3 Israel National Records Broken at Short Course Champs

2017 Israeli Championships

• December 27th-30th, 2017
• SCM (25m) course
• National Pool, Wingate Institute, Netanya, Israel
• Results (in Hebrew)
• Results (in English)

Three new Israeli Records were set last week’s Isarel National Short Course Swimming Championships. The year-ending domestic competition featured 750 swimmers from across the country.

The first came from 24-year old David Gamburg holder of 5 short course national records coming into the meet. His opening record on day 2 of the meet didn’t increase that tally – because he broke his own record. Gamburg swam 47.66 to win the men’s 100 free, which broke his old record of 47.94. Gamburg also picked up wins in the 100 back, and 200 back

Gamburg also swam the 200 free at this meet, but was disqualified in prelims. That meant he was unable to defend his national record in that event from a pair of teenagers who went under it on the final day of the meet.

17-year old Denis Loktev broke the National Record comes away with the title and record with a 1:44.71. That swim broke the old record of 1:44.89 set at this same meet in 2015 by Gamburg Tomer Frankel, the runner-up and another 17-year old, also broke the old National Record with a 1:44.84 for 2nd-place.

The 3rd and final record in the meet came in the women’s 400 IM, where Shahar Menachem from Maccabi FM Re’ut swam a 4:40.11. That picked off the old record of 4:42.07 set in 2014 by Israeli swimming star Amit Ivry. Menachem swims collegiately in the United States, where she is currently a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh. She also won the 400 free at the meet (4:13.52), and placed 2nd in the 100 back (1:00.43) and 3rd in the 100 free (56.36).

The senior results were in addition to over 30 youth records set at the event, prompting the Israel Swimming Association chairman Simon Davidson to say “The Israeli level has jumped in this championship and we must continue to aim high. I hope that now more and more people believe in the change we have made and continue to make with Israeli swimming. The road looks good and we must continue in that direction. Thank you very much to all volunteers, officials, coaches, and swimmers.”

Other Significant Results:

• Marcus Schlesinger nearly broke his own National Record in the 50 fly, but came up just shy in 23.10 (the record is 23.02). He took silver in the 50 free (21.72) and 100 fly (51.96).
• Former Stanford swimmer Andi Murez, who has broken at least 4 National Records in 2017, couldn’t add to that total in Netanya, but did win 3 of her 4 races: the 50 free (25.13), 100 free (53.99), and 100 back (59.80). The only exception is the 50 back, where she finished 2nd to Amit Ivri (27.94).
• American open water swimmer Eva Fabian, who previously swam at Yale, medaled in the 200, 400, and 800 freestyles. That includes a high-finish of 2nd in the 400 free, where she swam in 4:15.74.