Israel Breaks 4 National Records at 2018 Championships

14 Israeli swimmers have met the criteria to qualify for the 2018 European Aquatics Championships that will be held from August 3rd to 12th in Glasgow, Scotland. The swims were done at Israel’s pair of qualifying meets held over the last two weekends, with qualifying standards based on the average time of the 16th place finishers at the last two European Aquatics Championships.

Swimming at the Israel Cup last weekend, 4 Israeli senior national records were broken – all by swimmers aged younger than 18.

Tomer Frankel from Hapoel Jerusalem was twice a standard-setter, winning the 100 fly in 52.25 and the 200 free in 1:47.15. That time in the 100 fly broke Alon Mandel’s record of 52.56 set at the Israeli National Championship meet in 2009. The 200 free broke the old record of 1:47.78 that was done by Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Frankel turns 18 in October. He placed 54th at last year’s World Championships in his only individual swim, the 200 free, with just a 1:51.80.

On the same day as Frankel’s 100 fly, Gail Zilberberg broke the National Record in the 1500 free, swimming a 16:47.34 in the final (21 seconds better than her next-closest competitor). That breaks the old record of 16:54.11 by almost 7 seconds – having been set by American-trained swimmer Meredith Budner (Towson University) at the 2011 NBAC Mid Summer Classic.

The 4th-and-final record came on the last day of the meet, where 16-year old Leah Polonsky swam a 4:49.41 in the 400 IM. That took down another Budner Record, breaking the old mark of 4:50.69 done at the same Mid-Summer Classic in 2011. Budner now holds only one remaining Israeli senior record, in the women’s 800 free where she swam an 8:41.55 at the 2011 World University Games.

Among the other qualifiers are 5-time European medalist Yakov Toumarkin, and 2-time Olympian and former European Champion Jhonathan Koplev.

Athletes will have one more chance to qualify, with a handful participating in the upcoming Pro Swim Series meet in Indianapolis, United States.

The full list of Isrsaeli swimmers who hit qualifying times for the 2018 European Championships:

Men:

• Tomer Frankel
• Itay Goldfaden
• Etay Gurevich
• Miron Heruti
• Jonathan Kopalev
• Marcus Schlessinger
• Dennis Locatav
• Yakov Toumarkin

Women:

• Aviv Barzilai
• Anastasia Gorbenko
• Amit Ivri
• Shahar Menahem
• Andi Murez
• Leah Polonsky