Gastaldello Wins Twice, Smith Sets British Age Record On Day 1 Of LUX Euro Meet

2025 LUXEMBOURG EURO MEET

• Friday, January 31st – Sunday, February 2nd
• Centre National Sportif et Culturel d’Coque, Luxembourg
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Live Results

The 25th edition of the CMCM Luxembourg Euro Meet got underway last night, with the action spanning Friday, January 31st through Sunday, February 2nd.

This long course competition has been requested to be classified as a qualifying event for the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore which means international stars will be vying for potential roster slots every time they dive in.

29-year-old Olympian Beryl Gastaldello of France began her campaign with two victories on night one.

The versatile ace first reaped gold in the women’s 100m back, registering a time of 1:00.36.

That held a healthy advantage over teammate Bertile Cousson who snagged silver in 1:01.55 before Canadian Leah Tigert who rounded out the podium in 1:02.43.

Gastaldello’s next victim was the 50m fly where she produced a gold medal-worthy performance of 26.50. That was less than a second off her lifetime best of 25.79 registered at the 2017 World Aquatics Swimming World Championships.

Dutch swimmer Tessa Giele was next to the wall in 26.57 while Danish athlete Elisabeth Ebbesen also landed on the podium in 26.82, good enough for bronze.

Gastaldello’s effort checks her in as the 5th-fastest swimmer in the world this season.

The men’s 50 fly saw Thomas Verhoeven beat the field with a time of 23.25, a mark just .03 shy of his season-best 23.23 logged at December’s Rotterdam Qualification Meet to rank 2nd in the world.

Germany’s Luca Ambruster turned in a time of 23.44 to settle for silver. Ukraine’s reigning 50m free world champion, Vladyslav Bukhov, wrangled up bronze in 23.49.

Danish national record holder Helena Rosendahl-Bach was too quick to catch in the women’s 200m fly, hitting the sole time of the field under the 2:11 threshold.

Rosendahl-Bach posted 2:08.41, including a swift 1:00.99 opener, to dominate the field and insert herself into the #2 slot among this season’s performers worldwide.

Finnish ace Laura Lahtinen was next to the wall in 2:11.38 and Great Britain’s Ciara Schlosshan bagged bronze in 2:12.19.

Ukraine’s national record holder in the men’s 200m fly, Denys Kesil, got it done for gold in his pet event.

The 24-year-old put up a time of 1:57.96 to lead the field, with Canada’s Bill Dongfang scoring silver in 1:58.77. Teammate Michael Sava earned bronze in 2:01.91.

Kesil’s lifetime best and Ukrainian standard remains at the 1:54.79 he registered to place 5th at the 2019 World Championships.

Additional Notes

• The women’s 400m IM saw Great Britain’s Amalie Smith score gold in 4:41.70 to clear the field by over 3 seconds. That’s a monster new personal best for the RTW Monson 15-year-old, crushing the 4:48.09 put up just last December at the Rotterdam Qualification Meet. Just like that, Smith now ranks as GBR’s 11th-swiftest women’s 400m IM performer in history and unofficially scored a new British Age Record for 15-year-olds.
• Olympian Yohann Ndoye-Brouard produced a time of 53.81 to take the men’s 100m back race. The 24-year-old now ranks #1 in the world early in this 2024/25 season.