2025 European Junior Championships
- Tuesday, July 1 – Sunday, July 6
- X-bionic® sphere Pool, Šamorín, Slovakia
- LCM (50m)
- Start Times – Local: Prelims – 9:30 am / Finals – 6:00 pm
- Start Times – EST: Prelims – 3:30 am / Finals – 12:00 pm
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- Recaps:
MIXED 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY – FINAL
- World Junior Record: 3:44.84, United States (2019)
European Junior Record: 3:47.99, Russia (2018)- European Record: 3:37.58, Great Britain (2021)
Championship Record: 3:47.99, Russia (2018)- 2024 European Junior Champion: Italy, 4:04.48
GOLD – Great Britain, 3:47.07 *European Junior Record, Championship Record
SILVER – Italy, 3:50.30
BRONZE – Poland, 3:50.32
Night four of six at the 2025 European Junior Championships just wrapped up in Šamorín, Slovakia, and both a European Junior Record and Championship Record capped off the session in the mixed 4×100 medley relay.
Great Britain’s quartet of Blythe Kinsman, Filip Nowacki, Dean Fearn, and Theodora Taylor combined for a time of 3:47.07, winning gold by more than three seconds and breaking the previous record of 3:47.99, set by Russia at this meet in 2018, by nearly a full second.
Both teams used the same order: female backstroker, male breaststroker, male butterflier, and female freestyler. This is one of the most common strategies for this event, along with going male on back and breast and female on fly and free.
Kinsman led off in 1:00.64, about half a second off record pace, as Daria Vaskina split 1:00.15 for Russia in 2018. The race shifted when Nowacki dove in, clocking 59.25 on the breaststroke leg, which was 1.65 seconds faster than Vladislav Gerasimenko’s 1:00.90 split from the previous record-setting relay.
Fearn followed with a 52.44 on the butterfly leg, slightly slower than Andrei Minakov’s 52.00, but still under record pace. Taylor then anchored, outsplitting Elizaveta Klevanovich by exactly two-tenths to secure the new mark.
See a full splits comparison between the two record swims below.
Splits Comparison:
| Great Britain, 2025 | Russia, 2018 | |
| Backstroke | Blythe Kinsman — 1:00.64 | Daria Vaskina — 1:00.15 |
| Breaststroke | Filip Nowacki — 59.25 (1:59.89) | Vladislav Gerasimenko — 1:00.90 (2:01.05) |
| Butterfly | Dean Fearn — 52.44 (2:52.33) | Andrei Minakov — 52.00 (2:53.05) |
| Freestyle | Theodora Taylor — 54.74 (3:47.07) | Elizaveta Klevanovich — 54.94 (3:47.99) |
Kinsman, who won the 50 back on Wednesday in the only sub-28 swim of the field (27.79), lowered her previous best of 27.93 from British Trials in April, where she placed second. She is set to return to action tomorrow morning in the 100 backstroke heats, with semifinals scheduled for tomorrow night and the final on Sunday evening. Her lead-off split of 1:00.64 in tonight’s mixed medley relay undercut her flat-start lifetime best of 1:00.80, also set at Trials.
France’s Jeanne Lechevalier, who added a few tenths to finish fifth in the 50 back, is the top seed in the 100 back at 1:00.45, so Kinsman dropping time here is a promising sign as she chases her in an event where she is seeded second.
17-year-old Nowacki’s best flat-start 100 breast time stands at 1:00.25, meaning his 59.25 relay split was more than a full second faster. He could be eyeing a sub-minute swim in the individual event, which begins tomorrow. Earlier tonight, Nowacki hit the wall in 2:08.32 to reset his own European Junior Record in the 200 breaststroke, taking down his 2:09.11 from the semifinals. He also claimed 50 breast silver earlier in the week with a 27.61, and heads into the 100 breast as the top seed.
Fearn earned bronze in the 100 fly earlier in the night, notching a new lifetime best of 52.64 to shave off a touch from his 52.66 semifinal. It marked the first time he broke the 53-second barrier in his career. His only two individual events remaining are the 50 fly, where he’s seeded second with a 23.83, and the 100 back, where he enters as the fifth seed with a 54.82; both events kick off tomorrow.
Taylor nabbed silver in the 50 free less than 24 hours ago and helped Team GB place fourth in the women’s 4×100 free relay on opening night, leading off in 55.24. That swim was just off her 54.59 best from April’s British Trials, where she placed fourth. Earlier tonight, she logged 55.05 to qualify third for tomorrow’s 100 free final. She’s also set to race the 100 breast starting tomorrow, where she is ranked seventh on the entry sheet.
Taylor’s only other individual event this week was the 100 fly, where she finished 13th overall in 1:00.54, narrowly missing the final. Her best in that event is 59.92, also from Trials, a time that if replicated would have advanced her into the final in eighth.
