia raced to a 1-2 finish, with winner Anton Chupkov clearly coming out on top in a swift time of 2:10.85 for the gold.  His mark tonight is not that far off of the World Junior Record in the event, a 2:10.23 held by Japan’s Ippei Watanabe from last year.  Russian countryman Kirill Moraashev earned the silver tonight in a time of 2:12.94, with Great Britain’s Luke Davis clenching the bronze in a final time of 2:13.45.

Women’s 200 Backstroke – FINAL

Big-time back half swimming on the part of Germany’s Maxine Wolters to enable the 16-year old to all but catch the raging Russian, Polina Egorova, down the final stretch of the women’s 200 backstroke.  Egorova was able to hold off the German and touched the wall in 2:11.23 for the gold, with Wolters claiming silver just .15 behind in a time of 2:11.38.  3rd place in the race was Ukraine’s 15-year old competitor, Maryna Kolesynkova.

Men’s 200 Butterfly – SEMI-FINAL

After today’s semi-finals, the top 4 men all earned sub-2:00 times, led by Russia’s Daniil Pakhomov with his time of 1:57.74.  Italy’s Giacomo Carini came in with the 2nd seed  in a time of 1:57.80, with France’s Matthias Marsau claiming the 3rd seed in 1:59.07.  Russia’s Daniil Antipov earned the 4th spot for the final, swimming a time of 1:59.67.

Women’s 200 Breaststroke – SEMI-FINAL

Russia continued its streak of setting up its swimmers in medal-scoring position, with the women touching in 1st and 3rd fashion in the 200 breaststroke semi-final.  Maria Astashkina earned the top spot in a time o f 2:23.88, less than a second off of the World Junior Record of 2:23.12 owned by Ukraine’s Viktoriya Solnceva since 2013.   Astashkina simply crushed the competition, including her own Russian teammate Daria Chikunova who sits as the 3rd seed in 2:28.01, almost a solid 5 seconds back.  Astashkina is working her way towards a possible breaststroke sweep, having already earned a gold earlier in Baku in the women’s 50 breaststroke.  GBR’s Layla Black is positioned in the middle as 2nd seed tonight in the 200 breast, touching in a time of 2:27.09

Men’s 1500 Freestyle – FINAL (Fastest Heat)

The top three men in tonight’s 1500 freestyle also contested each other in the 400m freestyle earlier in this competition, but with much different results.  France’s Nicolas D’Oriano and Russia’s Ernest Maksumov battled throughout the 1500 race, with D’Oriano claiming the early lead, only to be overtaken slightly by Maksumov.  The cat and mouse game ensued through the finish, where D’Oriano was able to maintain his speed all the way to wall to earn the gold in 15:13.31.  Maksumov finished just behind him a time of 15:13.90.  Maksumov had earned the bronze in the 400 race earlier, while D’Oriano finished 5th in that shorter race.  Israel’s Marc Hinawi got his nation on the board with a bronze in this 1500, finishing in a time of 15:25.63 after having placed 7th in the 400 earlier.

Mixed 4×100 Freestyle Relay – FINAL

The final event of the session, the mix 4×100 freestyle relay gave Russia’s Arina Openysheva her 3rd gold (4th medal overall) of these Games thus far.  Russia’s mixed relay raced to the wall 1st in a time of 3:30.30 for the win. Silver was earned by the Great Britain foursome anchored by 16-year old Georgia Coates, as the squad touched in 3:32.65.  Germany claimed the bronze, finishing in a time of 3:33.74.