2023 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, July 4th – Sunday, July 9th
- Sports and Recreational Center “Milan Gale Muškatirović”, Belgrade, Serbia
- Prelims at 10am local (4am EDT)/Finals at 5pm local (11am EDT)
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The 2023 European Junior Championships kick off next week in Belgrade, Serbia with the competition spanning Tuesday, July 4th through Sunday, July 9th.
Let’s not waste any time taking a look at some of the key boys, 5 to be exact, about to take to the Sports and Recreational Center “Milan Gale Muškatirović”.
#1 Filippo Bertoni (ITA)
17-year-old Filippo Bertoni will look to do damage across the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events.
The Italian’s highest seed is represented by his 2nd slot position in the 400m free where he owns an entry time of 3:50.63. That’s the time he put up for 4th place last year at this competition in Romania to fall just .02 outside a podium position.
Bertoni did land on the podium in the boys’ 200m free at the 2022 World Junior Championships, logging a time of 1:49.05 to check in as the 2nd swiftest Italian performer ever in his age group for the event.
At this year’s Italian Championships in April, Bertoni clocked a 400m free time of 3:51.41 to ultimately place 7th. He also logged a time of 1:49.62 in the 200m free, 8:03.10 in the 800m free and 15:26.76 in the 1500m free.
Bertoni currently ranks 6th among all European 18 & under in the 400m free with his season-best and will be chasing Vlad-Stefan Stancu in that mid-distance event.
#2 Vlad-Stefan Stancu (ROU)
Vlad-Stefan Stancu helped Romania earn the gold in the boys’ 4x100m freestyle relay at the 2022 European Junior Championships.
At 16, Stancu also claimed the individual 1500m freestyle title on his home soil last year, topping the podium in a time of 15:05.47. This year he’ll look to repeat that victory, as well as potentially upgrade his 800m free silver and 400m free bronze.
Stancu is also fueled by his performances at the 2022 World Junior Championships where he snagged 3 individual medals. He earned runner-up status in the 400m free (3:48.38) as well as 2 bronze medals in the 800m free (7:46.14) and 1500m free (15:17.97).
Already this season, now-17-year-old Stancu put on a show at the Romanian Cup earlier this month. He nailed a personal best of 3:47.17 in the 400m free to rank 19th in the world at the moment.
#3 Kuzey Tuncelli (TUR)
Kuzey Tuncelli will be making his second European Junior Championships appearance for Turkey.
At just 15 years of age, Tuncelli is one of the youngest competitors in the field, entering this year’s competition as the 15th seed in the 400m free, 2nd seed in the 800m free and the top seed in the 1500m free.
Tuncelli turned heads this past April at the Turkish Team Trials where the teen won the men’s 1500 freestyle in 14:56.67. This was a huge personal best for him, 12 seconds faster than his prior career-quickest of 15:08.67, and also a new Turkish National Record.
Tuncelli’s swim rendered him the first Turkish swimmer to ever crack the 15-minute barrier in the event but he also became the youngest swimmer to enter into 14-minute territory, and the first 15-year-old swimmer to do so.
Before him, the youngest one was Croatia’s Franko Grgic, with a 14:56.55 at the Croatian National Championships in 2019, when he was 44 days past his 16h birthday.
At just 15 years of age, Tuncelli ranks 16th in the world in the 1500m freestyle on the season.
#4 Miroslav Knedla (CZE)
The Czech Republic is putting its boys’ backstroke hopes in the hands of 17-year-old Mirslav Knedla.
The teen has made major strides in the discipline over the course of the last year, blowing away his 2022 European Junior Championships results.
In Romania last year, Knedla settled for 5th place in the 50m back in 25.39 and 13th in the 100m back in 56.54.
Already this season, Knedla fired off a time of 24.75 in the 50m back, a monster lifetime best to take the gold at the Monaco stop of the Mare Nostrum Tour. The outing established a new national record and rendered Knedla just the 2nd-ever man from his nation to delve under the 25-second barrier in the event.
At that same competition, Knedla nailed a new lifetime best of 54.32 in the 100m back to produce just the 3rd sub-55 second result of his young career. He became just the 3rd Czech athlete to get under the 55-second threshold and his result sits just .29 outside the national record.
#5 Casper Puggaard (DEN)
Casper Puggaard of Denmark enters these European Junior Championships ranked as the top 18&U European male in both the 50m and 100m butterfly events.
The 18-year-old Dane owns season-bests of 23.80 and 52.41, respectively, both outings produced at April’s Danish Open.
Last year in Romania, Puggaard grabbed gold in the 50m fly in 23.67 and snagged silver in the 100m fly in 53.05. His current season-best of 52.41 would have garnered him the gold, beating out the 2022 European Junior champion Daniel Gracik’s (CZE) podium-topping time of 52.69.
Puggaard was also a double medalist at the 2022 World Junior Championships where the bagged bronze in both the 50m fly (23.96) and 100m fly (52.94).
The Danish men’s 50m and 100m fly national records remain at 22.93 and 52.09, both times registered by Jakob Ankjaer at the 2009 World Championships. While that 50m fly mark would necessitate Puggaard dropping nearly a second to overtake, the 100m fly national record is within reach, giving the teen extra motivation this time around in Belgrade.