EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017
- December, 13th to 17th
- Copenhagen, Denmark
- 25m course
- Entry lists
- Live timing
- Webcast (for Europe)
- Results
Two champions of Europe lamented poor races, in spite of their gold medals, on the final day of competition in Copenhagen.
Spain’s Jessica Vall, who won the 1st final of the night in the women’s 200 breaststroke (2:18.41), said that the start was almost her downfall.
“I think I had the worst start ever in my life. I had good feeling during the race, I saw Rikke at the turns and I gave all I had.”
Something was amiss in Vall’s start – she had a .55 reaction time, which was easily the best in the field, but still was in 7th place after the first 50. From there out, however, she had the fastest split on every other lap, and eventually built back to a full-second win over the runner-up Rikke Moller Pedersen of Denmark (2:19.53).
Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas had similarly-pessimistic post-race comments, in spite of also winning by almost the same margin in the women’s 400 free.
“I’m a bit relieved as I went through a lot of ups and downs. Well, mostly downs… It was a good swim, good speed, though I made a horrible mistake at one of the first turns when I touched the wall almost with my knee… I just hoped that it wouldn’t count. Thanks God, I managed to keep the speed and went on applying the race plans.”
Most of the medalists, though, were pleased about their performances. See the rest of the quotes from the day’s medalists below:
Women’s 200m breaststroke
Gold – Jessica Vall Montero, Spain, 2:18.41
“I think I had the worst start ever in my life. I had good feeling during the race, I saw Rikke at the turns and I gave all I had.”
Silver – Rikke Moller Pedersen, Denmark, 2:19.53
“I enjoyed the race, it was well controlled, a very good swim. It was so great to race here!”
Bronze – Fanny Lecluyse, Belgium, 2:19.68
“My tactic was to have 5-6 strokes per lap. I started well but the last 25m were really hard. I’m happy with the bronze medal but not with my time as I have 2:18 from the past which I wanted to do here again.”
Men’s 100m freestyle
Gold – Luca Dotto, Italy, 46.11
“This is my first gold in short-course, this medal was missing from my collection. I am very happy, the whole season was very good so this an incredible end for this year.”
Silver – Pieter Timmers, Belgium, 46.54
“I’m really happy, but I hoped I was going to win. Still, I’m satisfied with the second place, it’s a new national record so the time is really good.
Bronze – Duncan Scott, Great Britain, 46.64
“I’m improving my skills on 100m and I’m becoming better and better from race to race. I think, I’ve beaten my personal best.”
Women’s 100m butterfly
Gold – Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden, 55.00 – CR
“I went out really strong, and that was exactly what I wanted to do. I’m happy that after some less satisfying races I could still prove that I am the queen of the butterfly.”
Silver – Marie Wattel, France, 55.97
“I had very good feelings before this final. I’ve managed to correct the little mistakes I made at the turns in the heats and the semis. This has paid off.”
Bronze – Emilie Beckman, Denmark, 56.22
“I’m absolutely speechless… Definitely this is the biggest experience in my life to swim in such an atmosphere in front of the home crowd.”
Men’s 100m IM
Gold – Marco Orsi, Italy, 51.76
“Last year I had a mononucleosis so my body was dead. Before that I was a freestyler and now I can win in medley. It took a lot of hard work to achieve this result. It was a crazy race, I loved it and I’m really-really happy.”
Silver – Sergei Fesikov, Russia, 51.94
“It was so tough. Yesterday I got injured during the relay, we tried to fix it but it wasn’t too successful. It’s fine, though, so there no need to worry that much.”
Bronze – Kyle Stolk, Netherlands, 51.99
“It was very close. Throughout the race I tried to catch up with Fesikov but I didn’t see Marco Orsi.”
Women’s 400m freestyle
Gold – Boglarka Kapas, Hungary, 3:58.15
“I’m a bit relieved as I went through a lot of ups and downs. Well, mostly downs… It was a good swim, good speed, though I made a horrible mistake at one of the first turns when I touched the wall almost with my knee… I just hoped that it wouldn’t count. Thanks God, I managed to keep the speed and went on applying the race plans.”
Silver – Sarah Koehler, Germany, 3:59.12
“I definitely wanted to break the 4min barrier. This is a very nice improvement for me, compared to the Berlin World Cup a couple of months ago. I finished second but it’s not a shame to finish second to a swimmer of a calibre of Boglarka Kapas.”
Bronze – Julia Hassler, Liechtenstein, 4:02.43
“I didn’t expect this! I just tried to go with Kapas and it worked. It’s an amazing feeling I simply cannot believe it!”
Men’s 200m butterfly
Gold – Aleksandr Kharlamov, Russia, 1:50.54
“In the finals everybody wants to win so you have to do your best. The only goal I set in my mind before the race was to touch in first. It paid off and I also lowered my personal best by half a second.”
Silver – Andreas Vazaios, Greece, 1:51.23
“It was a cool race. I expected of being fast but not as fast as I managed to. It was an incredible feeling that I could swim with my idol Laszlo Cseh and it’s amazing that I could beat him. This is my personal best so I’m really happy with my time and this silver medal.
Bronze – Tamas Kenderesi, Hungary, 1:52.25
“I cannot believe it, I’m so happy. After this year I finally achieved a good result, I’m yet to believe that. I didn’t dare to tell beforehand that I hoped for a medal, it didn’t work before the Worlds. To get one in short-course it’s somewhat amazing. Should be a boost for next year.”
Women’s 50m freestyle
Gold – Sarah Sjostrom, 23.30 – CR
“This race is all about the little details. Today all favoured me as I was lucky at the last touch. I was unlucky sometimes on the previous days so something came back today.”
Silver – Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Netherlands, 23.31
“What a nice crowd! This is a great experience to race with Sarah and Pernille in this environment. I’m happy with my silver.”
Bronze – Pernille Blume, Denmark
“It was pretty good, I’m satisfied with my bronze medal. It was such an amazing experience to swim in this Arena.”
Men’s 50m backstroke
Gold – Simone Sabbioni, Italy, 23.05
“Before the race I got really angry. This is the feeling you need to win the 50m. It gives you the power, the strength, the speed. I felt my legs after the turns but anger took over again and it lifted my spirit enough to win this race.”
Silver – Kliment Kolesnikov, Russia, 23.07 – WJ
“To be honest, I don’t really like the 50m back. Because it only shows how lucky you are. I missed the touch at the end and probably that cost me the gold medal. It’s pretty good though to have this time, it’s a world junior record, but it would have been better if it had come with the gold.”
Bronze – Jeremy Stravius, France, 23.12
“I have to admit that my championships results so far reflect to the work I’ve done in practice. This means that we have not prepared for the short-course properly.”
Women’s 4x50m medley relay
Gold – Sweden (Hanna Rosvall), 1:44.43
“I cannot find words… This is my first medley relay in a senior event and I could improve my personal best with half a second… What a race it was! We didn’t count on winning the gold just wished to get a medal. But everyone did her best, improved the splits and this gave us the win.”
Silver – Denmark (Pernille Blume), 1:45.00
“It was so amazing, that’s my favourite and best European Championships ever. The audience was really great and probably they pushed us into the second place.”
Bronze – France (Mathilde Cini), 1:45.35
“What could I ask more than to finish these championships in this way for our French team!”
Men’s 4x50m medley relay
Gold – Russia (Vladimir Morozov) 1:30.44 – WR-ER
“Before I jumped in I saw that the world record is not out of reach so I swam faster and faster and stronger. It was really good, it’s a perfect finish for these European Championships.”
Silver – Italy (Simone Sabbioni), 1:31.91
“The 4x50m relay to short to feel anything in the water. We just jump in and swim as strong as we can. Dotto and my already had swims today so it was a bit hard for us but we overcame that and we are really happy with the silver medal.”
Bronze – Belarus (Pavel Sankovich), 1:32.06
“This is a fun race, 50s in a relay in short-course is really exciting. It’s nice to take a medal here. From a personal point, I have to confess I didn’t do my best because I’m a little bit tired as it was my 10th race in two days.”
