Turkey’s Merve Tuncel Cracks European Junior Record with 8:21.91 800 Free

2021 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, July 6th – Sunday, July 11th
• Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
• Heats at 9:30am local (3:30am EST)/Finals at 6pm local (Noon EST)
• LCM (50m)
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• Day 1 Prelims Recap | Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Finals Heats Sheets

WOMEN’S 800 FREESTYLE – FINAL

• World Junior Record: 8:11.00 – Katie Ledecky, USA (2016)
• European Junior Record: 8:22.01 – Ajna Kesely, HUN (2018)
• European Junior Championship Record: 8:29.19 – Giulia Salin, ITA (2019)
• 2019 European Junior Champion: Giulia Salin (ITA)

Top 8:

1. Merve Tuncel (TUR) – 8:21.91
2. Beril Boecekler (TUR) – 8:33.52
3. Giulia Vetrano (ITA) – 8:35.84
4. Paula Otero Fernandez (ESP) – 8:35.85
5. Bettina Fabian (HUN) – 8:40.53
6. Leonie Maertens (GER) – 8:42.89
7. Angela Guillen Martinez (ESP) – 8:43.03
8. Aleksandra Khailova (RUS) – 8:50.28

In an impressive 1-2 finish for Turkey, 16-year-old Merve Tuncel took the women’s 800 free in 8:21.91, establishing a new personal best, and breaking the European Junior Record. The 8:21.91 marks a personal best for Tuncel by over 4 seconds, and came in exactly 1-tenth of a second faster than the previous European Junior Record, which was held by Hungary’s Ajna Kesely from the 2018 European Championships.

Here is a split comparison between Tunsel’s swim tonight, and Kesely’s previous record swim from 2018.

As the splits show, Tuncel started out slightly faster than Kesely, and stayed ahead of her pace until the 550m mark. Tuncel then fell 0.66 seconds behind Kesely’s pace at the 700m mark, before coming home faster.

With the swim, Tuncel is now the #9 performer in the world this year, and the #3 European performer this year. She’s also the 2nd-youngest swimmer in the top 10 in the world this year, behind only Katie Grimes, a 15-year-old American Olympian.