17-Year-Old Luca Hoek Le Guenedal Drops 21.99 50 Free To Crack Super-Suited Spanish Record

2025 European Junior Championships

• Tuesday, July 1 – Sunday, July
• X-bionic® sphere Pool, Šamorín, Slovakia
• LCM (50m)
• Start Times – Local: Prelims – 9:30 am / Finals – 6:00 pm
• Start Times – EST: Prelims – 3:30 am / Finals – 12:00 pm
• SwimSwam Preview
• Meet Central
• Entries (by event)
• Entries (by country)
• Live European Aquatics Results
• Livestream (Pay-To-Watch)
• Recaps:
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Luca Hoek Le Guenedal continued to impress on Thursday morning at the European Junior Championships in Samorin, breaking a longstanding Spanish National Record in the men’s 50 freestyle.

Competing in the boys’ 50 free semis, the 17-year-old put up a time of 21.99 to break the 16-year-old Spanish mark of 22.04, set by Javier Noriega at the 2009 Spanish Championships.

Coming into the meet with a personal best time of 22.28, set last month at the Spanish Summer Championships, Hoek Le Guenedal qualified 5th out of this morning’s prelims in 22.62 before getting down to 21.99 in tonight’s semis, qualifying 1st into tomorrow’s final by 17 one-hundredths.

In addition to breaking Spain’s National Record, Hoek Le Guenedal also becomes just the eighth junior swimmer in history (18 and under by birth year) to break the 22-second barrier.

All-Time 18 & Under Performers (By Birth Year), Boys’ 50 Freestyle (LCM)

1. Michael Andrew (USA), 21.75 – 2017
2. Artem Selin (GER), 21.83 – 2019
3. Diogo Ribeiro (POR), 21.92 – 2022
4. David Curtiss (USA), 21.95 – 2019
5. Jacob Mills (GBR), 21.96 – 2025
6. Vladyslav Bukhov (UKR), 21.97 – 2020
7. Evgeny Sedov (RUS), 21.98 – 2014
8. Luca Hoek Le Guenedal (ESP), 21.99 – 2025
9. Yu Hexin (CHN), 22.00 – 2014
10. James Roberts (AUS), 22.05 – 2009

Hoek Le Guenedal’s performance came around 24 hours after he put up a time of 48.14 in the 100 free leading off Spain’s gold medal-winning mixed 4×100 free relay on Wednesday, which put him under the Spanish National Record of 48.34 set last year—though whether or not it’s an official National Record due it to being on a mixed relay is up to the federation.

He came into the meet with a lifetime best of 48.44, which, like the 50 free, was established just last month, so he’s on an impressive improvement curve as of late.

Entering 2025, his best times stood at 22.33 in the 50 free and 49.36 in the 100 free, both set at the 2024 European Junior Championships, where he won silver in the 50 free and took 6th in the 100 free.

As of last year, Hoek Le Guenedal has been training with coach Ben Titley twice a week at the Sant Cugat National Training Center in Barcelona.

In addition to tomorrow’s 50 free final and upcoming relays, Hoek Le Guenedal is entered in the 100 free on Saturday, where he’ll be a gold medal favorite after his swims the last two days.