16-Year-Old Barbora Seemanova Smashes Czech 200 Free Record

2016 EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, July 6 – Sunday, July 10, 2016
• Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary
• Prelims 9:30AM / Finals 5:30PM (Local Time: UTC+2)
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In the 200 free final at the Euro Jr Champs, Czech 16-year-old Barbora Seemanova shattered her own national record with a 1:58.14 to win the silver medal.

Seemanova, who just last month became the first Czech woman under 2:00 in the 200 free, was 2:00.53 in prelims, then got down to 1:59.53 in the semis to almost eclipse her national record right then and there.

Splits:

• Seemanova, Euro Jrs final, July 2016: 27.76 – 30.06 – 30.38 – 29.94 (1:58.14)

She lopped off over a second from her 1:59.47 at the Czech Cup in early June, which was her first (and a Czech woman’s first) sub-2:00 performance. This summer, she’s taken the national record down by over two full seconds.

Seemanova is getting used to smashing national barriers– she became the first Czech woman under 55 in the 100 free with a 54.97 in the 100 free final to earn a silver medal at these Euro Jr Championships.

To put this into some context, Seemanova (if she were American) would unseat Sippy Woodhead for the #4 spot on the U.S. 15-16 age group rankings in the 200 free, and would come in at #4 in the 100 free with her swims from this week.

Considering that at last year’s Euro Jr Champs, Seemanova was just 2:02.16 in the 200 and 56.85 in the 100, it looks as though she is quickly developing into a swimmer capable of competing well at the senior international level.