Greece’s Apostolos Christou broke a Junior World Record in the boys 100 back semifinals, going 54.41 to knock three tenths off the old record. The previous record-holder was Italy’s Simone Sabbioni, who is the second seed and will go back after his own record in finals tomorrow.
European Junior Championships
- Dordrecht, Netherlands – July 9th-13th, 2014
- The official competition page can be found here
- The live results can be found here
Girls 400 IM
The first final of the night went to Spain’s Africa Zamorano Sanz. Sanz won the girls 400 IM with a time of 4:41.96, just under two seconds off from Ella Eastin‘s Junior World Championship time from last year. Sanz actually trailed Great Britain’s Rosie Rudin by almost a full second with 100 to go, but closed well on the freestyle leg to pick up the win.
Rudin wound up second in 4:43.56, holding off her teammate Georgia Coates, who made her own freestyle charge en route to a 4:44.60 and third place. Germany’s Alina Jungklaus took fourth with Hungary’s Adel Farkas joining her under 4:50.
Boys 400 Free
Polish age group record-holder Wojciech Wojdak won the boys 400 free in a tight battle with Norway’s Henrik Christiansen. Wojdak built an early lead, finally making a big break away on the third 100. But Christiansen battled back, bringing things down to a close finish. Wojdak was able to translate his lead into a win, though, going 3:49.21 to Christiansen’s 3:49.60.
Those two were pretty well checked out from the field, but there was another good battle for third. Ukranian Mykhaylo Romanchuk got his hand on the wall for bronze, beating Great Britain’s Daniel Jervis 3:52.19 to 3:52.80.
Boys 50 Fly
Russia went 1-2 in the boys 50 fly, with rising star Evgeny Sedov leading the way. Sedov went 23.84 to easily top the field, though he was actually faster in the semifinal earlier in the session (23.76). Meanwhile Aleksandr Sadovnikov got right up against the 24-second barrier, going 24.03 for second.
This one was a Russian-dominated affair, with third place coming almost a half-second back at 24.45. That was Hungarian Peter Holoda, who touched out Poland’s Michal Chudy by just .01 for the last medal spot.
Girls 50 Breast
Russia made it two in a row with Maria Astashkina‘s win in the 50 breast. She put up a 31.90 to win by a tenth. It wasn’t the fastest time in the event for these championships (runner-up Eleonora Clerici was 31.85 in semifinals), but in the race that counted, Astashkina got her hand on the wall first.
Clerici went 32.02 for Italy, with Swede Sophie Hansson third in 32.13.
Girls 800 Free
Italy’s Linda Caponi went out like a rocket in the women’s 800, splitting 4:17 at the 400 mark and leading by 3 seconds. She dropped off in the back-half, though, as her teammate Simona Quadarella and Great Britain’s Holly Hibbott engaged in a dual for the lead.
Quadarella trailed both at the 400, but turned on the jets from there to overtake the field for the win. She went 8:40.21, with Hibbott winding up second in 8:41.41.
Caponi parlayed her fast start into a bronze medal, going 8:41.72.
Girls 4×100 Free Relay
The Russian women came within a second of the Junior World record here, winning in 3:42.19. This race wasn’t even close, with the Russians winning by over 5 seconds. Daria S. Ustinova was the big anchor leg, going 54.64, and leadoff leg Arina Openysheva was perhaps more impressive, going 54.98 from a flat start to give the Russians a big lead.
Silver went to Germany, led by Katrin Gottwald’s 56.29 split. The Germans were 3:47.31 with Italy taking third in 3:48.23.
Boys 4×100 Free Relay
Great Britain took home gold in the boys relay, with a time of 3:19.78. Both Miles Munro and Jack Smith split sub-50 on the relay, with Duncan Scott and Martyn Walton going 50-points on the opening legs.
About two seconds back was Germany, medaling in both relays on the night. Damian Wierling led off in 50.03 for the team, which went 3:22.09.
Italy also picked up another relay medal, going 3:22.30 on the strength of Nicolangelo di Fabio‘s 50.07 anchor leg.
Semifinals
- Daria K Ustinova set up for a medal opportunity tomorrow, taking the top seed in the girls 200 back. Ustinova was 2:10.38 and leads by two seconds.
- The other Daria Ustinova (middle initial S) will have to come from the 2-spot for a win in the girls 100 free. Her Russian countrywoman Arina Openysheva went 55.14 for the top seed to Ustinova’s 55.19.
- A great 100 back showdown is set up between Greece’s Apostolos Christou and Italy’s Simmone Sabbioni. Christou is the top seed in 54.41, breaking Sabbioni’s Junior World record, but Sabbioni went 54.49 for the 2-spot and will have a shot to reclaim his record tomorrow.
- Carmen Balbuena Heredia leads the girls 200 fly for Spain in 2:12.35, though Great Britain’s Amelia Clynes is just behind in 2:12.60.
- Germany holds the top seed in the boys 200 breast with Max Pilger at 2:13.15, just ahead of Hungary’s David Horvath.
Sorry guys, but you should get back to reality sometime soon. This time of Hibbot really isnt sth. special and i think 8.40 is a pretty bad time to win the 800 free at the jec, last year you wouldnt have had a chance to win gold with that time. Its way to early to predict where Hibbot will be in a couple of years. Here a two negative examples:
Linda Caponi: Born 1998, last year third at the junior world championships with 8.38, but she didnt improve since 2013.
Leonie Beck: Born 1997, last year junior european champion (8.32 last year), but she didnt improve since last year.
These two example should show you that its… Read more »
Read my comment, I make the exact same point as you… I said, Holly is too young to start drawing similarities with the likes of Adlington and we should just enjoy her progression, seeing how far she can go without expectations.
I am well aware this is a perfectly normal trajectory for a young girl, but there is something about Hibbott, why would numerous Brits being saying the same thing if there wasn’t.
I don’t wish to sound unkind, but Linda Caponi had acne spots a long time ago, so I think it is possible she was an early starter. I haven’t seen much of Beck, but it wouldn’t be the first time a young German female has plateaued young… Read more »
Holly Hibbott looks like being the next Rebecca Adlington. Her rate of progression is nothing short of phenomenal !
I wouldn’t heap that sort of pressure on her, personally. She has all the tools to be a great swimmer, but she is young and we shouldn’t be drawing similarities this soon. I am just enjoying her progression and admiring her potential for now, no expectations.
So far this year Britain has seen 16 girls aged 14-17 swim below 9mins over 800m and 35 girls aged 13-17 swim below 9mins10secs. I’d say we are starting to see the Impact Rebecca Adlington’s success had on younger girls in Britain. The glamour and attention she gave distance freestyle is beginning to show now and it’s great to see. It just shows you what can happen when youngsters have the right role… Read more »
Are you a native speaker of English? I am only a couple of years older than those girls myself (and the same age as most of the boys competing). People our age use the word ‘killing’ as a description for many things. Example, if somebody tells a joke, then somebody else tries to carry on the joke once it has been told, they would have “killed it”.. In other words, ruined the moment. Alternatively it can mean somebody who is doing really well. Example, if three people have a race and one wins by a long way, they would be “killing it” or would have “killed” their opposition. It’s a perfectly acceptable description among younger British people, I think it… Read more »
Ignore him, Dee. What word would he want to be substituted for let’s say, someone making a KILLING at the race track or stock market? It is a slang word which he isn’t grasping.
@Dee: Could you plz. not use the word killing, when you talk about 14/15 year old female swimmers competing against each other?
I like your enthusiasm for your british athletes, but maybe you could cool down a little bit.
I think fina should really ask themselves if they want to keep this schedule in the next couple of years or they should change the rules concerning the age of the athletes that are allowed to participate. For example most of the guys born in 1995 are still to slow to compete at the european championships, but they are to old to compete at the youth olympics or the junior european championships. I think in athletics this problem is better solved, by having u20 and u23 european championships and junior/youth world championships (not to say that swimming should copy this), by that they prevent athletes who are not yet good enough to compete at the senior level to lose fun.… Read more »
I’ll start with my British bias, great start for us… all our big names making big time drops!
The men’s 4x100m is the most encouraging as this is where traditionally we struggle. With Ben Proud along with these boys, British male sprinting could be in for a big shake up sooner or later. Holly Hibbott is very Impressive – She only just qualifies to participate in this meet (DOB is 13/12/99) and has Improved her best time by 25seconds in the past 12months. She has a sprint finish, too… she killed the other ladies down the final 50m, even Quadarella… There was just too much distance to pull back.
Russian’s looking supreme again this year, their relays on the… Read more »
Or also here.
http://new.livestream.com/accounts/2628835/events/3167925/
I’ve found a live stream on youtube. I don’t know if it works but I post the link for those who are interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dphk9w5thV8