Tarragona: Gkolomeev, Sahnoune & Khalafalla All Drop 50 Free Monsters

XVIII MEDITERRANEAN GAMES TARRAGONA 2018

The top 3 men racing in the 50m freestyle in Tarragon tonight all clocked new national records en route to landing on the Mediterranean Games podium.

Former Alabama student-athlete, Kristian Gkolomeev of Greece, scored his 2nd gold of these Championships, winning the men’s splash n’ dash. After posting a solid 22.37 to claim the 3rd seed out of the morning, the 24-year-old fired off a monster 21.66 to take the title tonight by .30 ahead of the runner-up.

For Gkolomeev, his 21.66 outing tonight shaves .03 off of his own personal best and former national record of 21.69 registered at last year’s World Championships.

We already reported how Algeria’s Oussama Sahnoune threw down a massive personal best of 48.00 to win the 100m free and notch a new national and championships record on night 2. The 25-year-old was back at it tonight, firing off another big swim to earn silver in the 50m sprint, clocking 21.96 to mark his first time under the 22-second barrier.

Sahnoune’s previous personal best sat at the 22.22 clocked in his training country of France last year.

Rounding out the top 3 was Egypt’s Ali Khalafalla, a former Indiana University athlete. Entering tonight’s competition, Khalafalla’s 50m free personal best was represented by the 22.22 thrown down at the 2017 Pro Swim Series in Santa Clara. The Olympian tore that time to shreds with an big-time 21.97 to capture the bronze and establish a new Egyptian national record.

All 3 men now slide into the world rankings, with Gkolomeev checking in with the 4th fastest time this season, Sahnoune with the 13th and Khalafalla tied with 3 other elite athletes for 15th.

2017-2018 LCM MEN 50 FREE

2Bruno
FRATUS
BRA21.3504/21
3Andrea
VERGANI
ITA21.3708/08
4Kristian
GKOLOMEEV
GRE21.4408/09
4Vladimir
MOROZOV
RUS21.4408/08
6Pawel
JURASZEK
POL21.4505/24
7Michael
ANDREW
USA21.4608/12
8Caeleb
DRESSEL
USA21.6707/29
9Simonas
BILIS
LTU21.7008/08
10Andriy
GOVOROV
UKR21.7408/08
11Bradley
TANDY
RSA21.7804/09
12Pedro Henrique
SILVA SPAJARI
BRA21.8204/21
13Nathan
ADRIAN
USA21.8507/29
13Jesse
PUTS
NED21.8504/13
15Katsumi
NAKAMURA
JPN21.8702/11
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Aquajosh
6 years ago

The #3 time in the world actually belongs to a Polish sprinter (Pawel Juraszek) who went 21.45 at their nationals in May in prelims.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.przegladsportowy.pl/plywanie/mistrzostwa-polski-w-plywaniu-pawel-juraszek-gwiazda-pierwszego-dnia-zawodow/65wc3br.amp

DRESSEL IS GOD
Reply to  Aquajosh
6 years ago

probably not official/ratified

BreastFan
Reply to  Aquajosh
6 years ago

In the article it actually states that the time isn’t official due to equipment issues, so Dressel Is God is right.

samuel huntington
6 years ago

whoa, 3 21s, fast!

Carol Glover
6 years ago

Congrats to all, but way to go ALI!

About Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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