2021 LEN EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Swimming: Monday, May 17th – Sunday, May 23rd
- Budapest, Hungary
- Prelims at 10:00 am local/Finals at 6:00 pm local
- Event Site
- Entry List
- Live Stream
There are only 4 events scheduled for the final prelims session of the 2021 European Championships: the men’s 400 IM, women’s 400 freestyle, and the men’s and women’s 4×100 medley relays.
On the entry lists, there is only one apparent scratch across all 4 events, with 45th seeded Eva Petrovska pulling out of the women’s 400 freestyle. However, 7th seed Merve Tuncel will not be participating in the event, despite appearing on the start lists, as she was one of 4 Turkish swimmers to test positive for COVID-19.
Although no relay teams scratched, several countries added relay entries since the release of the original entry sheets. Both Bulgaria and Turkey entered the men’s 4×100 medley relay, while Spain entered a team in the women’s race.
The men’s 400 IM will kick off the session with top seeded Max Litchfield racing in heat 4 out of 4. Although Litchfield holds the top seed in the event by almost a half second with his best time of 4:10.94, Russia Ilya Borodin will be right on his toes, coming into the competition with a time of 4:11.17. Including Litchfield and Borodin, there are 8 swimmers currently entered with a time of 4:14 or faster, making for a tight field.
In the women’s 400 freestyle, Italian Simona Quadarella will look to sweep the distance events at the competition. Quadarella, who traditionally specializes in longer distance races, holds a best time of 4:05.38, which has her seeded 4th. Hungarian Anja Kesely holds the top seed in the event with a time of 4:01.31.
Great Britain, the defending World Champions, are heavy favorites in the men’s 4×100 medley relay, with Adam Peaty’s breaststroke leg to boast. However, Russia may also contend for the title, with a strong backstroke group and 100 meter freestyle champion Kliment Kolesnikov on their roster.
The women’s race will be much tighter, as Great Britain, Russia, and the Netherlands are all capable of claiming the top spot. The race will also hold a repeat 100 backstroke battle between Kira Toussaint and Kathleen Dawson following the controversial re-swim in the individual event.
Must suck to have to do a re-swim and drop from 2nd to 4th on your birthday. Hope she rips one.
Do we know the relay lineups for the different countries?
Usually released 15-30 minutes before the start of the session.
We can take reasonably educated guesses though.
GB women will probably Line-up (heat swimmers in brackets) Dawson (Wild?), Renshaw (Vasey?), Stephens (Jones), Hopkin (Anderson). Wild has the 200 final tonight, so I actually think Dawson will swim heats and final (Wilson another option, but too risky IMO). Vasey has 50 breast final, so may also not swim this morning (Wood is another option on that leg – out in 1:08 in the 200 final).
GB men: Greenbank (Litchfield), Peaty (Wilby?), Guy (Peters), Scott (Dean).
Given Peters was a bit off yesterday they may want to play it safe by having Peaty swim this morning (Guy has the… Read more »
I was wrong on Wild. GB lining up the entire B squad on the women’s side. Giving Kathleen as much rest as possible so she can really go after that European record?
On the men’s side, Guy gets the expected rest, but it’s Scott coming in to swim Fly ahead of Mildred or Peters. Bit of a surprise that… Wilby also in, Peaty rested for final. They’ll have to be a bit careful here, some decent depth in this event.