2016 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 6
- 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
The final full morning of the 2016 European Championships will have three 50 meter races, including a 50 meter freestyle from defending Olympic and World Champion Florent Manaudou. Manaudou has been mostly on the sidelines during this event. Based on the heat sheet, his best competition should be Ben Proud. Proud was considerably off in the 100 freestyle, although he put up a good performance to take third in the 50 butterfly.
Also up this morning will be the women’s sprint, which still has plenty of star power even without Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom. Francesca Halsall has been having a strong meet, Jeanette Ottesen has a pair of silver medals already and Ranomi Kromowidjojo is coming off a 52.2 split in the mixed 4×100 relay.
Women’s 50 Breaststroke
- Jennie Johansson, SWE 30.75
- Hrafnhildur Luthersdottir, ISL 30.94
- Jenna Laukkanen, FIN 31.01
- Arianna Castiglioni, ITA 31.02
- Mariya Liver, UKR 31.16
- Sophie Hansson, SWE 31.19
- Natalia Ivaneeva, RUS 31.22
- Martina Carraro, ITA 32.27
Ruta Meilutyte is done for the week, leaving this race without a clear favorite. Johansson is the top returner from Berlin and Kazan, but Luthersdottir has been having a career meet over the weekend and is traditionally strong in this race. She has set an Icelandic record in both breaststrokes thus far, and she was just short this morning. Her record sits at 30.90.
Coming off a strong performance that she was non-plussed by, Jessica Vall Montero missed making the semi-final and had to contend with being a reserve.
Men’s 50 Freestyle
- Ben Proud, GBR 22.15
- Florent Manaudou, FRA 22.18
- Andriy Govorov, UKR 22.23
- Kristian Gkolomeev, GRE 22.25
- Luca Dotto, ITA 22.32
- Konrad Czerniak 22.34
- Krisztian Takacs 22.39
- Federico Bocchia, ITA 22.41
Most of the sprinters remained in hibernation this morning, with nearly a second separating the top seed Proud from the championship record. All three medalists from Berlin 2014 are through to the semi-final. as well as the Euro finalists from Kazan- except for Russia’s Vlad Morozov. Morozov has not taken part in the meet this week.
Missing out on the final was former world record holder Frederick Bousquet in what is perhaps his final individual European Championship swim. Bousquet recorded a 22.75 and is the second alternate for the semi-final.
Women’s 200 Butterfly
- Mireia Belmonte Garcia, ESP 2:09.70
- Liliana Szilagyi, HUN 2:09.89
- Martina Van Berkel, SUI 2:09.95
- Franziska Hentke, GER 2:10.13
- Stefania Pirozzi, ITA 2:10.20
- Zsuzsanna Jakabos, HUN 2:10.21
- Judith Ignacio, ESP 2:10.29
- Nida Ustundag, TUR 2:10.34
Mireia Belmonte set herself up for a tough night tonight, where she will have to swim a 1500 final and 200 fly semi in the same session. Along with teammate Ignacio, she will try to repeat the 1-2 sweep from 2014. Katinka Hosszu, who won bronze in that competition, did not start in this race.
There were no European medalists at last summer’s worlds, although that could mostly be attributed to Belmonte’s injury, since the winning time was slower than her 2014 time.
Women’s 50 Freestyle
- Ranomi Kromowidjojo, NED 24.80
- Jeanette Ottesen, DEN 24.98
- Anna Santamans, FRA 25.00
- Aleksandra Urbanczyk 25.10
- Francesca Halsall, GBR 25.11
- Yuliya Khitraya, BLR 25.16
- Kim Busch, NED 25.33
- Erika Ferraioli, 25.35
All the expected names made it through, although the absence of Sjostrom took a likely medalist out of the equation. Also making it through to another semi was Sweden’s Therese Alshammar, the only swimmer in the entire field that was born in the 1970s.
The field will have a long way to go to set any records in this race, with the Championship record sitting at 24.09 and the European/World mark at 23.73
Men’s 4×200 Freestyle Relay
- Hungary 7:12.46
- Great Britain 7:13.68
- France 7:13.83
- Belgium 7:13.97
- Netherlands 7:14.07
- Italy 7:14.34
- Poland 7:15.91
- Israel 7:16.25
Hungary took the top spot, aided by one of the fastest splits in the filed by Dominik Kozma (1:47.25). But the real show stealer was Serbia’s Velimir Stepjanovic, who led off his country’s relay in 1:46.74. Unfortunately, it was not enough to propel Serbia into the final.
Great Britain did not use either James Guy or Robbie Renwick on their morning relay, giving them some options to upgrade for the final. Look for Dan Wallace and Ieuan Lloyd to possibly be replaced for the night final.
France used Yannick Agnel, who swam a fairly pedestrian 1:48.28
Under the radar, the Dutch seem quite well prepared for this meet.
Verschuren, Reins, Brzoskowski, Schwietert, Stolk… All of them seem to be shaved down & performing at their best. I suspect they’ll win gold tonight, but no chance of a medal in Rio.
After years of non-existent, the Dutch 4x200s are catching up with their 4x100s.
Cate Campbell just went 52.38 in Japan Open!!! Insane!!
It’s common with her.
What is more insane in my opinion is that she will probably never break a world record because of these stupid women’s sprint records made in magical suits. It’s really a shame that such a huge talent can’t hold a world record. Who can seriously call Britta Steffen the best female sprinter of the last 15 years?
Same with Adrian in the men’s 100 free. A shame he doesn’t hold the American record because of the suits. Who will remember Walters in 20 years? Nothing against him but it’s safe to say that he’s not the best American sprinter of these last 15 years. Far from that. Being on the same list as Mark… Read more »
Even Sun Yang has never been close….
His best in the 800 free is 7.38.57.
Alshammar. 25.35 at 38. Qualified for semis.
Almost 20 years she is at the best international level. I believe her first medals were in 1997.
In what world is Heemskerk a likely 50m free medalist?
Relays:
Belgium to add Timmers
Netherlands to add Verschuren and Brzoskowski
GB to add Guy and Renwick
Italy to add Dotto and Detti
Hungary to add Cseh?
Poland to add Korzeniowski?
Perhaps. But Laci didn’t swim well in Gyor. But this Laci is not that one.
Even though Germany had their national championship 2 weeks ago, I don’t know why they couldn’t have put up any relays at the European Championships.
If Biedermann and whoever else want to get their heavy training in, give some of their ‘B’ guys a shot or something. Tough olympic qualifying times or not, this isn’t the olympics and maybe one day they will go to the olympics. Not participating is even a quicker path to obscurity. Props to Alexander Kunert, some of the others, and the Kochmeister (of course), but shots fired at the German national team.
I’m quite sure that in 2020 they will also send their best athletes to the Euros. Imo they are just still shocked by the Olympics 2012. At that time they swam very good Euros and were catastrophic at the Olympics. Seems like they just want to do everything different compared to 2012.
In general I would say that is neither advantage nor disadvantage to compete at the Euros.
I think you are absolutely right. German Head Coach Lambertz wants his top swimmers to concentrate on Rio – and his other strategy is: “Quality before quantity” – he only wanted to have competitve relays in London – and that is not possible with the B,C-squad. On the other hand it would have been a great opportunity for some youngsters, also in relays, to compete on a huge international stage – but Lambertz has a long time strategy for the youngsters and that are the 2020 Olympics. He is the boss at the pool since 2013 – and I think, his strategy has worked so far. We (you know I’am German) have a really good 4 x 100 and 4… Read more »
France wins its heat ahead of Belgium and Netherlands in 7.13.83.
Stravius 1.48.22
Pothain 1.48.70
Agnel 1.48.28
Bourelly 1.48.63
Probably no change in final. Maybe Mignon but I don’t think so.
Hungary wins he second heat in 7.12.46 ahead of GB and Italy.
Netherlands will add Verschuren in final.
Belgium will add Timmers.
GB will add Guy.
Maybe Hungary will add Cseh in final?
Italy must swim well at afternoon based on morning results Italy 4×200 is out of Rio!
Agnel in the water. First time in that pool since London 2012.
Always stunned by Ranomi’s starts. Huge favorite for gold.
Then Halsall and Ottesen for silver and bronze.
I fear for French Santamans that she finishes 4th in final.