2020 BLACK SEA CUP
- Friday, September 4th – Sunday, September 6th
- Primorski Swimming Pool, Varna, Bulgaria
- LCM (50m)
- Entries/Live Results
The city of Varna, Bulgaria is set to host the 2020 Black Sea Cup this weekend, with primarily domestic swimmers beginning to descend upon Primorski Swimming Pool on Friday, September 4th.
The meet is coming immediately on the heels of last weekend’s Bulgarian Open Championships, a competition which saw 17-year-old Kaloyan Levterov rip the fastest Bulgarian time ever in the men’s 200m back.
Entering last weekend’s meet in Sofia, Levterov’s lifetime best and Bulgarian standard rested at the 2:00.39 he produced at the 2019 European Junior Championships. That result rendered him as the 7th place finisher in the event there in Kazan.
However, Levterov entered new territory by clocking a monster 1:59.48, knocking nearly a second off of that previous PB to become his nation’s first man under 2:00 in the e200m back event.
Leveterov is set to take on this event, as well as the 100m free and 100m back this weekend.
Additional men to watch include breaststroke Luchezar Shumkov, who owns the top seed in both the 100m and 200m, as well as Stanimir Raev, who enters the meet as the top-seeded 100m flyer.
As for the women, look for a heated dual to take place in the 100m freestyle between Ekaterina Avramova and Diana Petkova. The former owns a lifetime best of 56.28 to the latter’s 56.78, with the pair sitting heads and shoulders above the rest of the field.
Petkova is also the top-seeded 50m freestyler and 100m breaststroker, while Avramova is the one to beat across the 100m and 200m backstroke races.
Although not an Olympic-qualifying event, this competition is a good racing opportunity for those wishing to pursue Tokyo selection at the upcoming FINA-approved Grand Prix Burgas set for early November and the Bulgarian Open Team Championships scheduled for mid-December.