Estonians Win 2 More, but No New Records, to Close Budapest Open

2019 BUDAPEST OPEN

• June 26-29, 2019
• Budapest, Hungary
• LCM (50m) pool
• Danube Arena
• Meet Central
• Day 4 Finals Results

After booming 4 Estonian National Records in the first 3 days of the meet, the training group from SK Garant in the capital Tallinn were not able to break any more on the final day of competition in Budapest. They did, however, pick up 2 more victories to finish off the competition.

In the women’s 50 breaststroke, Maria Romanjuk won in 31.70, beating out Hungary’s Anna Sztankovics (31.75). On Friday, Romanjuk broke the Estonian Record in the 200 breastsroke with a 2:31.11. The Estonian Record in the event is 31.32, which was set in 2009 by Jane Trepp. Romajuk’s win completed a sweep of the breaststroke events this week.

In the men’s 50, Martin Allikvee was 3rd in 28.08. That missed the Estonian Record, after breaking both the 100 and 200 meter races this weekend. The winner in the 50 was Csaba Szilagyi in 27.29; he set the Hungarian Record in this event earlier this year with a 26.83.

And finally, Daniel Zaitsev, who on Thursday broke the Estonian, and Baltic regional, records in the 50 fly, won the 100 fly 53.45. That’s about 7-tenths from the Estonian Record. He swam in a final that was without the bulk of the elite Hungarian butterfly crew – though several swam other races earlier in the meet.

Other Notable Saturday Results:

• In a time trial, Abdelrahman Elaraby swam a 23.71 in the 50 meter fly. That’s just .02 seconds away from his own Egyptian Record in the event.
• Benjamin Gratz won the men’s 200 free in 1:49.69. That’s just half-a-second off his personal best time (which was done 3 years ago, in 2016), and is the 2nd-fastest time of his career.
• Evelyn Verraszto won the women’s 200 free in 2:00.26 – her best time in almost 2 years.
• 200 meter backstroke specialist Kata Burian completed a backstroke sweep with a win in the 50 in a time of 28.94. That’s just two-tenths shy of her personal best. She previously won the 100 backstroke (1:01.43) and 200 backstroke (2:09.16) at this meet.