The Baltic States Swimming Championships went down this weekend, with some of Latvia’s, Lithuania’s, and Estonia’s best competing in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital city.
Estonian teenager Kertu Alnek found her way to the podium the most of any female competitor, racking up four golds. She won the 50 free (26.31), the 100 free (57.94), 200 free (2:08.77), and the 50 fly (28.17). Tess Grossmann finished right behind Alnek in the 50 (26.35) and 100 (58.73).
Alnek and Grossmann teamed up with Margaret Markvardt and Kaetlin Sepp for Estonia to easily win the 400 free relay in 3:54.24. Alnek, Markvardt, Sepp, and Maria Romanjuk would go on to win the 400 medley relay as well, breaking the Estonian national record in the event with a 4:16.99.
Two Estonian age group records went down– Margaret Markvardt broke the 100 fly record with her swim of 1:02.23 to win the event. The other record was the 400 free relay. Kertu Kaare went 59.89 to lead off, and was followed by Ilona Maide, Kaia Tomak, and Melissa Priidel to touch in 4:02.53.
Alona Ribakova of Latvia swept the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, touching at 1:10.98 in the 100 and 2:33.22 in the 200.
On the men’s side, Girts Feldbergs, Daniel Zaitsev, and Deividas Margevicius each took home two individual event wins. Feldbergs of Latvia took home wins in the 100 back (56.88) and 200 back (2:05.31).
Meanwhile, Estonia’s Zaitsev won two sprint events– the 50m fly and 50m free. He touched at 24.41 in the fly and 23.29 in free.
Lithuania’s Margevicius, for his part, was the only finisher under 54 seconds in the 100 fly (53.94). In the 100 free, he was the champion at the end of a very tight finish. His 51.82 just edged out Andi Aedma (51.83) and Pjotr Degtjarjov (51.87), both of Estonia.
Perhaps the most impressive swim on the men’s side came from Lithuanian Andrius Sidlauskas, who touched first in the men’s 100 breast by over two full seconds in 1:01.52.
Girts is the beast!!!