Great Britain rolled away with the overall medal title on the final day of the 2014 European Championships, earning 3 more gold medals and a session-high 5 total medals.
Fran Halsall followed up her Commonwealth Games gold medal in the 50 free with its European Champs counterpart, going 24.32 to eke out a win over Swedish star Sarah Sjostrom. Other gold earners for Great Britain were Jazz Carlin in the 400 and the men’s 4×100 medley relay, following up that relay’s big win over Australia at Commonwealths.
The tight battle for second ended with Denmark taking runner-up honors. The Danes added another gold on the final day from their women’s medley relay, which brought together all of their national studs – Mie Nielsen, Rikke Moller Pedersen, Jeanette Ottesen and Pernille Blum – to set a new European record.
Hungary, the 2012 medal leaders in the pool, had a big final day, but it wasn’t enough to pass up Denmark. David Verraszto took gold in the men’s 400 IM, but the Hungarian crew only got bronze from their star Katinka Hosszu in the women’s 200 fly and added one more bronze in the men’s 400 medley relay. They’ll end up tied with Italy with 5 golds, though Italy’s single bronze medal on Sunday pushed them to 15 total medals, second overall to the Brits.
2010 gold medal leader France faded to fifth after a rough meet for their stud Yannick Agnel, and 2008 gold medal leader Russia fell all the way back to 11th with just a single gold. Sarah Sjostom led Sweden to sixth overall with 3 golds and 10 total medals, and Mireia Belmonte-Garcia was the driving force behind Spain’s 7th place finish with 3 and 8. The host nation took home a pair of golds, and 6 overall medals at these Berlin, Germany games.
Read our full day 7 recap here.
Pool Swimming Medals at 2014 European Championships
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Great Britain | 9 | 7 | 8 | 24 |
| 2 | Denmark | 6 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | Hungary | 5 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| 4 | Italy | 5 | 1 | 9 | 15 |
| 5 | France | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 6 | Sweden | 3 | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 7 | Spain | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8 |
| 8 | Germany | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| 9 | Poland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 | Serbia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 | Russia | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| 12 | Lithuania | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 13 | Belarus | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 14 | Netherlands | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 15 | Faroe Islands | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 | Austria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 16 | Belgium | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 16 | Finland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 16 | Slovenia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 16 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals | 44 | 40 | 43 | 127 |
Great Britain also led the overall medal table, with the 3 golds on the final day of swimming pushing them past Russia 11 to 9 in golds. The Brits also picked up 27 total medals, with Italy trailing at 23 and Germany at 22.
In all, 21 nations picked up medals in Berlin, with 20 of them earning pool swimming medals. Greece is the extra nation added in this second table. They got their silver medal in the open water event.
Overall LEN European Aquatics Championships Medal Table
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| 1 | Great Britain | 11 | 8 | 8 | 27 |
| 2 | Russia | 9 | 7 | 3 | 19 |
| 3 | Italy | 8 | 3 | 12 | 23 |
| 4 | Germany | 6 | 8 | 8 | 22 |
| 5 | Denmark | 6 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| 6 | Hungary | 5 | 6 | 6 | 17 |
| 7 | France | 5 | 4 | 3 | 12 |
| 8 | Sweden | 3 | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| 9 | Spain | 3 | 5 | 5 | 13 |
| 10 | Netherlands | 3 | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| 11 | Poland | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 12 | Serbia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 | Ukraine | 1 | 3 | 7 | 11 |
| 14 | Lithuania | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 15 | Belarus | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 16 | Faroe Islands | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 | Greece | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
|
18
|
Slovenia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Finland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Belgium | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Austria | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 66 | 62 | 65 | 193 | |
In the run-up to London, Australia won 22 golds at the 2010 Commonwealth Games compared with a British total of 9. In 2014 the margin was only 19-15 in favour of Australia.
The overall figures in Glasgow were:-
Australia 19 Gold, 21 Silver, 17 Bronze. Total 57
“GB” 15 Gold, 15 Silver, 15 Bronze. Total 45
A decent performance by Australia, but hardly outstanding for the world’s number two swimming nation competing against a country which rarely figures among the top ten countries in the sport.
Just to correct your inaccurate reporting of Great Britain’s big win over Australia in swimming at the Commonwealth Games. Australia smashed all other countries in swimming and easily defeated a combined Great Britain.
The sentence you’re commenting on is referring the men’s 4×100 medley relay, where Great Britain did indeed pick up a big win over Australia, one of the more memorable swims of the Commonwealth Games.
The swimming was actually an area where Australia underperformed. While they got their target of 57 medals, they missed the predicted share of golds… 19 won, predicted 27. All of those golds went to England, 2 predicted, 10 won. In the end, that is what won England the CWG – along with gymnastics.
Even more impressive when you look at some of the names who were not there; O’Connor, Miley, Jamieson, James Guy and Dan Wallace would all have been serious medal threats and even pushed for gold. Sophie Taylor was not fit after a car accident and would’ve been in the mix for medals as well in breaststroke. The depth of the British team is very impressive.