2015 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE SWIMMING CHAMPIONS AT THE WINGATE INSTITUTE IN NETANYA, ISRAEL
- Wednesday, December 2nd-6th
- Prelims at 9:30 am local (2:30 AM EST)/Finals at 5:30 pm local (10:30 am EST)
- Meet Information
- Event Timeline
- Live Stream: LEN Webcast
- Live Results
(Note for those reading results: Only TWO swimmers per nation may advance to the semi-finals, therefore you will see some swimmers from bigger countries “skipped” in the order of Qs in preliminary results)
Men’s 200 Freestyle
World record holder Paul Biedermann had a nice return to form yesterday in the 400 free, and he had another relaxed looking heats swim to qualify for the final third in 1:43.46. While this race was expected to be another battle between Biedermann and yesterday’s 400 champ Peter Bernek, Bernek did not start this morning. Belgium had the top two qualifiers for the final, with Glenn Surgeloose leading the charge at 1:42.94 ahead of Peter Timmers. It took 1:44.73 to make the final.
Tom Kremer delighted the home crowd in the first heat, setting an Israeli record in 1:45.30, and is a reserve for tonight. Surgeloose’s swim was also a Belgian record.
Women’s 50 Butterfly
The women’s 50 butterfly is shaping up as another showdown between the two Scandinavian sprint stars: Jeanette Ottesen and Sarah Sjostrom. Both swam comfortable looking races this morning to qualify for the semi in that order. Sjostrom has been in a class of her own over the last couple years, but Ottesen can pull the upset if Sjostrom makes any mistakes in the final.
The rest of the field should battle for bronze, with veterans like the Netherlands’ Inge Dekker and Italy’s Silvia Di Pietro in the mix. It took 26.58 to make the semi.
Men’s 200 Breaststroke
The men’s 200 breaststroke should be another great race tonight, with Kazan gold medalist Marco Koch throwing down against short course world record holder Daniel Gyurta. Koch showed a lot more this morning, qualifying first in 2:03.74, with Gyurta playing a dangerous game in 7th at 2:06.37.
Erik Persson was the best of the rest- he broke his own Swedish record from earlier this month to qualify second in 2:05.47. Also breaking his own national record was Estonia’s Martin Liivamagi in 2:06.43, which was the last time to make it into the final.
Women’s 100 Freestyle
This race is packed with star power- just run down the first three qualifiers: Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Sarah Sjostrom, Katinka Hosszu. Add to those three defending world champion Femke Heemskerk and you’ve got a hell of a race. Only Kromowidjojo seemed to push herself this morning, and as a results she was the only swimmer under 52 in 51.80.
It took 54.18 to make the semi-final. There were two notable scratches- Swedish star Louise Hansson and Marrit Steenbergen of the Netherlands.
Men’s 100 Backstroke
Coming off his silver medal performance in the 200 backstroke, Yakov Toumarkin was notably absent today from the 100. Perhaps that was due to Israel having plenty of firepower in this event, they qualified two swimmers (Guy Barnea and David Gamburg) into the semi and had a third top sixteen swim by Jonatan Kopelev thrown out due to the two per country rule.
200 champion Radoslaw Kawecki was the top qualifier in 50.52. It took 51.96 to make the semi. Ralf Tribuntsov broke his own Estonian record in 51.36
Women’s 100 Individual Medley
Katinka Hosszu looked fresh in her third start of the morning, pushing hard once again to set a championship record in 57.52. Siobhan Marie-O’Connor (2nd) outclasses the rest of the field, however Amit Ivry (3rd) could get a boost from the home crowd.
It took 1:01.05 to make the semi-final. Lisa Zaiser broke her own Austrian record to qualify 4th in 59.72.
Men’s 400 Individual Medley
Much like the Men’s 400 freestyle yesterday, none of the top swimmers looked to push this swim in the prelim. Roberto Pavoni qualified first, followed by Doha Bronze medalist David Verraszto. Gal Nevo made it into the final to the delight of the Israeli crowd, while Richard Nagy set a Slovakian record to qualify second in 4:06.03. It took 4:09.14 to make the final.
Mixed 4×50 Medley Relay
Once again it was Russia and Italy 1-2 to lead qualifying in the relay. Russia seems to be purposely using some of their younger athletes in this meet, as indicated by Federation president Vladimir Salnikov’s comments yesterday.
The results seemed to indicate that Simona Baumrtova set a World Record leading off the Czech Republic’s relay in 25.55- Etiene Medeiros had the record at 25.67 from Doha. However it looks to be a timing error as Petr Bartunek’s 28.2 split following Baumrtova is well off his 27.2 from the individual race yesterday.The Czech team secured the 8th spot on the strength of that performance in 1:41.84.
Men’s 1500 Freestyle
Grigorio Paltrinieri is the odds on favorite and swam a pretty aggressive morning swim to qualify first in 14:21.50. The Doha winner will be joined in the final by his countryman and yesterday’s 400 freestyle bronze medalist Gabrielle Detti.
Expect also the two up and coming distance swimmers, both just 19, Henrik Christiansen of Norway and Wojciech Wojdak of Poland, to contend for a medal as well.