Mikhail Shcherbakov Breaks European Juniors Championship Record With 1:59.04 200 IM

2025 European Junior Championships

• Tuesday, July 1 – Sunday, July
• X-bionic® sphere Pool, Šamorín, Slovakia
• LCM (50m)
• Start Times – Local: Prelims – 9:30 am / Finals – 6:00 pm
• Start Times – EST: Prelims – 3:30 am / Finals – 12:00 pm
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• Recaps:
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

Mikhail Shcherbakov swam 1:59.04 in the men’s 200 IM to win the European Juniors gold medal and set a new Championship Record in the event

BOYS 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – FINAL

• World Junior Record: 1:56.99, Hubert Kos (2021)
• European Junior Record: 1:56.99, Hubert Kos (2021)
• European Record: 1:55.18, Laszlo Cseh (2009)
• Championship Record: 1:59.17, Tom Dean (2018)
• 2024 European Junior Champion: Robert-Andrei Badea (ROU), 2:00.05

GOLD – Mikhail Shcherbakov (AIN), 1:59.04 *Championship Record
SILVER – Robert-Andrei Badea (ROU), 2:00.59
BRONZE – Iason Routoulas (GRE), 2:01.18

Shcherbakov came in more than a second-and-a-half ahead of the rest of the field, and a tenth-of-a-second under the former Championship record of 1:59.17 set by Tom Dean in 2018.

This was a new best time for him, dropping four tenths from his previous best of 1:59.46 that he went at the Russian National Championships in April.

The Russian 17-year-old, competing as a neutral athlete at these championships, was out in first, splitting 25.49 on the opening 50 to put himself in the lead, where he stayed for the rest of the race.

His backstroke and breaststroke splits were not the fastest in the field, splitting 30.36/34.83 respectively. 2nd place finisher Robert-Andrei Badea was faster on both splits, and narrowed Shcherbakov’s lead to just a tenth of a second with his 30.22/34.66 splits.

Shcherbakov had a monster final 50, however, coming home in 28.36 to Badea’s 29.79 to secure the win and come in as the only person under two minutes in the heat.

Former record holder Tom Dean swam a very different race, swimming slower on all the legs except the breaststroke where he was almost a second faster, turning a hundredth ahead of Shcherbakov at the 150 mark. Dean’s final 50 was not quite as fast, however, allowed Shcherbakov to come in under record time.

Split Comparison

Shcherbakov already won a bronze medal at the meet in the boy’s 50 backstroke, and he still has the 100 freestyle remaining on Saturday.