European S/C Championships, Day 1: Isabel Gose Downs European Record in 400 Free
A busy first finals session of the European Short-Course Championships got underway Tuesday night with Isabel Gose downing the European record in the women’s 400 freestyle.
Gose’s swim came in the first final in Lublin, Poland. It was one of only two individual finals plus two relay finals on a semifinal-heavy opening evening that featured several records.
Women’s 400 freestyle final
Isabel Gose took control of the race at the midway point, and no one could keep up. The German swimmer went 3:54.33, downing the now 12-year-old record of Mireia Belmonte Garcia of 3:54.52 set in 2013.
Gose, the Olympic silver medalist in the 1,500 free and the 2022 long-course European champion in this event was more than two seconds ahead of Italian Simona Quadarella, who grabbed silver in 3:56.70. She rallied on the final 25 meters to get past Great Britain’s Freya Colbert at the touch by .01 seconds and change the colors of their medals. Quadarella’s medal is her 16th Euros medal, between long- and short-course racing.
Fourth was Maya Werner of Germany in 4:01.46.
Men’s 400 freestyle final
A British swimmer came out on top, but it’s not the one you expected.
Few may have thought Jack McMillan, who entered the meet seeded 16th and with a seed time of 3:41, would be the one on top. But in a chaotic final, he pulled away after 300 meters and no one could catch him. The 25-year-old picked up easily the biggest individual title of his career, going 3:36.33 to win. It clubs some five seconds out of his all-time best.
The native of Northern Ireland got to the wall .18 seconds ahead of Lukas Martens, the reigning Olympic champion second in 3:36.51. Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen was third in 3:37.02.
Fourth place went to Johannes Liebmann of Germany, setting the world junior record with a time of 3:37.39. That erases the standard set in 2021 by Matt Sates at 3:37.92.
Zalan Sarkany of Hungary was sixth. The favored British swimmer, Duncan Scott, finished seventh in 3:38.14, 1.81 seconds behind his countryman.
Women’s 50 butterfly semifinals
The 50 fly brought another record and plenty of drama.
None of that involved Beryl Gastaldello, who won the second semifinal heat in 25.00 to secure the top seed in the final. Seven swimmers are clustered within .16 seconds behind the Frenchwoman.
Three are tied for second, with Denmark’s Martine Dambourg, Germany’s Angelina Kohler and Roos Vanotterdijk of Belgium tied for second in 25.06. Maaike de Waard was fifth in 25.09, .10 up on Silvia Di Pietro.
Damborg’s time lowers her European Junior Record of 25.20 from the morning. The world junior record is a further jump, owned by Claire Curzan at 24.55.
A swim-off is required for eighth between Greece’s Anna Ntountounaki and Neza Klancar of Slovenia. The swim-off nearly needed a swim-off, with Klancar winning in 25.01 to Ntountounaki’s 25.04.
Men’s 50 butterfly semifinal
World record holder Noe Ponti can add the meet record to his bundle of accolades, going 21.51 to boss semifinals by four tenths and down the 2021 mark owned by Szebasztian Szabo at 21.75.
Maxime Grousset was closest to the Swiss ace in 21.95. Daniel Zaitsev of Estonia is in medal position in third, while Szabo’s 22.21 is in contention in fourth.
Women’s 100 breaststroke semifinals
Eneli Jefimova led the way in the semis with a time of 1:03.28. It’s three tenths off the meet record. She was .33 ahead of Florine Gaspard of Belgium, with Angharad Evans of Britain the only other swimmer in the 1:03s. Alla Elendt, Anastasia Gorbenko and Dominika Sztandera were all under 1:04.2 to keep it interesting.
Men’s 100 breaststroke semifinals
Caspar Corbeau’s record assault will have to wait for the final. The Dutchman was clearly the class of semifinals in 55.77, a half-second up on the chasers. He’s got the meet record (55.45) and world record (55.28, both belonging to Ilya Shymanovich) in his sights.
Emre Sakci of Turkey is the second seed in 56.31, .01 ahead of Italy’s Simona Cerasuolo. Spanish short-course specialist Carles Coll Marti was fourth in 56.44. Nicolo Martinenghi is lurking in sixth, having gone 56.72 in semis.
Women’s 200 backstroke semifinals
Pauline Mahieu led the way in 2:03.67, giving the French another top seed. She was .06 ahead of Great Britain’s Katie Shanahan, who went 2:03.73. Carmen Weiler Sastre of Spain was third in 2:04.15, with a half-second back to Portugal’s Camila Rodrigues Rebelo in fourth.
Men’s 200 backstroke semifinals
Ireland’s John Shortt led the way with a time of 1:48.84. Shortt in the morning lowered his national record from 1:51.60 to 1:50.65, then opted to skip the 1:49s altogether in further lowering the national standard.
Mewen Tomac is one of three swimmers within a second of Shortt, the Frenchman’s time of 1:49.11 good for second. Third was Luke Greenbank in 1:49.37, followed by Jan Cejka of Czechia in 1:49.77.
Women’s 200 freestyle relay
The Dutch are on top of the sprint relay again, the quartet of Milou van Wijk, Marrit Steenbergen, Tessa Giele and Valerie Van Roon getting the win in 1:33.85. Van Roon played the hero, anchoring in 23.05. She entered the water second, .78 seconds behind Italy, but she outsplit Italian anchor Costanza Cocconcelli by more than a second to get the gold.
Italy went 1:34.30 with the team of Silvia Di Pietro, Sara Curtis, Agata Maria Ambler and Cocconcelli. The duel was in the second leg, with Steenbergen delivering the fastest leg of the race in 22.89 but Curtis countering in 22.90.
Poland grabbed third place, Kasia Wasick leading off in 23.57 to position them well. They needed every last hundredth, Barbara Lesniewska holding off Germany anchor Julianna Bocska by .01 to get bronze in 1:35.75. Angelina Kohler split 23.50 on the second leg for Germany. France finished fifth despite Beryl Gastadello charging home in 23.32.
Men’s 200 freestyle relay
Italy maintained its sprint dominance with a win in 1:22.90 that comes with .13 of the meet and European record set in 2008 by France. Leonardo Deplano, Lorenzo Zazzeri, Giovanni Guatti and Thomas Ceccon were the only team to produce four 20-points to get the win. Italy was third after Deplano’s opening leg, but Zazzeri went 20.56, the fastest of the race, to get in the lead. Italy won from Lane 2.
The race was open for surprise medalists, with Germany not emerging from prelims and France and Great Britain not entered. Poland seized the opportunity with a back-half surge. They were in sixth at the halfway point, but a 20.71 from Kamil Sieradzki pulled them to third, and Mateusz Chowaniec got them up a spot to second in 21.00. Piotr Ludwiczak and Ksawery Masiuk rounded out the team that went 1:23.63.
Third was Croatia, the leader after prelims. Jere Hribar started them out in 20.70. Nikola Miljenic kept them second, but Bozo Puhalovic saw them drop to fifth. A 20.79 from Luka Cvetko pushed them back up to third in 1:23.79, .13 seconds up on Ukraine. Spain was fifth.
The final was amazingly balanced: All 32 legs of the race were clustered between the 20.56 of Zazzeri and a 21.68 of Estonia’s Kregor Zirk.
