2021 LEN EUROPEAN AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Swimming: Monday, May 17th – Sunday, May 23rd
- Budapest, Hungary
- Prelims at 10:00 am local/Finals at 6:00 pm local
- Event Site
- Entry List
- Live Stream
Great Britain went out with a bang at the 2021 European Championships, downing the Championship Records in the final events: the men’s and women’s 4×100 medley relays. The men’s relay was first, taking Gold in 3:28.59, shattering their own Championship Record of 3:30.44, which they set at the 2018 Championships in Glasgow.
Here is a split comparison between Great Britain’s record-breaking swim tonight, their previous Championship Record swim from 2018, and the British Record, which stands at 3:28.10 from the 2019 World Championships:
| 2021 European Championships (New CR) | 2018 European Championships (Previous CR) | 2019 World Championships (GBR Record) | |||
| Luke Greenbank | 53.64 | Nicholas Pyle | 54.58 | Luke Greenbank | 53.95 |
| Adam Peaty | 57.38 | Adam Peaty | 57.60 | Adam Peaty | 57.20 |
| James Guy | 50.65 | James Guy | 50.91 | James Guy | 50.81 |
| Duncan Scott | 46.92 | Duncan Scott | 47.35 | Duncan Scott | 46.14 |
| Final Time | 3:28.59 | Final Time | 3:30.44 | Final Time | 3:28.10 |
Next, the GBR women’s team went, downing the Championship Record and shattering the British Record in the event. They were off to an electric start, with Kathleen Dawson leading the squad off in 58.08, a new European Record in the women’s 100 back. Here is the split comparison table, including tonight’s swim, the previous Championship Record of 3:54.22, held by Russia, and the previous British Record of 3:56.91, which was set at the 2018 European Championships.
| Great Britain 2021 European Championships (New CR) | Russia 2018 European Championships (Previous CR) | 2018 European Championships (Previous GBR Record) | |||
| Kathleen Dawson | 58.08 | Anastasia Fesikova | 59.56 | Georgia Davies | 59.44 |
| Molly Renshaw | 1:05.72 | Yuliya Efimova | 1:03.95 | Sibhan-Marie O’Connor | 1:07.22 |
| Laura Stephens | 57.55 | Svetlana Chimrova | 57.34 | Alys Thomas | 57.56 |
| Anna Hopkin | 52.66 | Maria Kameneva | 53.37 | Freya Anderson | 52.69 |
| Final Time | 3:54.01 | Final Time | 3:54.22 | Final Time | 3:56.91 |
Impressively, Great Britain was faster on all 4 legs tonight than they were when they swam the previous British Record. Also of note, tonight’s British team featured none of the members from the 2018 European Championships relay that held the GBR Record, despite that relay only having been 3 years ago.
The whole British quartet will be faster at the olympics. Only question is Greenbank but a best time in the 100 and 200 back and consistenly under 54 this meet shows good signs. They will be sub 3:28 for sure, maybe even sub 3:27…..
I think the Tokyo men’s medley relay will be the most insane one since 2009, which had 3 46.XX free splits in the prelims and 4 46.XX free splits in the finals. Team USA, Britain, Russia, Australia, and maybe Italy all have a potential 46.XX anchor.