2015 European Games: Two Jr World Records Highlights Day 3

2015 EUROPEAN GAMES

• Tuesday, 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

Men’s 50 Breaststroke – Semifinals

Lithuania’s Andrius Sidlauskas popped a quick 50 breaststroke to earn the top seed going into finals. He was the only swimmer to break 28 seconds and posted the fastest time of the semifinal by nearly a half second. The final at the end of the session will be very tight. Second place through eighth place all finished between 28.20 and 28.53.

Women’s 50 Backstroke – Semifinals

Austria’s Caroline Pilhatsch got her hand on the wall first to post the fastest time of the semifinal in the womens 50 backstroke. Her time of 28.63 leads a tight field into finals. The top four swimmers were all under 29 seconds, while fifth through eighth qualified under 29.4.

Men’s 200 Butterfly – FINALS

Russian butterflier Daniil Pakhomov picked up his second medal of the games, and his first gold medal with a winning time of 1:57.04. He won a bronze medal in the 50 butterfly on the first day of competition.

Carini Giarcomo won Italy’s fourth silver medal of the games with his time of 1:57.46. Matthias Marsau picked up a bronze medal for France with his time of 1:58.96.

Women’s 200 Freestyle – Semifinals

Arina Openysheva of Russia was the only swimmer in the field to break two minutes in the semifinals of the women’s 200 freestyle. She will be the top seed heading into finals and is the favorite to win the event. The second fastest qualifying time was 2:01.60 from the Netherlands Marrit Steenburgen, but she could be a lot quicker than that in finals tomorrow. She won the 100 freestyle yesterday with a 53.97, nearly breaking the junior world record. If she can maintain her speed over the whole 200, it will be a very fun race.

Men’s 200 Backstroke – Semifinals

Luke Greenbank of Great Britain, the gold medalist in the 100m backstroke, posted the fastest time of the semifinals during the men’s 200 backstroke with a 1:57.53. He will be the favorite to win the event tomorrow. The only other competitor to break 2 minutes was Polands Jakub Daniel Skierka. He finished with a 1:59.95.

Women’s 200 Breaststroke – FINALS

16 year old Russian breaststroker Maria Astashinka ran away from the field, winning her second gold medal of the games and breaking the Jr World Record with her time of 2:23.06.That time will stand as the 6th fastest time in the world this year, and breaks Viktoriya Solnceva‘s previous Jr World Record of 2:23.12 from the 2013 Junior World Championships.

Giulia Verona of Italy secured the silver medal with her time of 2:25.91 and Layla Black of Great Britain picked up a bronze medal with a 2:27.61.

Men’s 100 Freestyle – FINALS

After winning the 50 freestyle yesterday, Great Britain’s Duncan Scott secured his second individual gold medal of the Games with a 49.43 in the men’s 100 freestyle final. He was the only swimmer in the field to break 50 seconds.

Alessandro Miressi of Italy won the silver medal with a 50.03 and Vladislav Kozlov won the bronze medal with a 50.11.

Women’s 100 Butterfly – Semifinals

Polina Egorova of Russia was the only swimmer in the field to break 1 minute in the women’s 100 butterfly. It will be a close race in finals, however, as the top six swimmers are all qualified within 1 second of Egorova.

Men’s 200 IM – FINALS

Sebastian Steffan won Austria’s first Gold medal of the day after swimming a 2:01.39 in the men’s 200 IM. Great Britain was charging in behind him, taking the silver and bronze medals. Javaris Parkinson finished second at 2:01.94 and his teammate, Martyn Walton finished third at 2:02.24.

Women’s 50 Backstroke – FINALS

Following Steffan’s lead, Caroline Pilhatsch won Austria’s second consecutive gold medal with her time of 28.60 in the women’s 50 backstroke. She finished just ahead of the silver medalist, Pauline Mahieu of France, who was 28.70. Russia’s Mariia Kameneva secured the bronze medal with her time of 28.77.

Men’s 50 Breaststroke – FINALS

Lithuania’s Andrius Sidlauskas nearly broke Peter John Stevens Jr World Record with his gold medal winning time of 27.81, missing the Jr World mark by .07 seconds. Croatia’s Nikola Obrovac was just behind him, picking up the silver medal with his time of 27.89. Tobias Bjerg of Denmark won the bronze medal with his time of 28.04.

Women’s 1500 Freestyle – Timed Final

Italy’s Sveva Schiazzano managed to hold off Janka Juhasz of Hungary to win the Gold medal in the women’s 1500 freestyle with her time of 16:40.17. Juhasz was on the wrong side of the touch, earning the silver medal at 16:40.39. Marina Castro Atalaya won the bronze medal for Spain with her time of 16:46.16.

Men’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay – FINALS

The Russian team of Alexsandr Prokofiev, Nikolay Snegirev, Ernest Maksumov, and Elisei Stepanov won the event with their time of 7:16.08. Great Britain won the silver medal with a 7:19.36, and Germany picked up the bronze medal with a 7:20.77.

Women’s 4×100 Medley Relay – FINALS

The Russian relay team of Mariia Kameneva, Maria Astashinka, Polina Egorova, and Arina Openysheva combined to win the event and break the Jr World Record with their time of 4:03.22. Team USA established the previous record of 4:03.44 at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships.

Marrit Steenbergen pulled the Netherlands’ relay team into the silver medal position with another huge 53.0 anchor split. They finished with a final time of 4:07.99. Great Britain won the Bronze with their time of 4:09.10.