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
- Event Site
- Entry List
- Live Stream
The first swimming session of the 2021 European Aquatics Championships is less than one hour away and will kick off with the women’s 400 IM. Of note, a number of scratches from the prelims have been identified by SwimSwam and listed below. Most of the big players are still intact, bar the absence of
Denis Loktev of Israel was on the entry list in the men’s 400 free but doesn’t appear on the heat sheets. The 21-year-old holds a gold medal from the 2016 European Junior Championships which he earned as part of the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Federica Pellegrini is also off the entry list for the women’s 50 free. The Italian veteran holds a whopping 15 European Championships medals, stretching back to her the 2008 edition of the event.
A 200m specialist and World record holder over long course meters in that event, Pellegrini would be less known for her sprinting talents. That being said, she does have a personal best of 24.92 which seeded her in 14th place heading into this event.
Three swimmers are absent from the men’s 50 back: Evangelos Makrygiannis (GRE), Anton Herrala (FIN), and Uemitcan Gueres (TUR). They were seeded 31st, 54th, and 56th heading into the event.
A big name off the starting lists in the women’s 100 fly is Jeanette Ottesen. The Dane won this event in the 2014 European Championships with a time of 56.52, a mark that remains her all-time best in this event. She was ranked in 16th position heading into this event, which opens up the door slightly for semi-final qualification for athletes ranked just behind her.
Absent from the men’s 100 breast is Bernhard Reitshammer of Austria, who held an entry time of 59.93 and rounded off the 21 males swimmers who had an entry time below the one-minute mark.
Merve Tuncel (TUR) was due to swim the women’s 800 free and was ranked in 6th place with a time of 8:26.06. The youngster, who is just 16-years-old, recently broke the Turkish national and World junior short course records in the 1500m free (15:45.29).
That feat was completed when the then 15-year-old was competing at the 2020 Turkish Short Course Championships in December of last year. Her teammate, Deniz Ertan, is also absent from the heat sheets. The pair and teammate Gueres make up a total of three Turkish swimmers who have pulled out of events in the first prelims session. Turkey will, however, be competing in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay, which is scheduled for 11:34am local time.