2023 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- December 5-10, 2023
- Otopeni Olympic Swimming Complex, Bucharest, Romania
- Short Course Meters (25 meters)
- Prelims 2:30am (ET), Finals 11am (ET)
- Entries Book
- Live Results (Omega)
- Live Results (Microplus Timing)
- Eurovision Sport Livestream
SwimSwam collected interviews from some of the protagonists of the first night of finals at the SCM European Championships in Romania. Although many European swimming stars are missing, there have been excellent performances such as in the men’s 100 butterfly. Day one is the book, and we’re looking forward to seeing what the next days of competition will bring.
ABBIE WOOD (GBR)
Gold medalist in the 400IM in a time of 4:27.45
“I was definitely nervous this morning because I knew all the other countries had that chance to relax in the heats, but that’s what I’d have to do in a harder meet like the Olympics when everyone around the world is going to be really quick in heat. So it’s definitely good practice. I wouldn’t want it an easier way, but I definitely wanted to be able to go faster tonight, so I’m really glad I did that. This time it’s a couple of seconds off my best, but I definitely focus more on the 200 recently. So to be so close to my PB, I’m really happy with that. I love racing girls like Sara Franceschi and Gorbenko from Israel. They’re both great swimmers, so it’s a shame they’re not here. But you just got us from your own race all the time anyway. And I think I definitely have to do that in the medley because I swim it a different way than the other girls, I wait till the breaststroke to make my move, and it’s all about holding my nerve, and I think I did that today.”
BERYL GASTALDELLO (FRA)
Top seed after the 50 free semis with a 23.77
“I think 50 free So far has been my weakest event of all. So I’m excited to see some improvement in there. I’m only one-tenth to my best time. Definitely don’t feel super fresh yet. I’m trying to find my shape. The goal is to improve each day, So I’m excited. And this is just the warm-up I’ll be racing the whole week. Tomorrow, I also have the 100 IM. So I’m going to start to double or triple sometimes. But it’s a it’s a good opportunity. Of course, I like to raise the best. But at the end of the day, a title or a medal is a title and a medal. What I’m going for is more my personal best, and a lot of pleasure and joy. Everything that I put in place going through, l arriving at the pool, how I get prepared and stuff has been moving things around a lot with everything that happened to me as well. It’s been challenging, and I’m very proud of that process because those are things that people don’t see. You know, a lot of people tend to only look at the results and the time, but that does not define who you are or what you do. And no matter how I swim this week, I’m very proud to be standing here and doing what I’m doing because I keep moving, and that’s not something that I wouldn’t take for granted.”
MAXIME GROUSSET (FRA)
New French National Record Holder in the 100 fly after a 48.94 in the semi-finals.
“I think can do better. A better time in the final. But for the semi-final It was good. This will be a very busy week, but this is what I want. I want to swim a lot. I want to have a confrontation with everyone in many different events.”
(About which events he’ll be racing in Paris at the Olympic Games, and having the opportunity to race against athletes that were not in Fukuoka as Caeleb Dressel or Kristof Milak:)
“I don’t know. 100 freestyle, 100 butterfly, 50 freestyle. I think these three races are my best friends. I am excited for this. Uh, I want to beat all of them. And, uh, I’ll be in front of my crowd, so, it’s a plus for me. And I’m very excited about this.”
NOE PONTI (SUI)
New Championships Record Holder 100 fly 48.61
“This morning it was quite controlled, but when I came out of the last underwater swim, I was quite short of breath because I pushed the underwaters all up to 15 meters. So this afternoon is going very well. I saw Maxime, who did 48 and 9, I didn’t feel like doing so much more than him, so I pushed enough I did the last underwater a little shorter, And nothing, I have a little margin for tomorrow, who knows. Tomorrow will still be a good race.
Looking for the 200 fly, with this time in the 100, I think can swim 1:48 in the 200 metres.
This is the last major event before the Olympics. I’ll not be in Doha for the Worlds because they’ll take place in February. I’m already qualified for the Olympics, and we usually train a lot in February. We decided to skip the Worlds because they put them in a somewhat uncomfortable period, and since I’m already qualified for the Olympics, it does not make much sense to go and lose eight days of training.”
BENEDETTA PILATO (ITA)
2022 World and European Champion in the LCM 100 breaststroke, 4th seed after the semi-finals 1:04.45
“Let’s say that the Italian Championships has given me a great charge for the whole season because I qualified for the Olympics, but now I’m missing just that adrenaline of wanting to compete. The atmosphere here in Otopeni isn’t helping that much. Anyway, I feel good in the water I already swam 1:04.0 this year so I hope I’ll do better tomorrow even if these are events where the medals count more than times so I’ll be ready to do my best to get the podium tomorrow even though the opponents are very good. “