2026 European Junior Championships: Day Five Finals Live Recap

2026 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, July 7 – Sunday, July 12, 2026
• Munich, Germany
• LCM (50 meters)
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

We have a stacked series of finals and semi-finals to fill our schedule on the penultimate night of racing at the 2026 European Junior Championships.

The girls’ 100m freestyle will be a battle from start to finish, with four competitors having dipped under the 55-second barrier during last night’s session. Top contenders include Neutral Athlete Kseniia Sorokina, Germany’s dynamic Linda Roth and Italy’s Alessandra Mao, who is only 15 years of age.

Semi-finals of the boys’ 100m freestyle are also on tonight’s agenda, featuring Spanish national record holder Luca Hoek.

Hoek topped the boys’ 100m freestyle heats, producing a morning outing of 49.11 to hold a slight advantage over a pair of Neutral Athletes.

Matvei Miliaev is next in line at 49.20, with teammate Egor Proshin rounding out the top tier in 49.43.

Lithuania’s Tajus Juska is also in the mix, courtesy of his morning swim of 49.43. Juska was the silver medalist in this race last year and is also the reigning World Junior Championships bronze medalist.

Add in the boys’ and girls’ 800m freestyle final, semi-finals in the 100m back and breast, along with the boys’ 4x200m free relay and tonight’s affair qualifies as must-see action.

BOYS 800 FREESTYLE – FINAL

• World Junior Record: 7:43.37, Lorenzo Galossi (ITA), 2022
• European Junior Record: 7:43.37, Lorenzo Galossi (ITA), 2022
• Championship Record: 7:46.01, Kuzey Tuncelli (TUR), 2025
• 2025 European Junior Champion: 7:46.01, Kuzey Tuncelli (TUR)

GOLD – Grigorii Vekovishchev (NA), 7:52.31
SILVER – Mikolaj Litoborski (POL), 7:53.36
BRONZE – Maksim Gusev (NA), 7:54.37

The boys’ 800m freestyle kicked things off this evening, with a pair of Russians, competing as Neutral Athletes, getting onto the podium.

Grigorii Vekovishchev was the top performer, hitting a time of 7:52.31 to grab the gold. This was an improvement in medal standing from last year when he snagged the silver, although his 2025 time was slightly quicker at 7:51.49.

Vekovishchev also nabbed hardware in this event at the 2025 World Junior Championships, where his time of 7:50.04 garnered him the bronze.

Tonight, teammate Maxim Gusev reaped the bronze in 7:54.37, with Poland’s Mikolaj Litoborski splitting the pair in 7:53.36, good enough for silver.

GIRLS 200 BUTTERFLY – FINAL

• World Junior Record: 2:03.03, Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2024
• European Junior Record: 2:06.26, Lana Pudar (BIH), 2023
• Championship Record: 2:08.41, Anastasiia Markova (RUS), 2021
• 2025 European Junior Champion: 2:09.75 Sarah Dumont (BEL)

GOLD – Vivien Jackl (HUN), 2:09.42
SILVER – Serafima Fokina (NA), 2:10.06
BRONZE – Boroka Kertesz (HUN), 2:10.87

As with our first event, this girls’ 200m fly also saw two swimmers from the same country get to the wall fast enough to collect medals.

17-year-old Vivien Jackl proved too quick to catch, stopping the clock at a swift 2:09.42 as the sole athlete in the field to dip under the 2:10 barrier.

Neutral Athlete Serafima Fokina was next to the wall in 2:10.06, holding a healthy advantage over Jackl’s countrywoman Boroka Kertesz, who rounded out the podium in 2:10.87.

Jackl’s performance here checks in as a new lifetime best for the once-Shane Tusup-trained rising star. Entering this competition, Jackl’s PB rested at the 2:10.36 from earlier this season, so she cleared the 2:10 barrier for the first time in her career.

Fokina is carrying momentum from a silver medal-worthy performance in the girls’ 100m butterfly sprint and is also the reigning European Junior Championships bronze medalist in this longer race. She owns a PB of 2:07.67 from scoring bronze in the 200m fly at last year’s World Junior Championships as well.

Although Jackl’s hardware arsenal includes multiple European Junior Championships medals in the 400m IM and distance freestyle events, the Hungarian just earned her first elite international podium in this 2fly.

BOYS 100 FREESTYLE – SEMI-FINALS

• World Junior Record: 46.86, David Popovici (ROU), 2022
• European Junior Record: 46.86, David Popovici (ROU), 2022
• Championship Record: 47.30, David Popovici (ROU), 2021
• 2025 European Junior Champion: 48.25, Luca Hoek (ESP)

Top 8:

1. Egor Proshin (NA), 48.51
2. Luca Hoek (ESP), 48.76
3. Tajus Juska (LTU), 48.81
4. Matvei Miliaev (NA), 48.95
5. Ludvig Bartolek (SWE), 49.03
6. Aran Bissett (GBR), 49.16
7. Cristian Tassan-Caser (ITA), 49.48
8. Harry Milne (GBR) 49.56

As expected, the semi-finals of the boys’ 100m freestyle picked up the speed from this morning’s heats, with the top four performers this evening going under the 49-second threshold

Neutral Athlete Egor Proshin led the way, producing a quick 48.51 to land lane four for tomorrow night’s main event.

18-year-old Proshin just logged a new lifetime best en route to beating his competitors, with his 48.51 slicing .18 off his previous PB of 48.69 from earlier this season. He’s only been under the 49-second benchmark three times, including tonight.

Spanish national record holder Luca Hoek has the opportunity to defend his 2025 European Junior Championsips title in this event, posting 48.76 as the #2 performer out of the semi-finals.

The teen represents the first-ever man from Spain to clear the 48-second barrier in this 1free event. While competing at the Spanish Open Championships last month, he set a lifetime best of 47.72 to nail the new national standard and make history.

Reigning World Junior Championships bronze medalist Tajus Juska of Lithuania also put his hat in the ring with a solid performance of 48.81, followed by Matvei Miliaev, who turned in 48.95 for the Neutral Athletes.

Juska snagged silver in this event last year in 48.57 behind winner Hoek. He’s looking to exact revenge from being shut out of the 100m fly final despite having won the event last year in Slovakia.

GIRLS 100 FREESTYLE – FINAL

• World Junior Record: 52.49, Mollie O’Callaghan (AUS), 2022
• European Junior Record: 53.61, Freya Anderson (GBR), 2018
• Championship Record: 53.97, Marrit Steenbergen (NED), 2015
• 2025 European Junior Champion: 54.17, Albane Cachot (FRA)

GOLD – Alessandra Mao (ITA), 54.28
SILVER – Kira Manokhina (NA), 54.37
BRONZE – Emma Wood (GBR), 54.61

Wow, wow, wow.

Alessandra Mao of Italy is only 15 years of age, but she just awed spectators with a massive outing to win this women’s 100m freestyle.

Mao crushed a monster lifetime best of 54.28 to grab the gold, successfully fending off a charging Neutral Athlete, Kira Manokhina.

Manokhina settled for silver just .09 behind in 54.37, with Great Britain’s Emma Wood hanging on for bronze in 54.61.

Spanish speedster Irene Ciercoles (54.68), Germany’s ace Linda Roth (54.74) and top-seeded NA athlete Kseniia Sorokina (54.92) were all denied medals in this tightly-packed contest.

Entering this competition, Mao’s career-quickest time sat at the 54.84 produced for 6th place in this event at the 2025 World Junior Championships.

Tonight, splitting 26.51/27.77, Mao just became the 7th-fastest Italian woman in history. She also overtakes the Italian Age Record formerly owned by Olympic icon Federica Pellegrini.

While Manokhina’s time tonight was slightly off her PB of 54.18 from last month, 18-year-old Wood of GBR dropped significant time off her previous career-swiftest swim of 54.92. That time was notched at this year’s Aquatics GB Championships. Wood now bumps herself up the all-time British rankings to share slot #13, ironically with Olympic finalist Abbie Wood.

BOYS 100 BACKSTROKE – SEMI-FINALS

• World Junior Record: 52.08, Miron Lifintsev (RUS), 2024
• European Junior Record: 52.08, Miron Lifintsev (RUS), 2024
• Championship Record: 52.91, Ksawery Masiuk (POL), 2022
• 2025 European Junior Champion: John Shortt (IRL), 54.09

Top 8:

GIRLS 100 BREASTSTROKE – SEMI-FINALS

• World Junior Record: 1:04.35, Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), 2013
• European Junior Record: 1:04.35, Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), 2013
• Championship Record: 1:05.48, Ruta Meilutyte (LTU), 2013
• 2025 European Junior Champion: Smiltė Plytnykaitė (LTU), 1:07.21

Top 8:

BOYS 100 BREASTSTROKE – SEMI-FINALS

• World Junior Record: 58.67, Shin Ohashi (JPN), 2026
• European Junior Record: 59.01, Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 2017
• Championship Record: 59.23, Nicolo Martinenghi (ITA), 2017
• 2025 European Junior Champion: Filip Nowacki (GBR), 59.59

Top 8:

GIRLS 50 BUTTERFLY – SEMI-FINALS

• World Junior Record: 25.11, Rikako Ikee (JPN), 2018
• European Junior Record: 25.56, Anastasiya Shkurdai (BLR), 2021
• Championship Record: 26.10, Lana Pudar (BIH), 2023
• 2025 European Junior Champion: Flawia Kamzol (POL), 26.17

Top 8:

BOYS 50 BUTTERFLY – SEMI-FINALS

• World Junior Record: 22.96, Diogo Ribeiro (POR), 2022
• European Junior Record: 22.96, Diogo Ribeiro (POR), 2022
• Championship Record: Dean Fern (GBR), 23.29, 2025
• 2025 European Junior Champion: Dean Fern (GBR), 23.29

Top 8:

GIRLS 200 IM – SEMI-FINALS

• World Junior Record: 2:06.56, Summer McIntosh (CAN), 2024
• European Junior Record: 2:10.32, Amalie Smith (GBR), 2026
• Championship Record: 2:12.41, Leah Schlosshan (GBR), 2023
• 2025 European Junior Champion: Amalie Smith (GBR), 2:12.62

Top 8:

GIRLS 100 BACKSTROKE – SEMI-FINALS

• World Junior Record: 57.57, Regan Smith (USA), 2019
• European Junior Record: 59.08, Anastasiya Shkurdai (BLR), 2020
• Championship Record: 59.62, Polina Egorova (RUS), 2017
• 2025 European Junior Champion: Daria Silișteanu (ROU), 1:00.40

Top 8:

GIRLS 800 FREESTYLE – FINAL

• World Junior Record: 8:07.39, Katie Ledecky (USA), 2015
• European Junior Record: 8:21.91, Merve Tuncel (TUR), 2021
• Championship Record: 8:21.91, Merve Tuncel (TUR), 2021
• 2025 European Junior Champion: Sofia Diakova (NA), 8:27.78

GOLD – 
SILVER – 
BRONZE – 

BOYS 4×200 FREESTYLE RELAY – FINAL

• World Junior Record: 7:08.37, USA, 2019
• European Junior Record: 7:10.39, Russia, 2025
• Championship Record: 7:12.15, Italy, 2024
• 2025 European Junior Champion: France, 7:15.99

GOLD – 
SILVER – 
BRONZE –