2018 European Juniors Day 3: Kristof Milak Proves Dangerous Once Again In 200 Fly

2018 LEN EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Mäkelänrinne Swimming Centre, Helsinki, Finland
• Wednesday, July 4th – Sunday, July 8th (swimming)
• LCM
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• SwimSwam Meet Preview
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• Live Results

18-year-old Kristof Milak of Hungary was back in the pool tonight, proving once again he is one of the most dangerous 200 flyers on the planet. Already holding the number one time in the world with his monster 1:52.71 thrown down in Debrecen earlier this year, Milak cranked out a powerful 1:53.94 here in Helsinki to easily take the European Junior title for the 2nd year in a row.

Milak fired off an opening 50 scorcher of 24.55 (53.19) before clocking a back-half of 1:00.75. His strategy earned a winning time slightly slower than last year’s 1:53.79, a mark which will stand as the championship record. However, Milak’s time tonight would have won him the bronze at the 2017 World Championships (senior) and checks-in as the 4th fastest performance of his young career.

Italy’s Federico Burdisso was runner-up in tonight’s race, although he finished well over 2 seconds back in 1:56.40. That’s still a big personal best and the first time the 17-year-old has dipped under the 1:57-threshold. He most recently was 1:57.19 just this past June at the Italian National Championships. But, the teen sliced over a half a second off that time to log a new Italian Junior record this evening.

Ukraine’s Denys Kesil earned bronze tonight in 1:56.45, the same prize he earned at this same meet last year, albeit with a much faster mark this time around. In 2017, Kesil cleared bronze in 1:58.19, but the swimmer scorched a big personal best to also notch his first-ever sub-1:57 outing. Entering these championships, his fastest time ever was the 1:57.93 earned at last year’s World Junior Championships, that garnered him a 4th place finish overall.

Anastasia Makarova led the way for the women’s 200m breaststroke race, giving Russia its first gold of night 3. Clocking 2:26.29, this 15-year-old took gold just ahead of teammate Alena Chekhovskikh, who touched in 2:26.87 for silver. Lithuania’s Kotryna Teterevkova rounded out the top 3 in 2:27.09 for bronze.

Makarova’s effort this evening marks the first time the young budding star has ventured into sub-2:27 territory. In fact her time would check-in as the 6th fastest performance ever among American women aged 15-16. At last year’s edition of the meet, Russia was shut out of medals in this event entirely, so a 1-2 punch sends a notice that the nation indeed is brewing some potential senior champions for down the road.

Israel got on the board tonight in the form of Tomer Frankel winning the men’s 100m freestyle sprint. Establishing himself as the top seed in last night’s semi-final with a time of 49.28, Frankel shaved .05 off of that result to register a gold medal-garnering effort of 49.23. That fell just .01 ahead of runner-up Andrei Minakov of Russia, who touched in 49.24. Italy’s Devid Zorzetto finished in 49.62, slightly slower than his semi-final time of 49.55, for bronze in the race.

Great Britain’s Tom Dean was able to successfully defend his 200m IM title from last year, crushing a new meet record time of 1:59.17. That outdid the 1:59.91 meet records on the books since 2013 and also surpassed his own previous personal best of 1:59.88. Representing the only sub-2 minute swimmer of the field, Dean remains as the fastest British 18-year-old ever in the event. He also bounces up from #15 to #12 on the all-time, all ages British list, as well as slides into the top 20 times in the world this season.

Russia’s Maksim Stupin earned silver behind Dean in 2:01.42 to give his nation another piece of hardware, while Danil Zaytsev followed suit with 2:02.42 for bronze.

Daria Vaskina kept the podium streak going for Russia with a win in the women’s 50m backstroke, clocking 27.90 to retain her European Junior title from 2017. Her sub-28 outing this evening overtakes her own 28.08 European Junior Record from this past April, while it also surpasses Daria Ustinova’s meet mark of 28.18 from 2014. Vaskina’s effort puts her right in the mix of the world’s best, slotted as 16th overall this season.

Britain’s Lauren Cox was runner-up to Vaskina in 28.51, while Italy’s Giulia D’Innocenzo took 3rd in 28.62.

Vladislav Gerasimenko of Russia snagged the men’s 50m breaststroke gold in 28.03, beating out Latvia’s Didzis Rudavs and Netherlands’ Juri Dijkstra. They finished in silver and bronze positions with times of 28.19 and 28.21, respectively.

Shortly after her 200m free semi-final (see below), 16-year-old Ajna Kesely of Hungary took the women’s 1500m freestyle, winning in a time of 16:21.19. That mark was about 10 seconds off of her winning time of 16:11.25 that stands as the championship record.

Germany’s Celine Rieder touched in 16:25.05 for silver, while Italy’s Giulia Salin took bronze in 16:28.12.

To conclude the evening’s finals action, Israel blasted its bronze medal win from 2017 with a gold medal-winning men’s 4x200m freestyle relay. Denis Loktev, Gal Cohen, Bar Soloveychik and Tomer Frankel combined for a victorious time of 7:15.28, over a second ahead of runner-up Russia. Splits for the winning foursome included a solid 1:47.78 opener for Loktev, a time that would have nabbed individual bronze in the 200m free event at the 2017 European Championships.

Cohen kept the lead in 1:49.99, while Soloveychik also maintained in 1:50.77. Frankel, the winner of the men’s 100m free tonight, closed in 1:47.74 to finalize the gold medal for the Israeli team.

Russia finished in 7:17.49, with the fastest splits coming from opener Kolesnikov (1:48.99) and closer Mikhail Bocharnikov (1:48.12). Team Great Britain wrangled up 3rd in a close finish, touching in 7:17.73. The fastest split was from 3rd leg Tom Dean, who logged 1:48.49.

British women Lily Boseley, Tatiana Belonogoff, Emily Large and Freya Anderson crushed a new meet record in the women’s 4x100m medley relay as the last event of the night. With splits of 1:01.86 for Boseley, 1:08.34 for Belonogoff, 58.88 for Large and 53.40 for Anderson, the women collectively clocked a winning time of 4:02.48. That safely surpassed the 4:03.33 meet mark set by Russia back in 2015.

Silver was captured tonight by Team Russia in 4:04.52, while Germany claimed bronze in 4:06.59.

In Semi-Finals Action:

• Hungary’s teen beast Ajna Kesely is looking to add even more hardware to her collection at this meet, leading the women’s 200m free semi-finals in a time of 1:59.75. Last year she won this event in a championship record mark of 1:57.85. Her countrywoman, 15-year-old Fanni Fabian, will also be in tomorrow night’s final, positioned as the 6th seed in 2:01.43.In Semi-Final Action:In Semi-Final Action:
• World Junior Record holder Kliment Kolesnikov is ready to rumble in the men’s 200m back, taking the top seed in a pedestrian (by his standards) 1:59.66. Just .01 behind, however, is Romania’s Daniel-Cristian Martin, the athlete who tied the Russian in the men’s 100m back last night.
• There was a scare from Britain’s Emily Large in the women’s 100m fly, as the only sub-minute seed was originally deemed disqualified after tonight’s semi-final. However, after a protest was resolved, the 200m fly World Junior champion was reinstated, leading the women’s field in a time of 59.16. As a side note, Large is not contesting the 200m fly this meet, as she simply wanted a short meet program in preparation for Glasgow in a few weeks.