2020 BULGARIAN SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, August 27th – Sunday, August 30th
- Diana National Sports Complex Sofia, Bulgaria
- LCM (50m)
- Live Results
- Live Stream
The 2020 Bulgarian Swimming Championships kicked off today in the capital city of Sofia. Nearly 300 swimmers stemming from 46 clubs across the host nation, as well as Turkey, Kosovo, and Macedonia are descending upon the Diana National Sports Complex pool in the hopes of qualifying for the postponed 2020 Olympic Games.
These championships represent one of three FINA-approved Olympic-qualifying competitions on the Bulgarian Swimming Federation calendar for the remainder of the year. The other two meets include Grand Prix Burgas set for early November and the Bulgarian Open Team Championships scheduled for mid-December.
Already through just one day of competition, a senior Bulgarian national record bit the dust. In the men’s 200m backstroke, Kaloyan Levterov produced a huge lifetime best of 1:59.48 to become the first Bulgarian man to ever dip under the 2:00 barrier in the event.
Entering this 3-day meet, Levterov’s lifetime best and Bulgarian standard rested at the 2:00.39 he produced at the 2019 European Junior Championships. That result rendered the now-17-year-old as the 7th place finisher in the event there in Kazan. As such, the teen hacked nearly a second off of his previous PB to log a historic 1:59.48 for the national title tonight.
For perspective, Levterov’s time would him in as just outside the top 25 American performers for men 17-18 all-time. Within Europe, his outing tonight now situates him atop the 18&U rankings across the continent.
The FINA ‘A’ cut for the 2020 Olympic Games is represented by a mark of 1:57.50, which means that Levterov is staring down another 2-second drop to make the grade. But, with is youth and with another set of months ahead in which to hone his craft, he can’t entirely be counted out of achieving the goal for 2021.
