Melek Ayarci had the swim of the evening on the second night of the Finnish National Championships. The 17 year-old won the women’s 200 backstroke in a time of 2:17.32, finishing just ahead of Vilma Ruotsalainen who hit the wall in a time of 2:17.54. Ayarci took down the Finnish junior record of 2:17.40 set by Anu Koivisto in 1997.
Ayarci made an incredible improvement on her lifetime best of 2:21.39, which she posted only a week and a half ago in Tampere.
Emilia Pikkarainen took the women’s 100 butterfly in a time of 59.48. Pikkarainen, who holds the Finnish national record in the event having put up a time of 58.68 in 2013, was faster than the FINA B standard of 1:00.80, but was 74 one-hundredths of a second off of the A standard of 58.74.
National record holder Jenna Laukkanen was upset in the women’s 50 breaststroke being beat by Veera Kivirinta. Kivirinta won the event in a time of 31.70 followed by Laukkanen who touched in a time of 31.84. Both were well off Laukkanen’s record of 30.79.
In the final women’s event of the evening Anniina Ala-Seppaila won the 800 freestyle in a time of 9:10.29.
There was a thrilling finish in the men’s 50 butterfly as Thomas Pokkinen took the event by one one-hundredth of a second over Riku Poytakivi. Pokkinen won the event in a time of 24.35 followed by Poytakivi who finished in a time of 24.36.
The two other men’s events on the second evening were won by Christoffer Fredrikson and Kasper Jamsa. Fredrikson won the 100 backstroke in a time of 57.05 while Jamsa won the 400 IM in a time of 4:40.81.
Full results can be found here.
