2016 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 2
- Monday, May 16th – Sunday, May 22nd
- Prelims: 10:00 AM (London Time) / 5:00 AM (Eastern Time)
- Finals: 6:00 PM (London Time) / 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)
- London Aquatics Center, London, UK
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheet
- Live Results
- Live Stream
Post-Race Interview
As originally reported by Loretta Race:
MEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE – FINAL
- Camille Lacourt (FRA) – 53.79
- Grigory Tarasevich (RUS) – 53.89
- Simone Sabbione (ITA) – 54.19 (tie)
- Apostolos Christou (GRE) – 54.19 (tie)
The 4th seed out of last night’s semi-final, France’s Camille Lacourt unleashed the swim he’d been saving, charging to the wall in 53.79 to beat out Russian Grigory Tarasevich. At 31 years of age, Lacourt reclaimed his 100m backstroke European Championship title from 2010 that helped earn him ‘European Swimmer of the Year’ that year.
After a 54.09 semi, Lacourt threw down 53.79, well off his 52.70 silver medal-winning performance from Kazan, but enough to hold off Tarasevich who is around 10 years his junior. For Tarasevich, or “Grisha” as his University of Louisville teammates call him, he notched a top-10 personal best with his effort his evening.
In a tie for 3rd place was Italy’s Simone Sabbione and Greece’s Apostolos Christou, who both touched in 54.19. Christou had been on-fire through both prelims and semi’s, earning a seeded time of 53.36 to enter tonight’s final. Sabbione had also been beneath the 54-second threshold, having clocked a semi time of 53.86.
