2023 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- December 5-10, 2023
- Otopeni Olympic Swimming Complex, Bucharest, Romania
- Short Course Meters (25 meters)
- Prelims 2:30am (ET), Finals 11am (ET)
- Entries Book
- Live Results (Omega)
- Live Results (Microplus Timing)
- Eurovision Sport Livestream
The European SC Championships is about to assign the latest titles of this year in Otopeni, Bucharest. Tonight, the pool was thrilling for the presence of Romanian talent David Popovici in the field. Noe Ponti from Switzerland tried to set the first WR of the meeting, but he failed for just four-hundredths of a second. Benedetta Pilato led the 50 breast with a new Championships Record.
Here is what the winners of day 5 said to SwimSwam:
KIRA TOUSSAINT (NED)
Gold medalist in the 100 backstroke in a time of 55.88
“I was pretty confident beforehand. But still, there’s always that little bit of doubt in there, too. My race plan was to go out fast. I could see the field on my last underwater because I kick on my left side. And when I was kicking on the water. I did 13 kicks off my last turn. I wanted to have a goal for that, my friend, beforehand so I could have something to focus on when my legs were dead. And the game is here, but I knew I could hold on to it. And I’m very happy with the win. This is even a bit more important than the one in the 50 because this is 100, and this season is about the Olympics, of course.”
MATTHEW RICHARDS (GBR)
Gold medalist in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:41.01
“I mean, you could feel it in the crowd tonight. They really wanted to see David come out and swim. It’s always a pleasure to race against him and to race against all those other guys and have James Guy, my training partner in the water as well. So yeah, it was a fantastic race. It is also a great opportunity to practice some of those finer skills you don’t get to do as much in long course, those turns and finishes.”
At these meets, the fact that there are four per nation and only two can go through makes that heat quite a bit unique compared to some of those other countries. It’s great practice. It’s a a great challenge to put yourself under that pressure in the morning and see what you can do. There were a few ways we could have swum this race. We thought about getting out after it really quickly, but given the 100 later tonight, we kind of waited that up and thought, well, if that went wrong, that could damage two races rather than just one”
LOUISE HANSSON (SWE)
Gold medalist in the 100 fly in a time of 55.37
“I’m really pleased. Coming our way so far with five medals in every event I’ve entered. So I’m really happy with that. It feels really good to be able to get my hand first on the wall on 100 fly. It’s my little baby, you know, my favorite distance. So it’s always great to be able to pull it off and get everything together when it counts.
I got my Olympic ticket about three weeks ago, so I’m set to go to Doha just as preparations to work from here. So now I have to continue racing, building that confidence, and looking forward to the summer.”
NOE PONTI (SUI)
Gold medalist in the 50 fly in a time of 21.79 and competing in the right next event of the schedule in the 100 IM semifinals.
“The schedule of the events in this competition is not helpful for the athletes and even for the show, maybe we should eliminate the semifinals in the 200-meter events like we used to do. But this is what we have. I’m very happy with the gold in the 50, and with time, of course, the world record has shaken a bit. I know I lost something in the first 25, I did six short-stroke, and maybe I needed five long to touch the wall, but this was not the moment to improvise.”
BENEDETTA PILATO (ITA)
Top seed in the 50 breaststroke and new Championships Record Holder in a time of 28.98
“I knew I was fast, the splits of the 100 meters in the final showed that I have a good speed so I knew I could do i good 50. I’am very happy with the time because it was two years since I went 28″. This is great. My goal for tomorrow is the medal because the other girls in the field are very competitive, there is nothing I can take for granted.”