14-Yr-Old Castella Posts 1:57 SCM 200 Back At Danish Championships

2021 DANISH SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• December 16th – December 19th
• Esbjerg, Denmark
• SCM (25m)
• Results

Shortly before Christmas, the Danish Short Course Championships took place in Esbjerg with several notable swims emerging from the 4-day competition.

One such performance stemmed from 14-year-old Nicholas Castella in the men’s 200m backstroke. The teen produced a time of 1:57.58 to snag silver behind winner Alfred Grubert who got to the wall narrowly ahead of him in a time of 1:57.11.

For Castella, he opened in 57.99 and closed in 59.59 to establish a new lifetime best. His result here in Esbjerg obliterated his previous career-fastest effort of 2:01.62 he owned entering this meet. That 2:00+ outing was produced just a couple of weeks ahead of this competition.

Additional top times included Mathias Ysgaard logging 1:45.40 to take the men’s 200m freestyle, while Malthe Lindeblad and Rasmus Nickelsen took the gold in the men’s 50m free and 50m fly respectively. Lindeblad posted a mark of 21.42 in the former while Nickelsen put up a mark of 23.13 in the latter.

The women’s side saw Thea Blomsterberg top the podium in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke events. The 19-year-old clinched victory in the longer race with a performance of 2:20.77 and notched gold in the shorter race in 1:05.54. Both outings represent her new lifetime bests.

Signe Bro was also in the water, making it happen in the 100m free and 200m free. She hit the wall in 1:56.61 and 53.29, respectively, to beat the field and claim titles in both. She rounded out the sprint free titles by hitting 24.99 in the 50m free as well.