Jan Foltyn Breaks 50 Breast CR, Ties Czech Record To Kick Off 2026 European Junior Championships

2026 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, July 7 – Sunday, July 12, 2026
• Munich, Germany
• LCM (50 meters)
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results

The 2026 European Junior Swimming Championships kicked off with a bang on Tuesday morning, with two record swims going down during the first preliminary session in Munich.

Most notably, the Neutral Individual Athletes (AIN) squad comprising of Russian athletes broke the World Junior, European Junior and European Junior Championship Records in the boys’ 4×100 freestyle relay.

The quartet of Matvei Chekalev (49.65), Egor Proshin (48.11), Matvei Miliaev (48.69) and Mikhail Shcherbakov (48.27) combined for a time of 3:14.72, lowering the World Junior and European Junior Record of 3:15.38 set by the Russian NAB team at the 2025 World Junior Championships. Shcherbakov and Proshin were both members of the team that held the previous record.

The previous European Junior Championship Record stood at 3:16.58, set by Italy back in 2009.

AIN heads into tonight’s final with a massive gap of three and a half seconds over the Italians, who qualified 2nd overall in 3:18.23. The Brits were the only other team sub-3:20 in 3:18.91.

In the boys’ 50 breast, Czech native Jan Foltyn fired off a time of 27.18 to advance 1st into the semi-final and lower the Championship Record of 27.23 set by Nicolo Martinenghi in 2017.

The swim also matches Foltyn’s own personal best and Czech national record, having gone 27.18 at the 2026 Graz Trophy back in April.

Foltyn is the sixth junior-aged swimmer to come within 26 one-hundredths of the World Junior Record in the boys’ 50 breast over the last 12 months. The WJR was established by Germany’s Jan Malte Grafe last August in the prelims at World Juniors.

Foltyn was joined by nine others under 28 seconds in the prelims, with Great Britain’s Max Morgan (27.30) advancing 2nd and Germany’s Louis Hoffmann (27.61) moving through in 3rd. Morgan was just shy of his 27.21 best time set last year, while Hoffman crushed his previous best of 27.97.

OTHER EVENTS

• Germany’s Linda Roth paced the heats of the girls’ 200 free in a time of 2:00.11, with defending champion Bianca Nannucci (2:00.23) hot on her heels heading into the semis.
• Grigorii Vekovishchev, the defending champion in the 400 free and the WJR holder in the SCM 400 free, leads the boys’ 200 free out of the prelims in a time of 1:46.59, more than a second under his previous best of 1:47.59. The 2025 gold and silver medalists, Christian Giefing (1:48.35) and Tajus Juska (1:47.77), comfortably advanced through to the semis.
• Great Britain’s Amalie Smith led the girls’ 400 IM prelims in 4:42.30, with Hungarian Vivien Jackl (4:44.06) sitting 2nd and no one else in the field under 4:47. Smith won the title last year in a CR of 4:37.02, while Jackl won bronze last summer in 4:40.40.
• Spaniard Irene Ciercoles Galve topped the girls’ 50 back prelims in 28.24, with 12 of the 16 semi-final qualifiers under 29 seconds. Notably advancing in 5th and 9th were twins Eva and Roos Rottink, who train in the United States but are representing the Netherlands internationally.
• Belarusian Artsiom Yarmak was the top qualifier in the boys’ 50 back in 25.08, just shy of his 24.99 best time set earlier this year that ranks him 10th all-time among 18 and under Europeans.
• Russia’s Sofia Anufrieva, representing AIN, paced the girls’ 50 breast heats in 31.08, just over two-tenths off her 30.85 best time.
• France’s Paolo Couenne-Bensabeur (1:59.71) and Hungarian David Antal (1:59.84) were the only two boys sub-2:00 in the prelims of the 200 fly. Antal is the defending champion, having won the 2025 title in 1:57.42.
• In the girls’ 4×100 free relay, Italy posted the fastest time of the morning in 3:42.38, followed by Great Britain (3:43.18) and AIN (3:43.71). The Italians won silver last year behind Spain, who failed to final in 11th.