2019 LEN EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, December 4th – Sunday, December 8th
- Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Glasgow, Scotland
- SCM
- Live Results
- Results Documents
- Live Video – LEN TV
22-year-old British ace Duncan Scott made some major waves during the morning heats of day 2 of the 2019 European Short Course championships. The Olympic finalist and two-time silver medalist from Rio busted out a lifetime best of 4:01.20 in the men’s 400m IM, as well as a British national record of 1:40.92 in the 200m free to claim the top seed in each.
His 400m IM overtook his previous career-fastest of 4:04.55 from just last month ta the International Swimming League (ISL) Derby in London. His 200m free was also a PB, crushing James Guy’s old British record of 1:42.22. You can read more about Scott’s swims here.
However, we’ll see Scott take on just one individual event tonight, as the University of Stirling speedster has dropped the 400m IM. That means teammate Max Litchfield moves into lane 4, carrying his quick morning time of 4:02.34. Litchfield is the British national record holder in this grueling event, holding a lifetime best of 4:00.18.
Entering the scene now in lane 8 of the men’s 400m IM final is young Leon Marchand, the 17-year-old phenom from France that has been tearing up the record books for his nation. Marchand took bronze in the 400m IM in Budapest at this year’s long course World Junior Championships, establishing a new senior French National Record of 4:16.37 in the process.
This morning, Marchand finished 9th in a time of 4:07.55 and will look to make the most out of his opportunity to race in the final.
Other scratch movements involved both Zsuzsanna Jakabos of Hungary and Julie Jensen of Denmark dropping the 100m IM event after qualifying for the semi-final in the 9th and 10th seeds, respectively. That brings Slovakian Andrea Podmanikova and Slovenian Neza Klancar into the mix for tonight’s semi.
Going back to the men’s 200m free, this race is sure to be one of the highlights of these Championships, with Scott and Guy both in the mix for Great Britain. Last night’s 400m free meet record-setter Danas Rapsys of Lithuania has been on fire as of late and will try to double up with gold here, while Russian dynamo Mikhail Vekovishchev is the sole man from his nation who will try to get the job done.
Italian pair Stefano Ballo and Filippo Megli shouldn’t be ignored, especially as Megli owns the Italian record in the long course edition of the 200m free.
Finally, Ireland got a twosome into the final, which bodes well odds-wise for one to make a run at the podium. Jack McMillan notched a new Irish national record this morning in 1:43.18, while Jordan Sloan is also ready to rumble out of lane 8 in his morning time of 1:43.61.
You have my blessing.
Wish the events were a little further apart so we could see him doing both. However, he could still swim the relay tonight.
Man, not sure who to pick tonight. I’d normally go with Rapsys but that was a monster swim from Scott. Looking forward to this final!
The best decision. 1) There will be an exciting final of 200 free with the first act of Rapsys-Scott duel (the second, most important act at Tokyo2020) 2) M. Litchfield, another Britain, will be the favorite for gold in the 400 Im 3) Deserved final for 17 year-old French Leon Marchand, a great swimmer in the making.
That Rapsys-Scott 200 free is gonna be lit.