2024 European Junior Championships: Day 1 Prelims Recap

2024 EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, July 2nd – Sunday, July 7th
• Lazdynai Pool, Vilnius, Lithuania
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Entries
• Live Results – Sportity App
• Livestream ($)

The 50th edition of the European Junior Championships kicked off today from Vilnius, Lithuania with over 600 swimmers set to take to the Lazdynai Pool.

The six-day competition features girls aged 14-17 and boys aged 15-18 with hardware and titles on the line.

Hungary’s Minna Abraham made her presence known immediately, with the teen topping the girls’ 200m freestyle heats.

Abraham punched a time of 2:00.63 to lead the pack, holding a narrow advantage over Chiara Sama of Italy who snagged the 2nd seed in 2:00.70. Countrymate Bianca Nannucci was right behind in 2:01.09 followed by 8 additional swimmers who dipped under the 2:02 threshold.

Abraham was the silver medalist in this event last year in Belgrade, posting a time of 1:59.29.

The boys’ 200m free heats saw Denmark’s 17-year-old Nicholas Castella stake his claim, producing a morning mark of 1:48.82. That represented the sole outing of the field to get under the 1:49 barrier.

Turkish teen Ahmet Isik was next to the wall in 1:49.19 while host nation athlete Kristupas Trepocka rounded out the top 3 performers in 1:49.26.

Castella’s morning swim is already within striking distance of his lifetime best of 1:48.48. He clocked that effort at April’s Danish Open with the time checking in as his first-ever foray under the 1:50 benchmark.

Hungary’s Vivien Jackl is looking to repeat as European junior champion in the 400m IM, establishing herself as the woman to beat with a prelim time of 4:45.96.

15-year-old Jackl topped the Belgrade podium last year in a result of 4:40.66, although she ripped a monster 4:34.96 in Budapest earlier this year to set herself apart from this year’s competition.

Belgium’s Sarah Dumont (4:46.13) and Italy’s Giada Alzetta (4:48.78) are also in the hunt while last year’s bronze medalist, Louna Kasvio of Finland found herself in 9th (4:52.99) and out of tonight’s main event.

Poland’s Mikolaj Popiel produced a time of 2:00.09 to lead the boys’ 200m fly field by just under a second. That already checked in as the 18-year-old’s new lifetime best, overtaking the 2:01.62 he turned in during last year’s semi-finals.

Turkey’s Tuncer Erturk is on the prowl, posting 2:01.07 as the 2nd seed with Hungarian David Antal directly behind in 2:01.21.

Of note, last year’s silver medalist, Vlad-Stefan Mihalache of Romania, was shut out of the top 16. He settled for 18th in a time of 2:02.96 despite earning 2023 runner-up status in 1:58.84.

The heats of the girls’ 1500m free also took place this morning, with reigning British national champion Amelie Blocksidge demonstrating her prowess in the event.

15-year-old Blocksidge stopped the clock in a time of 16:24.71 to earn lane 4 for the final which takes place tomorrow evening.

Blocksidge is her nation’s 3-best performer in history, owning a career-quickest mark of 16:10.04 from February of this year.

She earned silver in this 1500m free last year, with German Marian Ploger bagging bronze. Ploger secured the 3rd seed this time around in 16:32.98 while Emma Giannelli of Italy reaped the 2nd seed in 16:27.53.

The 400m IM top seed Jackl of Hungary dove back in for this 1500m free, snagging the 4th seed in 16:33.01.

Additional Top Seeds

• Italy’s national record holder in the 50m free Sara Curtis snagged the top seed in the girls’ 50m back this morning. The 17-year-old nailed a time of 28.20 to hold a narrow advantage over Great Britain’s Blythe Kinsman who touched in 28.30. Kinsman reaped silver in this event at the 2023 edition of these championships, but her time here already overtakes the 28.41 she posted as runner-up.
• The boys’ 50m back saw Lithuanian Mantas Kauspedas rip a result of 24.95, the sole outing of the field under 25 seconds. His outing established a new personal best, erasing the teen’s previous PB of 25.07 put on the books last December. The time also checked in as the new Lithuanian national record.
• Smilte Plytnykaite of Lithuania turned in a time of 31.20 as the quickest girls’ 50m breaststroker on the morning. She was followed closely by Spanish swimmer Maria Ramos who hit 31.36 while GBR’s Jasmine Carter rounded out the top 3 performers in 31.51. Of note, last year’s victor Eneli Jefimova of Estonia was not entered in this event and is set only to race the 100m breaststroke at these championships before heading to the Olympic Games.
• Turkey’s Nusrat Allahverdi registered a result of 27.58 en route to taking the top spot in the boys’ edition of the 50m breast. He was one of four sub-28-second performers, joined by Germans Subajr Biltaev (27.61) and Emilian Hollank (27.88) along with Bulgarian Maksim Manolov (27.94).
• The nation of Germany claimed the #1 seed in the girls’ 4x100m free relay. The team collectively put up a time of 3:41.75, with anchor Julianna Bocska earning the quickest split of the squad in 55.08. The fastest split of the entire prelim was represented by Hungary’s Molnar who logged 55.05.
• Italy earned the top slot in the boys’ 4x100m free relay with the squad nailing a result of 3:18.30. The prelims foursome were all in the 49-second range, with the 3rd and 4th anchors of Mirko Chiaversoli and Lorenzo Ballarati both clocking 49.46. Although his Austrian team finished 9th and out of the final, lead-off Lukas Edl notched a notable split of 49.48 as the quickest opening swimmer.