Sanz Takes 200 IM In The Only Championship Record On The Final Night Of European Juniors

EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Dordrecht, Netherlands – July 9th-13th, 2014
• The official competition page can be found here
• The live results can be found here

Girls 200 IM

Africa Zamoran Sanz of Spain was looked to sweep the women’s IM events going into the final evening of competition at the European Junior Championships in Dordrecht. Sanz came into the championships with a season’s and lifetime best time of 2:15.90, which was also the top time in Europe.

She improved on that time by over two full seconds taking the gold in a time of 2:13.80. She was also the only swimmer to break an individual championship record on the final evening, beating Grainne Murphy’s 2009 record of 2:14.15. Sanz walks away from Dordrecht with a total of four medals winning gold iin the 200 and 400 IM and silver in the 200 backstroke.

Georgia Coates of Great Britain, who took the bronze in the 400 IM, captured the silver in a time of 2:14.72. She was followed closely by Lisa Katharina Hoepink who hit the wall in a time of 2:14.97.

Boys 400 IM

The Hungarian men have a strong tradition of individually medley success and the young men competing in Dordrecht continued that tradition in the boys 400 IM, collecting both the gold and silver. Norbert Szabo and Benjamin Gratz came second and third in the boys 200 IM on the third day of competition and finished only 21 one-hundredths of a second apart. In 400 it was a different story as Gratz won the event fairly easy, finishing in a time of 4:19.68.

Gratz lowered lifetime best of 4:23.81 to win the event by almost five seconds.

Szabo had to fight off a fast charging Joan Casanovas Skoubo of Spain who swum the final 100 meters in a time 58.21 comparative to Szabo who split a 1:01.33. Ultimately Szabo finished in a time of 4:23.77 followed by Skoubo who hit the wall in a time of 4:24.09.

Girls 100 backstroke

Coming into the competition it was a foregone conclusion that Russian Daria K Ustinova would sweep the girls backstroke events and on Sunday evening she made that a reality winning the girls 100 backstroke in a time of 1:00.37. Ustinova was off her season and lifetime best time of 59.78, which ranks fifth in the world.

Ustinova’s closest competition on the evening was teammate Ekaterina Tomashevskaia who finished in a time of 1:01.53.

This is a feat that Ustinova could not complete at last year’s championships in Poznan where she won both the 50 and 100 backstroke, but the 200 backstroke gold went to Sonnele Oeztuerk of Germany.

Germany’s Laura Riedemann finished third in a time of 1:02.34.

Boys 100 breaststroke

German Max Pilger, who was ranked third in Europe coming into the competition with a season and lifetime best time of 1:02.22 took the boys 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:01.97. It was not an easy win for Pilger, who turned at the half mark in fifth place in a time of 29.40. He made up the ground on his competition finishing the final 50 meters in 32.57.

Itay Goldfaden of Israel finished second in a time of 1:02.09, just ahead of Russian Anton Chupkov who touched in a time of 1:02.22. Chupkov was chasing his elusive individual gold of the competition after collecting a silver in the 200 breaststroke and bronze in the 50 breaststroke.

Girls 100 breaststroke

Maria Astashkina became the second Russian woman on the evening to polish off a sweep. After taking the 50 and 200 breaststroke earlier in the competition Astashkina collected the gold in the 100 breaststroke on Sunday evening. She won the event with relative ease, finishing in a 1:07.82, beating her season and lifetime best of 1:09.07, which was the top ranked time in Europe coming into the event.

German Marlene Huether finished second holding off the late charge of Russian Daria Chikunova. Heuther won the silver in a time of 1:09.19 while Chikunova finished third recording a time of 1:09.33.

Boys 200 freestyle

Home country favourite Kyle Stolk came into the event ranked second in Europe next to Italian Nicolangelo Di Fabio. He was determined to force the two athletes to switch those placings after the event. Stolk lead the race from start to finish taking the title in a season and lifetime best of 1:48.46, coming into the event with a best time of 1:49.05. Stolk was never able to let up during the race as Di Fabio turned 86 one-hundredths of second behind Stolk at the 150 meter mark and out swam him on the final 50 touching in a time of 1:48.80, which was also his season’s.

Anton Skudnov of Russian collected the bronze in a time of 1:49.23.

Boys 100 butterfly

Russian Aleksandr Sadvnikov, who took the silver in the 50 butterfly on the first day of competition, won the boys 100 butterfly in a time of 53.52. Sadovnikov was able to catch Switzerland’s Nils Liess in the second half taking the event by five one-hundredths of a second. Sadvnikov was able to improve on his season and lifetime best time of 53.37 by close to a second.

Sadvnikov’s Russian teammate Vladislav Kozlov collected the bronze touching in a time of 53.83.

Girls 50 butterfly

Barbora Misendova of Slovakia took the women’s 50 butterfly in a time of 26.84. Misendova came into the event with a season’s best of 27.34 and a lifetime best of 27.31.

Hungarian Szonja Szokol finished second in a time of 27.02 only one one-hundredth of a second ahead of Russian Maria Kameneva who touched in a time of 27.03.

Boys 50 freestyle

50 butterfly Junior World record holder Evgeny Sedov of Russia was looking to add one more record to his resume in the boys 50 freestyle. Sedov was close to pulling that feat off in both the semi-final and final on Sunday evening. The Junior World record is held by Australian Luke Percy with a time of 22.11. Sedov posted a 22.15 in the semi-final and then went on to win the event in a time of 22.16.

Jan Holub of Poland, who won the 100 freestyle earlier in the competition, took the silver in a time of 22.45 followed by Fotios Mylonas of Greece who touched in a time of 22.56.

Girls 4 x 200 freestyle

The Russian women continued their country’s dominance in the relay events taking the 4 x 200 freestyle by close to four seconds over the German team. The squad made up of Arina Openysheva (2:00.55), Daria Mullakaeva (1:59.05), Daria K Ustinova (2:02.47) and Daria S Ustinova (2:01.61) took the event in a time of and made it seven wins in a row for Russian relays.

Germany finished second in a time of 8:07.06 followed by Spain who collected the bronze in a time of 8:08.29.

Boys 4 x 100 medley relay

With a win in the boys 4 x 100 medley relay the Russians made it a clean sweep of the relay events. The team made up of Evgeny Rylov (54.44), Anton Chupkov (1:00.86), Aleksandr Sadovnikov (53.43) and Filipp Shopin (50.52) took the event in a time of 3:39.25.

The Italians finished second in a time of 3:41.06 followed closely by the Germans who won the bronze in a time of 3:41.20.