2019 ROMANIAN INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, May 9th – Sunday, May 12th
- Dinamo Swimming Pool Bucuresti
- Entry List
- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- Live Results
The Romanian International Championships concluded over the weekend, with the meet representing a qualification competition for both this summer’s World Championships, as well as next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games. Several nations were represented in the Dinamo Swimming Pool Bucaresti waters, including Lithuania, Slovakia, Portugal and Moldova.
Visiting Moldova swimmer Tatiana Chisca won the women’s 50m breast in a time of 31.91, easily clearing the 32.31 FINA B standard needed for Gwangju. She also snagged the 100m breast victory in amark of 1:09.44 to beat the field by well over a second, as well as slide under the 1:09.79 B standard in that race as well. Her time in the latter event was especially impressive, falling just .13 shy of her own 1:09.31 National Record set in the semi-final of last year’s European Championships.
Moldovan teammate Tatiana Salcutan did some damage of her own, clearing the 100m and 200m backstroke fields with ease. Salcutan, a national record holder herself won the women’s 100m back in 1:02.72 to represent the only swimmer to notch a time under the 1:03 threshold. Unfortunately for Salcutan, however, her time fell just .01 shy of the 1:02.71 FINA B standard needed for this summer’s World Championships.
She fared better in the 200m back, taking that race in a time of 2:12.68, beating the B cut by over 3 seconds.
In the women’s 50m back, however, it was Portugal’s Rafaela Azevedo who got her hand on the wall first, capturing gold ahead of Salcutan in a time of 29.34 to the Moldova’s runner-up 29.69.
The men’s events saw multiple event winners as well, starting with Lithuanian breaststroking ace Andrius Sidlauskas. Sidlauskas swept the breaststroke races, touching in 28.06 for the 50m, 59.90 for the 100m and 2:10.61 in the 200m. His 200m time lays waste the 2:12.30 Sidlauskas had put up at the Lithuanian National Championships in Kaunas last month.
In terms of his 100, his time here in Bucharest represents the first time the 22-year-old has dipped under the 1:00 threshold this season, with his previous season-best resting at the 1:00.01 he established at the aforementioned Lithuanian Nationals. Sidlauskas now ranks 24th on the world rankings.
His teammate Deividas Margevicius reaped wins across the 50m fly (24.02), 100m fly (53.17) and 200m fly (2:00.89), while home country swimmer Daniel Martin took 50m back told in 25.02, dipping under the FINA A cut of 25.17. Martin also snagged the 100m back gold in 54.19, missing the FINA A cut by just .06, although easily making the B standard of 55.95 in the process.