2021 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, July 6th – Sunday, July 11th
- Foro Italico, Rome, Italy
- Heats at 9:30am local (3:30am EST)/Finals at 6pm local (Noon EST)
- LCM (50m)
- Live Results
- Live Stream
- Day 1 Prelims Recap | Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Finals Heats Sheets
Day two of the 2021 European Junior Championships is stacked with six finals heats (men’s 100 back, women’s 100 free, men’s 50 fly, women’s 50 breast, women’s 800 free, and mixed 4×100 free relay) and five semifinals (men’s 100 free, women’s 200 fly, men’s 100 breast, women’s 100 back, and men’s 200 IM.)
Romania’s David Popovici has another shot at besting the World Junior record he posted during a 4×100 free relay lead-off leg on Tuesday in the 100 free semifinal. He set the record at 47.56 and clocked a 49.50 in prelims earlier today.
World Record holder Benedetta Pilato of Italy has the 50 breast final tonight. She cracked the Championship record on Tuesday with a time of 29.75, .45 off her World Record time from the recent European Championships.
Men’s 100 Freestyle – Semifinal
- World Junior Record: 47.56 r* – David Popovici, ROU (2021)
- European Junior Record: 47.56 r* – David Popovici, ROU (2021)
- European Junior Championship Record: 48.48 – Daniil Izotov, RUS, (2009)
- 2019 European Junior Champion: Matthew Richards (GBR)
Top 8:
- David Popovici (ROU) – 48.08
- Diogo Matos Ribeiro (POR) – 49.34
- Edward Mildred (GBR) – 49.36
- Mateusz Chowaniec (POL) – 49.46
- Vladislav Reznichenko (RUS) – 49.82
- Ralph Daleiden (LUX) – 49.97
- Davide Dalla Costa (ITA) – 49.99
- Tomas Navikonis (LTU) – 50.03
Romania’s David Popovici bettered his prelims time by nearly 1.5 seconds to claim the first spot going into the final tomorrow. He was still slightly off the World Junior record time he posted on Tuesday on a relay lead-off leg (47.56).
Diogo Matos Ribeiro of Portugal broke 50.00 for the first time to secure a spot in the top-2. His lifetime best going into the meet was 50.31 from June. Great Britain’s Edward Mildred beat his prelims time by about .6 to place 3rd
Davide Dalla Costa of Italy had the biggest improvement, jumping from 14th in prelims (50.94) to 7th in the semifinals (49.99)
Women’s 200 Butterfly – Semifinal
- World Junior Record: 2:06.29 – Suzuka Hasegawa, JPN (2017)
- European Junior Record: 2:06.71 – Target Time
- European Junior Championship Record: 2:08.55 – Emese Kovacs, HUN (2007)
- 2019 European Junior Champion: Blanka Berecz (HUN)
Top 8:
- Anastasiia Markova (RUS) – 2:09.85
- Lana Pudar (BIH) – 2:10.74
- Reka Nyiradi (HUN) – 2:10.88
- Lia Csulak (HUN) – 2:11.94
- Sofia Sartori (ITA) – 2:12.12
- Lucie Delmas (FRA) – 2:12.16
- Daria Lunina (RUS) – 2:13.57
- Viktoriya Kostromina (UKR) – 2:13.63
Lana Pudar of Bosnia and Herzegovinian came within one second of the National record in this event, set by Amina Kajtaz in 2019, to place 2nd going into the final. She already holds the Bosnian and Herzegovinian National record in the 50 and 100 fly.
Russias Anastasiia Markova took down her prelims time by about .8 to secure that top spot going into the final. She split the race 1:02.25 / 1:07.60. Her 2:09.85 crushed her lifetime best time going into this meet from October 2020 by a full second.
Pudar, Markova, and France’s Lucie Delmas all took out the race with 1:02’s to lead the field. This was a solid swim for Delmas who posted a 2:12.89 in prelims, although she didn’t have the same finishing speed as Markova or Pudar.
Men’s 100 Backstroke – Final
- World Junior Record: 52.53 – Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS (2018)
- European Junior Record: 52.53 – Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS (2018)
- European Junior Championship Record: 52.53 – Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS (2018) and Daniel Cristian Martin, ROU, ( 2018)
- 2019 European Junior Champion: Thomas Ceccon (ITA)
Top 8:
- Ksawery Masiuk (POL) – 53.91
- Oleksandr Zheltyakov (UKR) – 53.98
- Aleksei Tkachev (RUS) – 54.34
- Berke Saka (TUR) – 54.91
- Filip Kosinski (POL) – 55.31
- Maximilien Higot (FRA) – 55.43
- Kaloyan Levterov (BUL) – 55.44
- Ivan Buyevich (BLR) – 56.36
16-year-old Ksawery Masiuk came within .09 of the Polish National record, set back in 2013 by Radoslaw Kawecki at the World Championships, to win gold in the event.
Ukraine’s Oleksandr Zheltyakov crushed his National record from yesterday by more than half a second to earn silver.
Russia’s Aleksei Tkachev tore down his semifinals time by nearly a full second to leap from 4th place to a bronze medal finish.
Women’s 100 Freestyle – Final
- World Junior Record: 52.70– Penny Oleksiak, CAN (2016)
- European Junior Record: 53.61 – Freya Anderson, GBR (2018)
- European Junior Championship Record: Marrit Steenbergen, NED (2015)
- 2019 European Junior Champion: Isabel Gose (GER)
Top 8:
- Daria Klepikova (RUS) – 54.75
- Daria Tatarinova (RUS) – 55.12
- Evelyn Davis (GBR) – 55.25
- Nina Stanisavljevic (SRB) – 55.34
- Daria Golovati (ISR) – 55.60
- Tanja Popovic (SRB) – 55.66
- Tamryn Van Selm (GBR) – 55.76
- Matilde Biagiottii (ITA) – 55.93
In the battle of the Daria’s, Russia’s Klepikova clocked a lifetime best time of 54.75 to take home the gold. Her lifetime best time going into this weekend was 54.84 from the Russian Championships in April.
Her teammate Tatarinova won silver and also cracked her lifetime best time from April by nearly half a second. Close behind was Great Britain’s Evelyn Davis who out touched Serbia’s Nina Stanisavljevic by .09 to earn bronze. Both swimmers improved upon their semifinals times.
Men’s 100 Breaststroke – Semifinal
- World Junior Record: 59.01 – Nicolo Martinenghi, ITA (2017)
- European Junior Record: 59.01 – Nicolo Martinenghi, ITA (2017)
- European Junior Championship Record: 59.23 – Nicolo Martinenghi, ITA (2017)
- 2019 European Junior Champion: Aleksandr Zhigalov (RUS)
Top 8:
- Simone Cerasuolo (ITA) – 1:00.89
- Volodymyr Lisovets (UKR) – 1:01.05
- Aleksas Savickas (LTU) – 1:01.41
- Luka Mladenovic (AUT) – 1:01.55
- Maksym Ovchinnikov (UKR) – 1:01.90
- Manuel Kohlschmid (GER) – 1:02.18*
- Ivo Kroes (NED) – 1:02.18*
- Bartosz Skora (POL) – 1:02.27
Italy’s Simone Cerasuolo set the pace fast in the 100 breast semifinal, splitting a 28.22 on the first 50 meters. Austria’s Luka Mladenovic had the second-fastest 50 split of 28.54.
Going into this meet, Cerasuolo’s lifetime best was 1:01.17 from December 2020.
Second place finisher Volodymyr Lisovets‘ lifetime best 100 breast, 1:00.42 from March, would have won the semifinals so there is a good race shaping up between Lisovets and Cerasuolo in the final tomorrow.
Women’s 100 Backstroke – Semifinal
- World Junior Record: 57.57 – Regan Smith, USA (2019)
- European Junior Record: 59.08 – Anastasiya Shkurdai, BLR (2020)
- European Junior Championship Record: 59.62 – Polina Egorova, RUS (2017)
- 2019 European Junior Champion: Daria Vaskina (RUS)
Top 8:
- Aleksandra Kurilkina (RUS) – 1:01.18
- Katie Shanahan (GBR) – 1:01.23
- Mary-Ambre Moluh (FRA) – 1:01.45
- Erika Gaetani (ITA) – 1:01.47
- Carmen Weiler Sastre (ESP) –1:01.72
- Roos Vanotterdijk (BEL) – 1:01.75
- Panna Ugrai (HUN) – 1:01.81
- Lisa Seidel (GER) – 1:02.37
France’s Mary-Ambre Moluh blasted a 29.18 to take the lead at the 50-meter mark, but Russia’s Aleksandra Kurilkina brought it home in 31.83 to win the top spot in tomorrow’s final.
Great Britain’s Katie Shanahan posted the fasted second 50 split (31.09) after going out in 30.14 to snag a top-3 spot in the final.
This was a lifetime best time for Kurilkina whose previous best time was 1:01.34 from October 2020. All three of them improved upon their prelims times.
Men’s 50 Butterfly – Final
- World Junior Record: 23.05 – Andrei Minakov, RUS (2020)
- European Junior Record: 23.05 – Andrei Minakov, RUS (2020)
- European Junior Championship Record: 23.48 – Noe Ponti, SUI (2019)
- 2019 European Junior Champion: Noe Ponti (SUI)
Top 8:
- Josif Miladinov (BUL) – 23.59
- Tobias Schulrath (GER) – 23.72
- Daniel Gracik (CZE) – 23.79
- Rasmus Nickelsen (DEN) – 23.86
- Pawel Uryniuk (POL) – 24.07
- Diogo Matos Riberio (POR) – 24.09
- Kacper Czapla (POL) – 24.16
- Vladislav Reznichenko (RUS) – 24.19
Josif Miladinov came within .11 of his Bulgarian National record from the 2019 World Junior Championships to win Bulgaria’s first gold medal of the meet.
Germany’s Tobias Schulrath crushed his lifetime best time going into this meet of 24.42 from June to win silver.
Daniel Gracik secured the Czech Republic’s second medal of the meet so far by out touching Denmark’s Rasmus Nickelsen by .07.
This was the second swim of the session for a couple of the athletes in this final. Ribeiro and Reznichenko placed 2nd and 5th, respectively in the men’s 100 free semifinal earlier.
Women’s 50 Breaststroke – Final
- World Junior Record: 29.30 – Benedetta Pilato, ITA (2021)
- European Junior Record: 29.30 – Benedetta Pilato, ITA (2021)
- European Junior Championship Record: 29.75 – Benedetta Pilato, ITA (2021)
- 2019 European Junior Champion: Benedetta Pilato (ITA)
Top 8:
- Benedetta Pilato (ITA) – 30.13
- Elena Bogomolova (RUS) – 30.68
- Eneli Jefimova (EST) – 30.91
- Iuliia Beznosova (RUS) – 31.09
- Justine Delmas (FRA) – 31.32
- Karolina Piechowicz (POL) – 31.51
- Kamila Isayeva (UKR) – 31.90
- Zofia Chrzan (POL) – 32.13
Out of prelims, semifinals and finals this was Benedetta Pilato‘s slowest 50 breaststroke and she won the race by more than half a second. Her prelims time of 29.75 established a new championships record but still trailed her World Record from the European Championships by .45.
Russia’s Elena Bogomolova came within .19 of her lifetime best which she posted in the semifinals. to win silver.
Eneli Jefimova won bronze for Estonia, their 2nd bronze medal of the meet. She was also slightly off her lifetime best time of 30.83 from the European Championships.
Men’s 200 Individual Medley – Semifinal
- World Junior Record: 1:56.99 – Hubert Kos, HUN (2021)
- European Junior Record: 1:56.99 – Hubert Kos, HUN (2021)
- European Junior Championship Record: 1:59.17 – Thomas Dean, GBR (2018)
- 2019 European Junior Champion: Apostolos Papastamos (GRE)
Top 8:
- Berke Saka (TUR) – 2:01.11
- Vadym Naumenko (UKR) – 2:01.30
- Artem Vorobev (RUS) – 2:01.68
- Jakub Bursa (CZE) – 2:01.69
- Eytan Ben Shitrit (ISR) – 2:01.81
- Sanberk Yigit Oktar (TUR) – 2:01.86
- Cedric Buessing (GER) – 2:02.09
- Angus Allison (GBR) – 2:03.07
Not long after placing 4th in the 100 back final, Berke Saka came within half a second of the Turkish National Record to earn the top spot going into the final. The current Turkish National record holder, Sanberk Yigit Oktar, also made the final in 6th place about 1.2 seconds off his record from June.
Russia’s Artem Vorobev had the fastest 100 split of 56.33, including a blistering 30.39 50 back split. But Ukraine’s Vadym Naumenko finished the race with a 29.04 50 free split to place 2nd.
Germany’s Cedric Buessing had the fastest closing speed, barreling down the pool to touch the wall with a 28.23 final 50 split. Saka came home in a 28.45.
Women’s 800 Freestyle – Final
- World Junior Record: 8:11.00 – Katie Ledecky, USA (2016)
- European Junior Record: 8:22.01 – Ajna Kesely, HUN (2018)
- European Junior Championship Record: 8:29.19 – Giulia Salin, ITA (2019)
- 2019 European Junior Champion: Giulia Salin (ITA)
Top 8:
- Merve Tuncel (TUR) – 8:21.91
- Beril Boecekler (TUR) – 8:33.52
- Giulia Vetrano (ITA) – 8:35.84
- Paula Otero Fernandez (ESP) – 8:35.85
- Bettina Fabian (HUN) – 8:40.53
- Leonie Maertens (GER) – 8:42.89
- Angela Guillen Martinez (ESP) – 8:43.03
- Aleksandra Khailova (RUS) – 8:50.28
One-hundreth of a second: the margin that separated a bronze medal finish and 4th place in the women’s 800 freestyle.
Italy’s Giulia Vetrano was ahead of 4th place finisher Paula Otero Fernandez of Spain for most of the race, until Fernandez caught her at the 550-meter mark.
With 150-meters to go, Fernandez had almost a half-a-second lead over her but Vetrano finished the race in 31.91 compared to Fernandez’s 32.15 to secure the bronze medal.
Turkish National record holder Merve Tuncel crushed her own record from April by more than 4 seconds to win gold ahead of her teammate Beril Boecekler who won silver.
Mixed 4×100 Freestyle Relay – Final
- World Junior Record: 3:25.92 – United States (2019)
- European Junior Record: 3:27.35 – Russia (2020)
- European Junior Championship Record: 3:28.43 – Germany (2019)
- 2019 European Junior Champion: Germany
Top 8:
- Russia – 3:29.71
- Italy – 3:31.70
- Hungary– 3:31.85
- Great Britain – 3:32.13
- Poland – 3:33.51
- Germany – 3:34.60
- Portugal – 3:34.68
- Lithuania – 3:35.88
Russia’s relay of Reznichenko (49.61), Daniil Kosenkov (50.41), Tatarinova (54.56) and Klepikova (55.13) touched the wall first with about a 2 second lead over the field. Fresh out of finishing 1-2 in the women’s 100 free final, the Daria duo Tarinova and Klepikova anchored the relay to victory.
Reznichenko and Kosenkov placed 5th and 9th, respectively, in the men’s 100 free semifinal earlier and Reznichenko beat his semifinals time by .21 on the relay lead-off leg.
Poland’s Mateusz Chowaniec had the fastest leadoff split in the field of 49.15
Taken aback about how consistently positive all the comments are. What channel is this?
You know this is European Juniors, right? How could you not support a young Turkish lad having the experience of a lifetime along with all the others? It’s way more wholesome than any of the Fina/ISL/NBC corporate madness that seems to permeate most other competitions.
The Yards Brigade of commentators & posters are missing .
Great race from Tuncel with a new european junior record. Though, imagine how heartbreaking it is to miss a medal in the 800 free by 0.01.
Congrats to Diogo Ribeiro: 3 swims for him in this session started with a big PB in the 100 free semi (49.34) and finished with another sub50″ (49.79) in the lead-off of the mixed 400 free relay. In the midst another PB in the 50 fly final (24.09).
Absolutely agree. I first saw him swim in MultiNations. He will get better and better.
49.5->48.08->46.66 easy dub
7 girls within 0.63 of a second in the 100 back, it’s going to be a very interesting final tomorrow.
After a “sleepy” heat, great semi from the lane one for French Moluh (for Bobo’s happiness).
Overall the times in these championships are relatively slow compared to the editions in the last years. Any idea why?
My guess would be covid measures, as especially the western european countries seem to perform not so well.
Covid & Olympics?
There were certainly difficulties in training in the last two seasons in many European Countries. Anyway the mens 100 back final was faster than two years ago in Kazan (two under 54″ while two years ago won Ceccon in 54.13 ahead of Zuev in 54.40). Also the womens 100 free final was slighty faster (54.75 for Klepikova whilst two years ago won Gose in 54.86) and the womens 800 free was clearly faster (8.21.91 new EJ record for Tunce, whilst two years ago won Salin in 8.29.19 which was the CR)
Scottish female backstrokers are doing things this year – Shanahan joins Dawson & Wild in obliterating her PB.
Is Shanahan also coached by Steven Tigg?
Shanahan is City of Glasgow not Stirling. Ian Wright & Danielle Brayson are coaches up there.
A different Ian Wright, Right?
Zheltyakov just went 53.9 in the 100bk aged 15. Crazy.
Eastern European swimmers are having far more success than past editions as a whole this week. Did the rest of Europe face harsher covid measures, or is this just a coincidence?
As a comparison, Kolesnikov went 53.65 days prior to his 16th birthday, at the 2016 edition of the championships.