Euro Jrs Scratches: Israel’s Adam Maraana Drops 100 Backstroke Semi-Final

2021 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, July 6th – Sunday, July 11th
• Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
• Heats at 9:30am local (3:30am EST)/Finals at 6pm local (Noon EST)
• LCM (50m)
• Start Lists/Results
• Live Stream
• Day 1 Prelims Recap
• Day 1 Finals Heat Sheets

Heading into the first finals session at the 2021 European Swimming Championships, there will be 4 swimmers who placed within the top 16 during prelims who won’t be returning to contest their respective semi-finals.

Israel’s Adam Maraana has scratched out of the men’s 100 backstroke semi-final after placing 13th overall in the prelims of the event with a 56.81. He entered into the event with a 55.38 for 6th place overall, a time he swam earlier this year at the 2021 Israel Swimming Cup. This would have been Maraana’s only event during the evening session on day 1. He is also slated to race the men’s 50 and 200 backstrokes and will go in as 5th seed with a 25.73 and 12th seed with a 2:01.60, respectively.

Maraana’s scratch combined with a tie for 17th place during prelims would normally necessitate a swim-off for the spot in the semi. Belarus’s Ivan Buyevich and Italy’s Federico Tammaro both swam a 57.07 for 17th but Tammaro is ineligible to advance because of the 2 swimmers per nation rule. Only the top 2 swimmers from each nation for an event can advance past the prelims and Tammaro was slower than fellow Italians Davide de Paolis (56.83, 14th) and Nicolo’ Accadia (57.05, 16th).

Daria Trofimova and Aleksandra Kurilkina of Russia both got bumped from the semi-final of the women’s 100 freestyle despite her 10th and 12th place finishes, respectively, in the prelims. They won’t advance to the next round of racing due to 2 swimmers per nation rule. Since top seed Klepikova (55.01) and 9th seed Daria Tatarinova (56.18) were quicker, Trofimova and Kurilkina are ineligible to move on.

In Trofimova and Kurilkina’s absence, 17th and 18th place finishers Bianca Andreea Costea (56.76) of Romania and Dora Molnar (56.81) of Hungary will get a spot in the semi.

The final top-16 finisher who won’t move on to the semi-finals is Poland’s Mateusz Chowaniec in the men’s 50 butterfly. Like Treofimova and Kurilkina, Chowaniec was bumped from the semis due to the 2 swimmers per country rule. Chowaniec was a 24.65 for 13th place in the heats which was slower than 3rd seed Pawel Uryniuk (24.16) and 6th seed Kacper Czapla (24.30). Without Chowaniec in the semi-final, 17th seed Paulo Vakulyuk of Portugal will move on with his 24.83 from the prelims.