2016 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 4
- Monday, May 16th – Sunday, May 22nd
- Prelims: 10:00 AM (London Time) / 5:00 AM (Eastern Time)
- Finals: 6:00 PM (London Time) / 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)
- London Aquatics Center, London, UK
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results
- Live Stream
Great Britain picked up its 5th medal of the 2016 European Championships courtesy of breaststroker Ross Murdoch. The University of Stirling stud threw down an impressive swim in the men’s 200m breaststroke final to take gold ahead of reigning World Champion and defending European Championships title winner Marco Koch of Germany.
After the race, Murdoch describes how his 2:08.33 was a product of being ‘disciplined’ in his stroke and ‘applying power when he’s really streamlined’ to keep his length throughout the race. He also recounts seeing the splash of Koch’s pull coming up right beside him, giving Murdoch the extra oomph to touch just .07 ahead of the German.
Interview courtesy of LEN.
As originally reported by Loretta Race:
MEN’S 200 BREASTSTROKE – FINAL
- Ross Murdoch (GBR) – 2:08.33
- Marco Koch (GER) – 2:08.40
- Luca Pizzini (ITA) – 2:10.39
Swimming the 3rd best time of his career, British breaststroking star Ross Murdoch pulled the mild upset and snatched the 200m breaststroke European Championship title out from under reigning World Champion, German Marco Koch. The two made a role reversal of the 2014 version of this meet, where Koch took the title ahead of Murdoch.
Murdoch’s season-best entering this competition was the 2:09.16 he registered at the British Olympic Trials, a time which rendered him in 3rd and out of the event on GBR’s Olympic roster. He’s slated to swim the 100m event, but with the University of Stirling student-athlete’s performance in the longer race tonight, he is now the 4th-fastest swimmer in the world.
Koch swam a solid race, bringing his final 50 home in a 32.50 to Murdoch’s 33.21. Koch already owns the world’s fastest time this season with the 2:07.69 from the Luxembourg Euro meet and is widely regarded as the man to beat in Rio.
Italy nabbed the bronze tonight with Luca Pizzini‘s time of 2:10.39 .