2026 European Junior Championships: Spain’s Luca Hoek Leads Boys’ 50 Freestyle

2026 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, July 7 – Sunday, July 12, 2026
• Prelims at 9am local (3am ET)/Finals at 6pm local (12pm ET)
• Munich, Germany
• LCM (50 meters)
• Psych Sheet
• Live Results
• Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2

We entered day three of the 2026 European Junior Swimming Championships taking place in Munich, Germany, which means we’re not quite halfway through action at this elite international competition.

The rising European stars set themselves up for potential success in this morning’s heats, with multiple countries jockeying for the pole position heading for tonight’s semi-finals.

Fanni Viktoria Kokas of Hungary staked her claim on the girls’ 200m backstroke, stopping the clock at a solid morning result of 2:12.13.

That registered one of two times in the 2:12 territory, with Neutral Athlete Varvara Filippova right behind in 2:12.55.

Germany’s Mira Helget clocked 2:13.49, with Spain’s Sara Costa posting 2:13.60 for the 4th seed.

Last year it it took a time of 2:10.02 to top the podium, with Spain’s Estella Tonrath grabbing the gold there in Slovakia. Just one of our top four girls has been within range of that caliber of performance, as Costa owns a lifetime best of 2:10.49 from the 2025 Spanish National Championships.

Two other competitors mentioned turned in lifetime bests in just this morning’s heats. Entering this competition, Kokas’ PB rested at the 2:13.18 she nabbed at the Barcelona stop of the Mare Nostrom Tour this year, so she already hacked over a second off that to claim the top spot.

Filippova’s PB checks in at 2:13.55, so she, too, crushed that former outing as the 2nd-seeded athlete.

The boys’ 100m butterfly saw two of last year’s medalists fall within the top 16 to make it to tonight’s semi-finals, with 2025 gold medalist Tajus Juska of Lithuania and silver medalist Dean Fearn of Great Britain sliding into their respective 10th and 5th seeds.

Juska casually clocked 53.79 and Fearn scored 53.02 to put their hats in the ring for potential repeat hardware. Last year Juska topped the podium in 52.54 and Fearn was just a hair behind in 52.64 as the silver medalist.

The duo will need to get past Italy’s Francesco Ceolin, however, with the 18-year-old Harvard commit soaring to the top of the heap in a heats swim of 52.83. That’s already within a second of his best-ever, a performance of 52.00 from this year’s Italian Championships.

A pair of Neutral Athletes captured the 2nd and 3rd seeds, with a tale of two Egors also posting marks under the 53-second barrier. Egor Baranov hit 52.89, with Egor Proshin immediately behind in 52.98. The former has been as quick as 52.18 from earlier this year, with the latter notching a PB of 52.59 from when he placed 5th at the 2025 World Junior Championships.

18-year-old Luca Hoek is gunning for potential gold in the boys’ 50m freestyle, turning in a time of 22.08 to lead the heats.

Earlier this year Hoek delivered a powerful lifetime best of 21.93 to establish a new Spanish national record, becoming the 5th-swiftest 18&U male in history in the process.

More recently Hoek punched a monster result of 47.72 to clock a Spanish standard in the 100m free, as well as a new 1:46.10 national record in the 200m free. Hoek enters this year’s competition as the reigning European Junior Championships 50m free bronze medalist, having clinched 3rd place last year in 22.28.

However, Czech ace Jan Foltyn and Norwegian athlete Jan Foltyn will be chasing Hoek, notching respective morning swims of 22.32 and 22.41.

Of note, Juska was entered in this splash n’ dash in addition to the 100m fly, but he wound up no-showing for his 50m free prelim.

Finally, Turkey’s Doruk Yogurtcuoglu is hunting his 3rd consecutive European Junior Championships medal in the boys’ 200m breaststroke.

The 18-year-old won the race in 2024, settled for silver last year behind Great Britain’s Filip Nowacki and now owns the top-seeded time of 2:14.22 out of today’s morning heats.

Italian Gabriele Garzia earned the 2nd seed in 2:14.35 and teammate Michele Longobardo rounded out the top 3 performers in 2:14.45.

Last year Nowacki claimed gold in 2:08.32, a new Championships record, as Yogurtcuoglu nabbed 2:09.92 for runner-up status. Longobardo bagged the bronze in 2:10.88, a time which remains as his career-swiftest entering this year’s contest.

Additional Notes

• Nathan Muratory of France was the top performer in the heats of the boys’ 200m backstroke, logging the sole time of the field under the 2:00 barrier. The 17-year-old University of Michigan commit produced an outing of 1:59.92, although the teen has been as quick as 1:57.31 in his career, so look for the Frenchman to be even speedier during tonight’s semi-finals.
• Four girls dipped under the 2:30 barrier in the 200m breaststroke, led by Neutral Athlete Viktoriia Kariuk. The 17-year-old delivered a time of 2:27.94 for just her 3rd swim under the 2:30 threshold thus far in her young career. Her lifetime best checks in at the 2:27.47 notched in April 2025. Italy’s Lucrezia Mancini clocked 2:28.37, with Ukraine’s Yana Klikotska also in the mix in 2:29.01 as the 3rd-seeded swimmer. Great Britain is also vying for potential hardware, as Imogen Myles put up 2:29.42. Myles earned a 4th-place finish at this year’s Aquatics GB Championships, earning a time of 2:26.56.
• The Neutral Athletes produced a time of 8:06.76 to earn the pole position for tonight’s final of the girls’ 4x200m freestyle relay. Italy will be on one side, courtesy of their 8:06.80 morning swim, as Great Britain’s time of 8:08.61 renders them flanking NA on the other side in the main event.