2024 EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, July 2nd – Sunday, July 7th
- Prelims at 9:30am local/Finals at 6pm local
- Lazdynai Pool, Vilnius, Lithuania
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Entries
- Live Results
- Livestream ($)
The third night of finals from the 2024 European Junior Championships featured the best swim of the competition thus far, as Turkey’s Kuzey Tuncelli unleashed a stunning performance in the boys’ 1500 freestyle.
Tuncelli put on a masterclass, taking the lead from the first 50 and running away from the field to touch first by more than 22 seconds in 14:41.89, taking down Franko Grgic‘s World Junior and European Junior Record of 14:46.09 set at the 2019 World Junior Championships.
What a moment! 👏
Kuzey Tuncelli 🇹🇷 feels ‘great’ after setting a new World Junior Record in the 1500m Free. #EJSCVilnius2024 | https://t.co/IBWoGhHUkN pic.twitter.com/2fGeX0WcYs
— European Aquatics (@EuroAquatics) July 4, 2024
Tuncelli, 16, knocked more than 12 seconds off his Turkish Record and lifetime best of 14:54.16, set in July 2023.
He’s also been close to that mark twice in the lead-up to this competition, placing 8th at the 2024 World Championships (14:54.98 in the prelims) and winning the European senior title in 14:55.64 less than two weeks ago.
In April 2023, he became the first 15-year-old to break 15:00 in the 1500 free.
Split Comparison
| Grgic, 2019 | Tuncelli, 2024 |
| 27.21 | 26.75 |
| 56.52 (29.31) | 55.36 (28.61) |
| 1:26.03 (29.51) | 1:24.85 (29.49) |
| 1:55.88 (29.85) | 1:54.40 (29.55) |
| 2:25.64 (29.76) | 2:23.74 (29.34) |
| 2:55.57 (29.93) | 2:53.23 (29.49) |
| 3:25.49 (29.92) | 3:22.78 (29.55) |
| 3:55.53 (30.04) | 3:52.52 (29.74) |
| 4:25.10 (29.57) | 4:22.04 (29.52) |
| 4:54.84 (29.74) | 4:51.74 (29.70) |
| 5:24.57 (29.73) | 5:21.37 (29.63) |
| 5:54.31 (29.74) | 5:50.82 (29.45) |
| 6:24.02 (29.71) | 6:20.33 (29.51) |
| 6:53.66 (29.64) | 6:49.72 (29.39) |
| 7:23.47 (29.81) | 7:19.27 (29.55) |
| 7:53.07 (29.60) | 7:48.99 (29.72) |
| 8:22.76 (29.69) | 8:18.42 (29.43) |
| 8:52.49 (29.73) | 8:47.98 (29.56) |
| 9:22.12 (29.63) | 9:17.33 (29.35) |
| 9:51.66 (29.54) | 9:47.22 (29.89) |
| 10:21.32 (29.66) | 10:16.74 (29.52) |
| 10:50.93 (29.61) | 10:46.56 (29.82) |
| 11:20.63 (29.70) | 11:16.42 (29.86) |
| 11:50.21 (29.58) | 11:46.51 (30.09) |
| 12:19.93 (29.72) | 12:16.33 (29.82) |
| 12:49.43 (29.50) | 12:45.66 (29.33) |
| 13:19.30 (29.87) | 13:15.14 (29.48) |
| 13:48.71 (29.41) | 13:45.23 (30.09) |
| 14:17.80 (29.09) | 14:14.46 (29.23) |
| 14:46.09 (28.29) | 14:41.89 (27.43) |
Tuncelli also took 17 seconds off the European Junior Championship Record of 14:58.89 that he set last year en route to gold.
Set to turn 17 in August, he moves into 18th all-time in the event and 8th among Europeans.
For additional context, his time is more than 22 seconds faster than the existing U.S. National Age Group Record for 15-16 boys of 15:03.91 set by Bobby Hackett in 1976.
Set to make his Olympic debut in Paris, Tuncelli moves into #4 in the world this season.
2023-2024 LCM Men 1500 Free
FINKE
WR 14:30.67
| 2 | Daniel Wiffen | IRL | 14:34.07 | 02/18 |
| 3 | Gregorio PALTRINIERI | ITA | 14:34.55 | 08/04 |
| 4 | David BETLEHEM | HUN | 14:40.91 | 08/04 |
| 5 | Kuzey Tuncelli | TUR | WJR 14:41.22 | 08/04 |
In the race itself, Tuncelli won by a massive margin ahead of Germany’s Johannes Liebmann (15:04.04), while he was joined by countryman and bronze medalist Muhammed Yusuf Ozden (15:19.56) on the podium.
The distance Popovici!
Can someone ask him if he’s fully tapered? We need to know.
He has 4 weeks before he swims the 1500 in Paris, so unlike Popovici 3 years ago, he has the time to taper again. The amount of time he has is just a bit shorter than the Americans.
With a 14.54 PB I am sure his support team probably felt this Euro Jnrs his major target meet for results and Paris just a great experience for him, (clearly Kuzey has other plans now lol) so I am going to suggest this was his big taper meet and only now does Paris become more than just an experience, so it’s going to be an interesting month for the lad. Can never write off a kid to bounce back stronger, even if the next race is only a month from “the biggest swim of their life” (can just as easily and justifiably go +20sec and miss Paris final).
2nd place was 15:04, did he need this to be his target meet? He would’ve won without a full taper
SIXTEEN YEAR OLD???
That 14:41.89 is faster than the fastest 18 yo time by Kieren Perkins, 14:43.48 which he set in 1994, and broke 800 WR on the way.
I hope hope hope he keeps on going and avoids a Lorenzo Galossi situation (remember him?)
Why go so far, Franco Grcik was never heard of again
Even the 1500 is going to be worth paying attention to now
WOAH
skibidi toilet
Oh this is next level. Congratulations to this very young distance phenomenon. 👏👏👏 Good luck in Paris, anything is possible.
oh he cookin
the number of Turkish distance swimmers peaking at 16 and then disappearing is noteworthy
I’d be happy to peak at 14.41 and disappear, no matter my age. Phenomenal swim.
Names? I can only think of Merve Tuncel. Who else?
There are a couple Turkish breastrokers who broke 50m breast SCM WR.
dolphin kicked** a 50m breast SCM WR
Sacki was not 16 when he broke the 50 breast WR with dolphin kicks. And he is not a distance swimmer.
Podium.
I know we are much closer to the games, but I am having flashbacks of Ledecky at the May 2012 Charlotte Ultraswim, where as a precocious teen she arrived as a finals contender with a dominant win in the 800, and we know what happened next.
Not to take anything away from Tuncelli’s exciting performance today, but I just watched that spring 2012 Ledecky race I referenced and it has MANY THINGS and maybe deserves its own article:
https://youtu.be/1QnrLKCDfx8?feature=shared
Ledecky, Rowdy (with legit takes), Twitchell, Sam Kendricks, G Ryan, Janet Evans, Missy, McKeever, C*rl Bu*ke, Yuri, Chloe Sutton, Hoff, Ziegler
And a wee little pre-legend just-turned-15 interview at the end 🙂
That 8:25.8 in May 2012 was her PB at the time. Four years later Katie would go 8:04 😮