2023 European SC Championships: Day 1 Finals Record Roundup

2023 EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• December 5-10, 2023
• Otopeni Olympic Swimming Complex, Bucharest, Romania
• Short Course Meters (25 meters)
• Prelims 2:30am (ET), Finals 11am (ET)
• Entries Book
• Live Results (Omega)
• Live Results (Microplus Timing)
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Eurovision Sport Livestream

Day one of the 2023 European Short Course Championships was a thrilling night of action, even though we only had two individual finals and two relay finals.

Additional national records fell in Romania on both the men’s and women’s side; here’s the round-up from tonight’s events.

Women’s National Records

• Danielle Hill (IRL) Women’s 50m Freestyle – Building on her morning record in the heats, 24-year-old Danielle Hill of Ireland dropped more time in the semi’s of the women’s 50m free. This morning she clocked 24.33 to overtake her previous national standard of 24.44 from 2019. She then slashed another .17 to check-in with a mark of 24.16 to place 9th.
• Kalia Antoniou (CYP) Women’s 50m Freestyle – A new Cypriot standard was set by Kalia Antoniou in the 50m free as well. Antoniou already put up the fastest time of her career in 24.65 this morning but sliced off another .33 to register 24.32 for a new national record. She ultimately placed 12th this evening.
• Andrea Podmanikova (SVK) Women’s 100m Breast – On her way to taking the 5th seed for tomorrow night’s final, Andrea Podmanikova scored a new Slovak record in the 100m breast. She touched in 1:04.85 to get under the 1:05 barrier for the first time in her career. Her previous PB represented the Slovak record of 1:05.23 from 2 years ago.
• Kara Hanlon (GBR/SCO) Women’s 100m Breast – Kara Hanlon produced a time of 1:05.97 to place 11th in the 100m breast. Her time this evening, as well as her morning heats result of 1:05.86, both cleared the previous Scottish national record of 1:06.06 Corrie Scott put on the books at the 2016 Scottish SC Championships. Hanlon is now the first Scottish woman to ever delve under the 1:06 threshold in the event.

Men’s National Records

• Maxime Grousset (FRA) Blasts 48.94 100 Fly National Record in Romania
• Noe Ponti Clocks 48.61 Swiss, European Short Course Championships 100 Fly Record
• Daniel Gracik (CZE) Men’s 100m Fly – The Czech record for men’s 100m fly fell at the hands of Daniel Gracik in tonight’s semi-finals. Gracik clocked a time of 50.02 to claim the 3rd seed behind Ponti and Grousset. His outing crushed his previous personal best of 51.16 from October of 2022 and also beat Jan Sefl’s previous NR of 50.44 from the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
• Thierry Bollin (SUI) Men’s 50m Backstroke – 23-year-old Thierry Bollin lowered his own 50m backstroke Swiss standard en route to nabbing the 3rd seed headed into tomorrow night’s final. His time of 23.10 overwrote the 23.38 he put up just last month at the Swiss Championships.
• Ralf Tribuntsov (EST) Men’s 50m Backstroke – Also making tomorrow night’s men’s 50m back final was Ralf Tribuntsov of Estonia. The 29-year-old logged a new Estonian national record this evening, registering a time of 23.13. That erased his morning mark of 23.28 which had already surpassed his previous Estonian standard of 23.43 from last month’s Finnish Grand Prix.
• Miroslav Knedla (CZE) Men’s 50m Backstroke – 18-year-old Miroslav Knedla continued his successful 2023 year of racing by making it into the final of the men’s 50m backing record-setting fashion. This year’s European Junior champion in both the 50m back and 200m IM turned in a time of 23.26 in this 50m back to tie Tomas Franta‘s Czech standard from the 2022 Short Course World Championships.
• Lucas Henveaux (BEL) Men’s 400m Free – Lucas Henveaux put up a new Belgian national record of 3:37.91 en route to bronze in the men’s 400m free. He re-lowered the 3:39.96 mark he set this morning by nearly 2 seconds for just his 2nd-ever result under the 3:40 threshold.
• Proud Leads Off in 20.56 As Brits Obliterate National Record in 200 Free Relay