2019 Bulgarian Open Championships
- July 11th-14th, 2019
- Sofia, Bulgaria
- LCM (50m)
- Results
Even with just 11 days to go before the start of the pool swimming competition at the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships, many of the country’s top swimmers are scheduled to race this weekend at the Bulgarian Open Championships in Sofia. The meet is an official Olympic qualifying event, meaning that times done here can earn a swimmer a spot in Tokyo (from FINA’s perspective, at least).
The Bulgarian men are on fire this year, having already broken National Records in 9 events (even before the World Championships). While the country’s new sprint butterfly king Yosif Miladinov (who broke both the 50 and 100 fly National Records at last weekend’s European Junior Championships) isn’t scheduled to race, Kaloyan Levterov is. The top seed in the 200 back this week (by 4 seconds), Levterov swam a 2:00.39 at the European Junior Championships to finish 7th, and break the Bulgarian National Record in the event. He just turned 16 in February, and was the youngest swimmer in that final.
Also coming in hot from the European Junior Championships will be Yordan Yanchev, who in the last month has set National Records in both the 200 free (1:49.59 at the European Junior Championships) and 400 free (3:50.25 in early June at the Black Sea Cup). He’ll expand his schedule this week with entries in the 100 free, 200 free, 400 free, 800 free, and 200 IM.
In total, 341 swimmers from 39 clubs across Bulgaria are expected to participate this weekend.
