European S/C Championships, Day 4 Prelims: Maxime Grousset & Marrit Steenbergen Among The 100 Free Fields
The men’s and women’s 100 free feature on the fourth day of prelims at the European Short Course Championships in Lublin, Poland.
Maxime Grousset won the men’s title in Otopeni two years ago and he goes in the final heat with Marrit Steenbergen – fresh from her two European records en-route to double gold on Thursday – back in the water for the 100 free and 200IM.
The 200IM and men’s 800 free will also be contested in a shorter prelims session.
Women’s 200IM
Marrit Steenbergen twice rewrote the European history books on Thursday evening. First up was the 100IM where she downed the 100IM mark held by Katinka Hosszu since 2017 before returning for the 200 free where she consigned Federica Pellegrini’s 2009 mark to history. The Netherlands swimmer returned for a tilt at another double by opening the session with a top time of 2:08.20 in the 200IM. She was followed by Anastasia Gorbenko (2:08.33) and Katie Shanahan (2:08.36). There were three Spanish women in the top seven headed by Laura Cabanes Garzas (2:08.58) who was followed Emma Carrasco Cadens (2:08.79) with Alba Vazquez Ruiz the woman to miss out in seventh (2:09.25).
Men’s 200IM
Duncan Scott won his first European short course 200 free title on Thursday where he led home Stirling training partner Jack McMillan for a British 1-2. The Scot returned for the IM, in which he’s the defending champion, and was the only man inside 1:54 in 1:53.74. Alberto Razzetti, silver medallist behind Scott two years ago, is second through in 1:54.05 heading five men on 1:54. Max Litchfield was the second Briton through but Tom Dean, the 2023 world bronze medallist, was DQd from heat three for an incorrect backstroke to breaststroke transition.
