Denmark’s Lotte Friis is already rounding into form for next weekend’s Duel in the Pool with an 8:07.53 in the 800 free to kick of the 2nd day of finals at the 2011 European Short Course Championships in Poland. That’s the 4th-fastest swim of all time, and is a new textile-best in short course meters.
That puts her 7 seconds ahead of the previous best in the world, though Erika Villaecija Garcia of Spain now takes over the number two position with her silver-medal performance of 8:12.23. Spain completed a double-podium with Melanie Costa Schmid taking bronze in 8:16.28.
The scary thing is that one of these two women will likely miss the Olympics in this event after Mireia Belmonte Garcia (who is at the meet but didn’t swim this event) broke the Spanish National Record in the long course version of this event at the Dutch Open.
As for Friis, her swimming well in the 400-and-longer freestyles will be a huge key to the European team’s successes as she takes on the five-headed American distance monster that includes Katie Ziegler, Katie Hoff, Dagny Knutson, Chloe Sutton, and Ashley Steenvoorden. It’s going to be tough for any of the above-named to catch an 8:08 if Friis can repeat that performance in Atlanta.
Her victory in the 800 kicked off a fantastic day of performances from the Danish National Team, where they won 3 gold medals (plus two silvers and a bronze), as well as wholly rewrote the Danish record book.
Laszlo Cseh added a win in the 400 IM to his 200 meter victory from the day before when he went a 4:01.68. Relative to his previous victory, this time was a much bigger push for him and moved him to 2nd in the world behind only Michael Phelps.
His Hungarian teammate David Verraszto took 2nd in 4:03.03, and Gal Nevo swam a 4:04.49 for his 2nd bronze medal in the IM discipline. Austrian Markus Rogan took 4th in 4:05.81, as he couldn’t match his silver from the 200.
Belgium earned their first medal of the meet with a bronze from Fanny Lecluyse in 2:21.14, which breaks her old Belgian record of 2:21.99 from French Short Course Nationals last weekend. Prior to this year, the national mark stood at 2:23.49 set by Brigitte Becue all the way back in 1998 (Lechuyse actually had already broken the record in prelims). That is an outstanding time for a swimmer who is only 19, and gives her a bright future in European Swimming.
Alexander Dale Oen of Norway the first European Short Course title of his illustrius career with a 57.05 in the men’s 100 breaststroke. That completes a long course-short course double on top of his 100 win at the World Championships in Shanghai. This swim bettered his own Norwegian National Record by more than a second (a 58.14 from the 2008 Short Course World Championships).
The silver-medalist in this race, former Cal NCAA Champion Damir Dugonjic, broke his own Slovenian Record with a 57.29. He’s a short course specialist, though his long course has improved since completing his NCAA eligibility. Dugonjic just out-touched Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli (57.30) and fellow Cal swimmer Martti Aljand of Estonia (57.51). Daniel Gyurta took only 5th in 57.56 in this race, which could make the European Duel in the Pool squad a bit nervous for the medley relay.
After German sprinter Britta Steffen marked a world-best time in the 100 free at Germany’s short course nationals, we remarked that she still didn’t appear at a full-taper. This prophecy came true, as she was able to eke out a few more inches and swim a 51.94, which is the new world-best in the 2011-2012 short course season.
Dane Jeanette Ottesen took 2nd in 52.05, so if she’s not rested, then Steffen’s world-leading mark could be easily surpassed next weekend in Atlanta. One of the other big European All-Star team’s sprinters, and Ottesen’s co World Champion, Aleksandra Herasimenia, marked a 52.86 which is the best time of her career. Sandwiched inbetween them was Great Britain’s Amy Smith in 52.77.
In the women’s 100 backstroke, young Ukrainian Daryna Zevina took the win in 56.96 to break Kateryna Zubkova’s National Record, set in 2008. She wasn’t the fastest swimmer to the halfway mark (the top two spots there belonged to two 50 meter queens Georgia Davies and Mie Nielsen), but put together the best back-half in the field to win in 56.96. Neither her nor Anastasia Zueva (57.12) took the race out very aggressively, but the pair still stood on the top two podium spots at the end of the race.
Nielsen, of Denmark, was 3rd in 57.57, a new Denmark record at only 15 years old; and in 4th with a new Spanish Record was Duane Da Rocha in 57.70.
Poland’s Konrad Czerniak took his 2nd win of the meet with a title in the men’s 100 fly in 49.62, which is his best time. One has to wonder how much more he has left to give at the Duel, or if he blew all of his taper to impress the home fans in Poland this week (noone would blame him if he did). The World Record holder Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia took 2nd in 49.88, with another Duel in the Pool team member Francois Heersbrandt of Belgium taking 3rd in 50.44, which like his countrymate earlier in the 200 breaststroke is a National Record.
Without Michael Phelps appearing on the American roster, this could be an event (or a leg on the medley) where the European All-Stars could make up some ground on the United States squad.
Ottesen had an outstanding swim in the women’s 50 fly to break a European Championship Record with a 24.92. That swim also pushes her to the top of the World Rankings, and into 4th on the all-time list (and just .05 behind Therese Alshammar’s swim from Short Course Worlds last year as a textile best). There has been talk about what it might take to win an Olympic medal in the women’s 100 free, and the general conclusion has been “faster than what Ottesen won gold in at Worlds.” With how well she continues to swim and improve, don’t be surprised if she continues to drop time and gets right back into the hunt for Olympic glory.
Former Texas A&M All-American Triin Aljand took silver in 25.51.
Denmark’s Rikke Pedersen finished up her country’s individual medal haul when she won the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:19.55 to just outtouch Anastasia Chaun (2:20.84). Notice the 5th-place finisher, which is Britain’s Molly Renshaw, in 2:22.54. That’s a great swim for the 15-year old’s first international final, and is in fact a new English Record by a full 3 seconds (the old mark was more than 11 years old).
Pedersen’s significant other, Spain’s Aschwin Wildeboer won the men’s 50 back in 23.43 ahead of young Swiss sprinter Flori Lang.
The German women swam a strong 200 free relay to a victory in 1:37.29, including a 24.11 leadoff from Britta Steffen. Denmark was 2nd in 1:37.63 to wrap up a strong day for the country, and Italy was 3rd in 1:38.12 (including an appearance by Federica Pellegrini in a rolling 24.57).
Medal Table
With the outstanding day 2 performance, Denmark zooms to the top of the medal table ahead of Spain, Germany, and hosts Poland.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Denmark |
3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 |  Spain |
3 | 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 |  Germany |
3 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 |  Poland |
3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 5 |  Hungary |
2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 6 |  Russia |
1 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| 7 |  Italy |
1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 |  Norway |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 |  Ukraine |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 |  Great Britain |
0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 11 |  Austria |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 |  Slovenia |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 |  Estonia |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 |  Switzerland |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 |  Israel |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 15 |  Belgium |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 15 |  Belarus |
0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Total | 18 | 18 | 18 | 54 | |
I think Friis will upset Becky Adlington in 2012 London
Mie Nielsen is a superb all rounder and a great asset for Danish swimming in the future. As is Pernille Blume who with Ottesen could create a strong free relay team! and Medley relay where they could have a team of Nielsen-Pedersen-Ottesen-Blume, great line-up.
Renshaw is another future star in my opinion. 2.22 is a surprising swim for me even though she has been 2.27 LC as her turns are quite poor and she loses a fair amount of ground. She has huge potential as a 200m breaststroke swimmer.