Proud, Fratus, Manaudou, Govorov Set To Spar At 2020 Euro Meet Luxembourg

2020 LUXEMBOURG EURO MEET

• January 24th-26th, 2020
• Centre National Sportif et Culturel d’Coque, Luxembourg
• LCM (50m) Course
• SwimSwam Preview #1/Preview #2
• Meet Site
• Start Lists

This week’s marquee international swimming competition is the Euro Meet, set for January 24th-26th in Luxembourg. The annual event typically draws elite Olympic and World Championships talent from around the globe, with the 2020 edition being no different.

We’ve reviewed a handful of stars who have already committed to the meet, but now that the start lists have been published, we’re getting a better look at the match-ups to which spectators will be treated t Centre National Sportif et Culturel d’Coque this weekend.

Hungary’s Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu will be seen multiple times over the course of the meet, including being pitted against the likes of Italy’s Ilaria Cusinato and Great Britain’s Hannah Miley in both IM events.

In the longer IM’s field, 17-year-old Michaella Glenister will get an opportunity to hold her own, following up on the 400m IM bronze medal the Brit produced at the 2019 World Junior Championships.

Hosszu also leads the women’s 200m fly, which will see Cusinato, along with fellow Hungarian Liliana Szilagyi among the competitors. One of a small remaining core swimmers still training with Shane Tusup, Szilagyi topped Hosszu this past weekend in the 200m fly at the FINA Champions Series in Beijing.

Swedish Energy Standard team member Sarah Sjostrom is set to compete across her bread-and-butter sprint free and sprint fly events, but is also trying the 50m backstroke on for size.

Although not unheard of, Sjostrom’s racing the 50m back is a reltatively are occurrence. She contested the sprint at the Swedish Championships in June of 2019 where she notched a time of 28.52. She had previously raced the event at 2019’s Euro Meet, clocking a time 28.66 a year ago. She owns the Swedish NR with her lifetime best of 27.80 from 2017.

Sjostrom will see Danish Olympian Pernille Blume join her in the 50m fly event, along with French teen Naele Portecp and her veteran teammate Charlotte Bonnet. Sjostrom and Blume are also set to spar in the 50m free sprint.

On the men’s side, a huge showdown is in store in the men’s 50m fly, as British World Championships medalist Ben Proud and Ukrainian World Record holder Andrii Govorov are both entered in the event. They’ll be joined by fellow studs Florent Manaudou of France, Sergii Shevstov of Ukraine, as well as Jeremy Stravius of France, just to name a few in the field.

Brazilian mainstay Bruno Fratus will meet up with Proud and Manaudou in the 50m free, with Germany’s 17-year-old national record holder Artem Selin and Great Britain’s World University Games gold medalist David Cumberlidge joining the party. Selin took the European Junior Championships gold medal last year in a time of 21.83, while Cumberlidge also got under the 22-second threshold, stopping the clock in 21.87.

Sprinkled throughout the events is a young subset of the British competitors, including European Junior champion Matthew Richards. Richards has shown his prowess across the sprint free and fly events, taking down British age records left and right.

In Kazan last year, Richards took the Euro Jrs 200m free silver in a quick 1:47.23, while he topped the 100m free podium in a monster personal best of 48.88.

Another gold medalist from the European Junior Championships, British swimmer Kayla Van Der Merwe enters Luxembourg as the top seed in the 100m and 200m breaststroke events. More British competitors in the form of Brodie Williams, Elliot Clogg, Honey Osrin, Lily Booker and Chloe Golding appear within the entry lists.

Among the additional elite names to note include Ukraine’s 1500m freestyle World Championships silver medalist Mykhailo Romanchuk, with the Energy Standard ace adding the 400m IM to his usual mid-distance lineup.

Versatile Italian youngster Thomas Ceccon is sticking to a relatively smaller schedule, entered in just the 100m free, 100m back and 100m fly. A multi-medalist at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, the 18-year-old went on to collect 5 European Junior Championships medals last year in Kazan, including individual golds in the 50m and 100m backstroke.

Ceccon’s teammates Nicolo Martinenghi, Fabio Scozzoli and Luca Dotto are set to race this weekend as well, with the former pair just having wrapped up the Geneva International Challenge in Switzerland last weekend.

Marco Koch was also entered in the Geneva Challenge but wound up not swimming. His name appears on these entry lists here, so we’ll see if he is able to make the trip and get more racing under his belt.

Euro Meet Prize Money:

Finishes in individual and relay events (open age only)

• 1st – 300 Euros (333 USD)
• 2nd – 200 Euros (222 USD)
• 3rd – 100 Euros (111 USD)

Team classification

• 1st – 800 Euros (888 USD)
• 2nd – 400 Euros (444 USD)
• 3rd – 200 Euros (222 USD)

Records

• World Record (Open Age only) – 3,000 Euros (3,335 USD)
• European Record (Open Age only) – 2,000 Euros (2,223 USD)
• Meet Record – 300 Euros (333 USD)

More Notable Competitors:

• Barbora Seemanova (CZE)
• Velimir Stjepanovic (SER)
• Jordan Porthain (FRA)
• Mewen Tomac (FRA)
• Simonas Bilis (LTU)
• Freya Colbert (GBR)
• Viktoria Gunes (TUR)
• Zoe Vogelmann (GER)
• Nathalia Almeida (BRA)
• Arjan Knipping (NED)
• Alys Thomas (GBR)
• Ilaria Bianchi (ITA)
• Denys Kisil (UKR)
• Louis Croenen (BEL)
• Giulia Salin (ITA)
• Jan Micka (CZE)
• Wojciech Wojdak (POL)
• Daniel Jervis (GBR)
• Silas Beth (GER)
• Georgia Davies (GBR)
• Daniel Martin (ROU)
• Silvia Di Pietro (ITA)
• Jenna Laukkanen (FIN)
• Imogen Clark (GBR)
• Philip Heintz (GER)