Only one meet record went down on the final night of action in Tbilsi, Georgia, and it went to Spain’s Cesar Castro Valle in the 1500 free.
Valle went 15:24.02 to win the event by more than 5 seconds, beating Alexei Sancov, who has been rewriting the Moldovan record book all week.
Valle got more than four seconds under the old meet record set in 2011 by Great Britain’s Joe Knight. Sancov, meanwhile, broke his own national record by 9 seconds.
Sancov was coming off of a 100 free win earlier in the night, a race in which he went 50.90 to touch out the Netherlands’ Nyls Korstanje (50.97).
The European Youth Olympic festival is for male athletes ages 15-16 and female athletes ages 13-14.
Hungary’s Ajna Kesely continued her winning ways, taking the girls 200 free. Her 2:01.84 beat Slovenia’s Janja Segel, who has also been racking up the medals this week.
Segel anchored the winning Slovenian 4×100 medley relay to cap off the night, splitting 56.6. Her team went 4:15.53. The men’s relay went to Italy in 3:46.15, with Nicolo Martinenghi following up his individual breaststroke sweep with a 1:01.5 split. Italy finished just .08 off the 2009 meet record from Poland.
Russia’s boys picked up a pair of wins. Pavel Tatarenko paced the 200 back in 2:03.21, and Dmitry Popov took the 200 fly in 2:00.86.
But Hungary one-upped the Russians, taking three golds on day 5. Kesely’s was the third of the night. Before that, Fanni Gyurinovics went 25.95 to win the girls 50 free, and Petra Barocsai won the girls 100 fly in 1:01.46.
Also taking home gold was Germany’s Anna Fehlinger, who went 2:33.48 to win the girls 200 breast.
From a german perspective i am pretty disappointed by Johannes Hintze. He didnt swim at his best, although he improved his 200 free PB and had a 49.70 100 free split in relay.
On the other hand he was ill at the beginning of July and therefore wont compete at senior world championships. I think he shouldve focused on junior world championships, where he should fight for the medals in 200/400 IM. He could also have a chance to qualify for the 100/200/400 free final, but i think he should just focus on 200/400 IM.
Only 3 medals for the French team and all by the same swimmer.
Tanguy Lesparre won bronze medals in the boys’ 100 breast in 1.03.25, 200 breast in 2.17.61 and 400 IM in 4.29.15.
I am proud and surprised, that Hungary did so well at the EYOF, we are the first on the swimming medal table with 8 golds, 3 silvers, and 5 bronzes, expect for one 3rd place, all of them individual medals. I think Késely, who won four golds, and Gyurinovics will be in Rio next year.
It must be a big source of motivation for these young swimmers to know that Hungary will host the world championships in 2017.
I think so, and I am very optimist regarding Budapest 2017. These age groups (2001 girls and 1999-2000 boys) are promising, and also the younger girls and boys (2002, 2003, 2004 age groups) who are involved in the “Future Champions” program of the Hungarian Swimming Federation. For example, there is an 11 yr old girl, Dora Hathazi, who can swim 1.02 on 100 fly, and 2.16 on 200 fly with a stunningly beautiful technique.
Sorry, Hathazi is 10.
My Hungarian knowledges are very limitated 🙂 but I’ve found her bio and she was born on December 16, 2003. She’s 11.
http://musz.hu/legendaink/hath%C3%A1zi-d%C3%B3ra
Haha! 1.02 and 2.16 at 11? 😯 That’s stunning. That must be 2 age group world records by a wide margin in my opinion.
Our records for 12-year-old girls here in France (no records under 12) are 1.08 and 2.31 so you can imagine for 11-year-old girls.
Not the same planet. 🙂
Even in USA I’ve only found times of 1.04 and 2.24.
I’ve found her best times here
http://www.swimrankings.net/index.php?page=athleteDetail&athleteId=4910597
And I’ve also found a race video on youtube from 1 year ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUq6Pcs5yVo
Under the video it’s mentioned she’s on lane 6 if I’m correct.
She swims the 200 fly… Read more »
Yes, she is 11 :). This year, she developed a lot, dropped huge times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubw2GpJJdNs
This is the first day of Hungarian Nationals for 15 year old and younger girls. At 30:26 you can find the 200 m fly race, where she is on lane 3. She swam 2:16,73, and finished fourth. Btw, Késely won the race ahead of Barócsai (2.13,62 and 2,15,60)
And here is the full recap of the nationals
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4pIu-Z-adFLVkd1T0RYVmdRbEE/view
German age group records:
For girls born in 2003:
100 fly: 1.04.71
200 fly: 2.27.00
For girls born in 2002:
100 fly: 1.02.41 (Van Almsick)
200 fly: 2.18.96
For girls born in 2001:
100 fly: 1.00.02 (Van Almsick)
200 fly: 2.15.47 (Greßler)
Hathazi wouldve broken both german age group records for girls born in 2003 and at least the 200 fly record for girls born in 2002. These times are really stunning, it would be interesting to know how tall she is and if she also swims other events.
For girls born in 2000:
100 fly: 59.46 (Greßler)
200 fly: 2.11.19 (Mrozinski)
It would be a miracle if Kesely or Gyurinovics would qualify for an individual race in Rio.
Kesely at EYOF:
200 fly: 2.15.04
Thats not really an impressive time and there is no chance that she will beat Hosszu/Szilagy for a spot in the hungarian team.
800 free: 8.44.72
Also not a really impressive time, in addition to that at least Kapas will block one spot.
100 free: 57.18
Pretty average, no chance to qualify for Rio.
400 free: 4.15.65
Decent time at her age, but no comparison to Openysheva for example.
200 free: 2.01.84
Probably her best event, maybe she has a chance to get a spot in the… Read more »
I was thinking about the 4×200 relay as their event, not an individuel one. Btw, except for the 50 free and 800 free, both girls were far from there PBs. Gyurinovics has 2.15 in 200IM, both of them low 56 in 100 free and 4.47s in 400 IM.
Judit, thanks for the video.
She really looks like a normal 11-year-old girl. Almost the smallest and skinniest kid behind of the blocks.
Thomas, you can watch the race to judge her height. And look at the link I posted above to see her best times in each event.
behind the blocks
I will watch her progression in the coming years now.
But at the pace she improves her times, she will swim in Budapest in 2 years! 🙂