2018 Euros Previews: Efimova Looking To Take The Triple

2018 LEN EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• August 3-9, 2018 (swimming portion)
• Glasgow, Scotland
• Tollcross International Swimming Centre
• Psych Sheet

See all of SwimSwam’s European Championships previews here.

The 50m of any stroke is such a fury of power that anything can happen, but I’ve tried to narrow down the top 8 racers that have proven they have what it takes to be in the Glasgow final.

Russia’s Yuliya Efimova is the only European to have dipped under the 30-second barrier thus far this year, carrying a 2018 best of 29.84. The multiple Olympic medalist threw down some impressive times already this year at Sette Colli and shows no signs of slowing down across all 3 breast events.

Behind her in this 50m are a pair of British sprinters in Sarah Vasey and Imogen Clark, both of whom have notched season-bests of 30.60. Vasey’s mark was made at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where the Loughborough swimmer and British national champion raced her way to 50m breaststroke gold.

Mainstay Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania can never be counted out of the sprint breaststroke race, as the 2012 100m breast champion also owns a PB of under 30 seconds. She’s only notched 30.75 so far this season at Maria Lenk, but this 21-year-old’s talent demands she be listed as a medal contender in Glasgow.

Predicted to finish 8th is Ireland’s top breaststroker Mona McSharry. At just 17, McSharry has already written the Irish record books in the breaststroke events and has an international title under her belt via her 100m gold at last year’s World Junior Championships.

In the 100m distance, Efimova is so far ahead in terms of her performances recently that the race will come down to 2nd and 3rd among the rest of the European pack. Spain’s Jessica Vall was a finalist at last year’s World Championships and has already produced a 2018 time faster than what she went in Budapest. As such, she is a contender to take silver.

Italy’s Arianna Castiglioni also clocked a PB so far this year, coming within half a second of the national record in a time of 1:06.91. That ranks Castiglioni among the top 15 swimmers in the world in the event and she’s hungry to claim a medal.

Promising teen Tes Schouten should also rattle how the top 8 shake out, already owning the Dutch national record at just 17 years of age. Entering the KNZB Challenger in Oosterhhout this past March, Schouten held a career-fastest of 1:08.07, but hacked that down to 1:07.12 to score a new senior national record and enter the world’s top 20. Breaking that barrier may fuel her to yet another personal best when among the best in Europe.

A little known fact is that 200m IM Olympic silver medalist Siobhan Marie O’Connor actually owns the British national record in this 100m breast in 1:06.34 from 2016. O’Connor hasn’t raced the event that frequently since then, but has the capacity to be in-line with the rest of the field to potentially put herself on the podium. I’ve placed her a conservative 6th.

As far as the 200m breaststroke goes, Efimova enters these European Championships as the clear favorite once again, holding a 2018 time well over 2 seconds faster than the field.

2 finalists from the 2017 World Championships, Molly Renshaw of Great Britain and Jessica Vall of Spain are both in the mix, as is Renshaw’s domestic nemesis Chloe Tutton.

Renshaw and Tutton finished with the silver and bronze medals in this event at this year’s Commonwealth Games, clocking times of 2:23.28 and 2:23.42, respectively. Look for them to go neck-and-neck vying for the silver medal behind the Russian, while Germany’s Jessica Steiger, Turkey’s Viktoria Gunes and Spain’s veteran Marina Garcia are among the rest trying to stake their claim on the podium.