2023 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, July 4th – Sunday, July 9th
- Sports and Recreational Center “Milan Gale Muškatirović,” Belgrade, Serbia
- Prelims at 10am local (4am EDT)/Finals at 5pm local (11am EDT)
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Entries
- SwimSwam Preview
- Live Results
- Livestream
- Day 1 Prelims Recap |Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
Vlad Stancu earned his first Olympic ‘A’ cut in the 1500-meter freestyle with a personal-best 15:00.51 at the European Junior Championships on Thursday night, lowering his own Romanian record by nearly five seconds.
The 17-year-old distance specialist is the fourth Romanian to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics and the second swimmer after — guess who — world record holder David Popovici.
Stancu placed first in this event last year at Euro Juniors and dropped a significant chunk off his winning time of 15:05.47, but it still wasn’t enough to secure gold in a blazing fast final. A pair of Turkish teens also finished under the Olympic ‘A’ cut, with Kuzey Tuncelli touching first in 14:58.89 and Emir Batur Albayrak snagging bronze in 15:00.57 — just .06 seconds behind Stancu.
The three podium finishers also reached the wall under the previous meet record of 15:01.59 set by Kirill Martynychev in 2019 and were a whopping seven seconds faster than the winner of last year’s World Junior Championship (Carlos Garach Benito, 15:08.14).
BOYS 1500 FREESTYLE – FINAL
- World Junior Record: 14:46.09, Franko Grgic (2019)
- European Junior Record: 14:46.09, Franko Grgic (2019)
- European Record: 14:32.80, Gregorio Paltrinieri (2022)
Championship Record: 15:01.59, Kirill Martynychev (2019)- 2022 European Junior Champion: Vlad Stancu (Romania), 15:05.47
PODIUM:
- GOLD: Kuzey Tuncelli (Turkey) – 14:58.89
- SILVER: Vlad Stancu (Romania) – 15:00.51
- BRONZE: Emir Batur Albayrak (Turkey) – 15:00.57
It wasn’t even a lifetime best for Tuncelli, who became the fastest 15-and-under swimmer ever in the 1500 free by nearly 10 seconds with a national-record 14:56.67 in April.
Meanwhile, Elbayrak’s time of 15:00.57 shaved nearly nine seconds off his previous-best 15:09.40 from prelims. Stancu and Elbayrak now rank 24th and 25th in the world this season, respectively, behind Tuncelli at No. 16.
Stancu isn’t far from more Olympic ‘A’ cuts in the 400 free and 800 free. In the 400, he owns a personal-best time of 3:47.17 from this year’s Romanian Championships, within half a second of the mark (3:46.79). In the 800, he’s also a bit over two seconds off the Olympic ‘A’ cut (7:51.65) with his personal-best 7:54.02 from last year’s Euro Juniors, where he won silver.
Stancu now ranks No. 100 all-time with his new lifetime best in the 1500 free.
Check out the comparative splits below from tonight’s epic showdown. Tuncelli was third at the 800-meter mark (7:57.04) behind Albayrak (7:56.36) and Stancu (7:54.12), but his incredibly consistent splitting — never going above 1:01 across a 100-meter stretch of the race — allowed him to rally on the back half for the victory
| Kuzey Tuncelli | Vlad Stancu | Emir Batur Albayrak | |
| 100 | 57.03 | 56.10 | 57.35 |
| 200 | 1:56.55 (59.52) | 1:54.52 (58.32) | 1:57.11 (59.76) |
| 300 | 2:56.34 (59.79) | 2:52.90 (58.48) | 2:57.15 (1:00.04) |
| 400 | 3:56.11 (59.77) | 3:52.23 (59.33) | 3:57.04 (59.89) |
| 500 | 4:56.18 (1:00.07) | 4:51.92 (59.69) | 4:56.89 (59.85) |
| 600 | 5:56.31 (1:00.13) | 5:52.22 (1:00.30) | 5:56.59 (59.70) |
| 700 | 6:56.78 (1:00.47) | 6:53.07 (1:00.85) | 6:56.31 (59.72) |
| 800 | 7:57.04 (1:00.26) | 7:54.12 (1:01.05) | 7:56.36 (1:00.05) |
| 900 | 8:57.45 (1:00.41) | 8:55.31 (1:01.19) | 8:57.49 (1:01.13) |
| 1000 | 9:58.07 (1:00.62) | 9:56.64 (1:01.33) | 9:58.55 (1:01.06) |
| 1100 | 10:58.45 (1:00.38) | 10:58.20 (1:01.56) | 11:00.30 (1:01.75) |
| 1200 | 11:58.76 (1:00.31) | 11:59.91 (1:01.71) | 12:01.36 (1:01.06) |
| 1300 | 12:59.44 (1:00.68) | 13:01.44 (1:01.53) | 13:02.47 (1:01.11) |
| 1400 | 14:00.26 (1:00.82) | 14:02.78 (1:01.34) | 14:03.20 (1:00.73) |
| 1500 | 14:58.89 (58.63) | 15:00.51 (57.73) | 15:00.57 (57.37) |
I watched the race on the YouTube feed. Stancu went for it early but was passed by Tuncelli at about 1150m as he struggled the final 500m. Nonetheless, Stancu held it together for a 57+ final 100. and held off a gutsy challenge from Albrayrak for silver. Great swims by all three youngsters.
Stancu’s 400free PB is 3:47:17 from the Romanian Cup one month ago 🙂