5 Racers To Watch At 2021 European Junior Swimming Championships

2021 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, July 6th – Sunday, July 11th
• Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
• Heats at 9:30am local (3:30am EST)/Finals at 6pm local (Noon EST)
• LCM (50m)
• Start Lists/Results

The 2021 European Junior Swimming Championships are set to kick off tomorrow, Tuesday, July 6th from Foro Italico in Rome, Italy. The site of the just-concluded Sette Colli Trophy is ready to host 565 aquatic athletes representing a record number of 48 nations.

Among them is Russia, with the country having topped the Euro Juniors overall medal table for the past 8 editions of this event.

However, the host nation of Italy will be ready to rumble, with its reigning World Record holder Benedetta Pilato among its contingent. The 16-year-0ld will be tuning up her racing here prior to departing for Tokyo to make her Olympic debut. Here at the Euro Junior Championships, Pilato is expected to contest just the 50m breaststroke, a non-Olympic event and the race in which she owns the WR in 29.30.

Romanian prodigy David Popovici is another big-time racer to watch, with the 16-year-old recently having placed 6th in the 100m freestyle final at the senior European Championships. Popovici enters Rome as the top-seeded swimmer in the 1free with his PB of 48.08, holding over a one-second advantage over ht next closest competitor.

Popovici will also be racing the 50m and 200m freestyles, with the letter event representing one of his most electric. The teen recently posted a world-class 1:46.15 to set himself apart from this junior field.

Bulgaria’s Josif Miladinov is also in a class by himself in the men’s 100m fly. The 18-year-old ripped a lifetime best of 50.93 in the event in Budapest at this year’s Senior European Championships, a time which rendered him as the silver medalist behind Hungary’s Kristof Milak.

Finally, Turkish ace Merve Tuncel will also be in the mix joining her teenage domestic rival Beril Boecekler. The duo is set to go head-to-head in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle events, with the Tuncel also taking on the 1500m free.

She already registered a new World Junior Record in the SCM 1500m free. She is the clear favorite to take the title here in Rome once this meet gets underway.