2022 European Championships: Day 7 Finals Preview

2022 EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, August 11 – Wednesday, August 17, 2022 (pool swimming)
• Rome, Italy
• Parco Del Foro Italico
• LCM (50m)
• Start Times
  • Prelims: 9:00 am local / 3:00 am ET
  • Finals: 6:00 pm local / 12:00 pm ET
• Meet Central
• Event Schedule
• Entries
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• Day 7 Finals Heat Sheet

We’ve arrived at the 7th and final day of racing at the 2020 European Swimming Championships and that means there’s just one session of fast racing to go. On the last night of the meet, things will start off with a pair of sprint events in the form of the men’s 50 free and women’s 50 breast finals.

Ben Proud will be on the hunt for a gold medal in the 50 freestyle here, which would give him a perfect 3-for-3 this summer. Proud started off a few weeks ago with a gold in the event at World Championships with a 21.32 and followed that up with another win at the Commonwealth Games when he posted a 21.36.

During the semi-final round, Proud hit a 21.40 to earn top seed for the final but he will face stiff competition in the form of Thom De Boer and Lorenzo Zazzeri who each swam a 21.72 in round 2. Notably, however, the entire field got under 22 seconds as Pawel Juraszek got into the final with a 21.92 for 8th.

In the 50 breaststroke, Ruta Meilutyte will be the one to watch considering that she got within 0.14 seconds of the world record in semi-finals. Meilutyte posted a 29.44, which was the 4th-fastest time ever and close to Benedetta Pilato‘s 29.30 world record from 2021.

Pilato will be in the pool as well, racing against Meilutyte, meaning that this will be a battle to the very last stroke. Other entrants include Imogen Clark (30.10), Arianna Castiglioni (30.27), and Veera Kivirinta (30.77).

The women’s 50 breaststroke won’t be the only event where the world record is on alert as the 100 backstroke will feature the newly minted all-time fastest man in Thomas Ceccon. Ceccon nabbed the world record with a 51.60 at World Championships and is back in action here. He was a bit off that mark in semis when he hit a 53.48, which #3 in that round.

The top seed in the 100 backstroke will be France’s Yohann Ndoye Brouard who swam a 52.97 and Apostolos Christou is #2, having swum a 53.20.

Next up is the 200 butterfly where Helena Rosendahl Bach and Keanna MacInnes are the top 2 women. Rosendahl Bach is slated to race in lane 4 with her 2:08.48 and MacInnes isn’t far behind with her 2:08.90 from the semi-finals. After that, Portugal’s Gabriel Jose Lopes will attempt to capture his first-ever Euros medal in the 200 IM. He hit a 1:58.77 in the semi-finals but many men including Hubert Kos (1:59.38) and Alberto Razzetti (1:59.52) are certainly within range to capture the win.

The individual events will wrap up with the women’s and men’s 400 freestyles. In the women’s event, Isabel Gose of Germany was the only one to crack 4:08 during prelims with a time of 4:06.10. That’s a bit off her best time of 4:03.21 from Tokyo 2020. The top seed on the men’s side is Germany’s Henning Muehlleitner who hit a 3:46.79 while his teammate swam a 3:47.38 for second seed.

The meet will wrap up with a pair of relays in the women’s and men’s 4×100 medley where Sweden and Italy are seeded first. Check back in for our live recap and analysis, which will start at 6:00 pm local time or 12:00 pm ET.