2023 Short Course Euros Record Roundup: GBR Clock Men’s 200 Free Relay Mark

2023 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• December 5-10, 2023
• Otopeni Olympic Swimming Complex, Bucharest, Romania
• Short Course Meters (25 meters)
• Prelims 2:30am (ET), Finals 11am (ET)
• Entries Book
• Day 1 Live Recap
• Live Results (Omega)
• Live Results (Microplus Timing)
• Eurovision Sport Livestream

The 2023 European Short Course Championships saw day one action get underway from the Otopeni Olympic Swimming Complex in Bucharest, Romania.

Athletes wasted no time putting in strong performances in this morning’s heats to jockey for the best lane positions for the evening finals. In doing so, we already saw multiple national records bite the dust on both the men’s and women’s sides.

Here’s a round-up of the records which went down through just day one prelims with the main event yet to come tonight.

Women’s Records

• Danielle Hill (IRL) Women’s 50m Freestyle – 24-year-old Hill broke her own Irish national record en route to capturing the 11th seed in the 50m free. The Belfast native produced a mark of 24.33, overtaking her previous standard of 24.44 logged at the 2019 edition of these European Short Course Championships.
• Kalia Antoniou (CYP) Women’s 50m Freestyle – Cypriot swimmer Antoniou sneaked into the women’s 50m free semi-final with a time of 24.65 as the 17th swimmer. The University of Alabama standout previously held the national record at the 24.67 she notched at the 2021 Short Course World Championships.
• Diana Petkova (BUL) Women’s 100m Breaststroke – Bulgaria will see Petkova represent the nation in the semi-finals of the women’s 100m breast. The 23-year-old established a new national record of 1:05.63 en route to capturing the 7th seed. That obliterated her previous PB and record of 1:07.40 hit at the 2019 Bulgarian Short Course Championships.
• Slovakia (SVK) Women’s 4x50m Free Relay/Lillian Slusna Women’s 50m Free – The foursome of Lillian Slusna, Tamara Potocka, Alexandra Hrncarova and Andrew Podmanikova put up a new national record of 1:38.52 to place 5th out of the heats of the women’s 4x50m free relay. Leading off the relay, Slusna established a new individual 50m free Slovakian standard of 24.42, erasing the prior record of 24.61.

Men’s Records

• Lucas Henveaux (BEL) Men’s 400m Free – Henveaux grabbed the 5th seed in the men’s 400m free, producing a morning swim of 3;39.96. It marked his first-ever foray under the 3:40 barrier, surpassing his newly-minted Belgian record of 3:40.80 notched just this past October at the Loughborough International Swim Meet.
• British (GBR) Men’s 4x50m Free Relay – Great Britain turned in a statement-making men’s 4x50m free relay this morning. The combination of Matt Richards (21.09), Duncan Scott (21.12), Alexander Cohoon (20.89) and Lewis Burras (20.71) led the field with a prelims time of 1:23.81. Their outing overtook the previous British national record of 1:24.61 put on the books at the 2019 Scottish Championships. Scott was the sole carryover from that relay. Cohoon’s 20.89 split was especially promising for the Fairford swimmer.
• Greek (GRE) Men’s 4x50m Free Relay – Greece earned the 3rd seed at 1:25.15 for a new Greek record. Kristian Gkolomeev led off in 21.30 and 2nd leg Stergios-Marios Bilas, the U23 Championships gold medalist in the 50m free, clocked 21.06 as the next fastest swimmer of his squad.
• Romanian (ROU) Men’s 4x50m Free Relay/David Popovici 50m Free – Romania clocked a new national benchmark as well in the relay heats – 1:26.45. David Popovici, the LCM 100 freestyle World Record holder, led off the foursome in a mark of 21.54. That’s just .02 off his own lifetime best from last month.
• Estonian (EST) Men’s 4x50m Free Relay/Ralf Tribuntsov 50m Free – Estonia joined the record-breaking party in the relay, nailing a mark of 1:26.85 for 6th in the prelims. Ralf Tribuntsov turned in a lifetime best of 21.22 as the 1st swimmer, earning a new Estonian standard in the process.