Ireland Down National Records in Women’s and Men’s 4×100 Free Relays

2021 LEN EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Swimming: Monday, May 17th – Sunday, May 23rd
• Budapest, Hungary
• Prelims at 10:00 am local/Finals at 6:00 pm local
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The men’s and women’s 4×100 free relays have delivered some new national records marks during the first prelims session of the 2021 European Aquatics Championships.

Ireland downed national senior record marks in both the women’s and the men’s prelims event, while some other nations also took down their previous bests in the relay events.

On the women’s side, Ireland, Latvia, and Slovenia posted new national record marks with the latter the only nation progressing into tonight’s final.

On the men’s side, it was Ireland, Serbia, Switzerland who delivered new records. Importantly, these championships are serving as the final chance for the four Olympic wildcard relay spots to be filled as the qualification window closes on May 31st.

SwimSwam explained in detail the qualification process here. The most up-to-date standings are below (after the prelims) are below:

Ireland

The team of Danielle Hill, Mona McSharry, Erin Riordan, and Victoria Catterson clocked a time of 3:44.37 in this morning’s heats. That mark lowers the previous time, which has stood for almost 12 years, by just under three seconds.

Previously it was Melanie Nocher, Sycerika McMahon, Fiona Doyle, and Niamh O’Sullivan who owned that title – their time of 3:47.21 being the best the nation had to offer in this event for over a decade.

Of this Irish cohort, McSharry has already secured Olympic qualification in her main event, the 100m breaststroke.

Split Comparisons: 

After watching their teammates take down the record mark, the men’s 4×100 free relay team went out and achieved the same feat.

The team of Jack McMillan, Jordan Sloan, Shane Ryan, and Max McCusker bettered the previous mark of 3:17.55 which was set at the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.

Their time here of 3:16.88 was enough for a 12th place finish overall in the prelims. Of note, Shane Ryan has secured individual qualification for this summer’s Games in the 100m backstroke while his teammate here, Jack McMillan is just 0.08 away from the FINA ‘A’ cut in the 200 freestyle.

Split Comparisons:

Double national record for Switzerland

Switzerland’s performance in the men’s 4×100 earned them a collective national record as well as a new 100 free NR from Roman Mityukov.

The team of Roman Mityukov, Nils Liess, Noe Ponti, and Antonio Djakovic touched in 3:14.72 which shaves almost two seconds off the previous time of 3:16.13 from the 2009 World Championships in Rome, Italy.

Mityukov, who was the lead-off for his team clocked a time of 48.21, downing the previous record mark of 48.55. That time belonged to Dominik Meichtry and was done at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Serbia Seeded Second Ahead of Final

The team from Serbia has secured a new national record and is now seeded in second place ahead of this evening’s final. Their time of 3:13.91 betters the previous record time which stood at 3:15.16 from the 2018 edition of this event.

Racing today as part of the record-breaking team was Andrej Barna, Nikola Acin, Uros Nikolic, and Velimir Stjepanovic. 

They head into the finals in second place behind Italy who clocked the fastest prelims time with 3:12.85.

Slovenia Smash Previous Mark, Double Record For Klancar

Slovenia took a massive chunk off their previous national record time of 3:47.95 in the prelims, posting 3:39.61 to finish 5th overall in the heats.

Neza Klancar, Katja Fain, Janja Segel, and Tjasa Pintar had a strong lead-off from Klancar (54.49), which doubled up as another individual national record for her.

That put the team into a really good position as they will undoubtedly be searching for a podium finish in the final.

Additionally, Latvia clocked a new national record mark of 3:49.99 to down the old time of 3:53.91 which was set at the Baltic State Championships in 2018. They finished 14th overall so will not progress to the final.