Sabbioni Breaks World Junior Record To Win The 50 Backstroke At European Juniors

EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Dordrecht, Netherlands – July 9th-13th, 2014
• The official competition page can be found here
• The live results can be found here

Boys 50 backstroke

On the second day of competition Italian Simone Sabbioni had to settle for the silver finishing second to Apostolos Christou, but that was not the case this evening. The two exchanged spots on the medal podium as Sabbioni won the boys 50 backstroke in a new Junior World record time of 25.22, shaving 11 one-hundredths of a second off of Russian Grigory Tarasevich‘s 2013 record of 25.44.

Apostolos, who set a new championships mark in the 100 backstroke, was also old the world mark, finishing second in a time of 25.33.

Latvian Janis Saltans finished third in a time of 25.54.

Boys 200 backstroke

Just a couple of days ago Luke Greenbank was named to the British team that will compete at the Youth Olympic Games, he followed that up by collecting a European Junior Championship gold in the boys 200 backstroke in a time of 1:58.05. Greenbank destroyed his own 16 year old national age group mark of 1:59.87, which he posted at the British Gas Championships in April, where he finished third. Greenbank has improved by four seconds throughout the 2014 season coming into the year with a lifetime best of 2:02.05.

Apostolos Christou of Greece, who set a new competition record in the boys 100 backstroke, winning the event in a time of 54.04, finished second in a time of 1;59.93. Italy’s Emanuel Turchi finished third in a time of 2:00.57.

Russian Evgeny Rylov, who was the top ranked swimmer coming into the event with a season’s best of 1:58.85 did not swim in the final.

Girls 200 freestyle

The girls 200 freestyle was a phenomenal race between Russian teammates Arina Openysheva and Daria Mullakaeva. Mullakaeva took the first 100 meters out in a time of 59.94, while Openysheva turned sixth in a time of 1:00.30. Going into the final 50 meters Maullakaeva still had a lead of 17 one-hundredths of a second over Openysheva who eventually won the race in a time of 2:00.18, negative splitting the event with a final 100 of 59.88. Mullakeva finished second in a time of 2:00.60.

Openysheva also collected the gold in the girls 400 freestyle on the second day of competition with an impressive second half.

The two women, who ranked first and second going into the competition, were both off their season’s best as Openysheva had posted a 1:59.73 and Mullakaev had recorded a 2:00.38.

Leonie Kullmann of German collected the bronze in a time of 2:01.02.

Boys 800 freestyle

Daniel Jervis of Great Britain picked up his country’s second gold of the evening and won his second individual title of the competition winning the boys 800 freestyle in a time of 8:04.04. Nicolas D’Oriano pushed Jervis throughout the race. The two turned only five one-hundredths of a second apart at the half way mark and it wasn’t until the 600 meter mark that Jervis started to pull away from the Frenchman.

Although Jervis took the event the second half of the race belonged to Henning Muelleitner of Germany. Muelleitner took the first 400 meters out in a time of 4:04.85 and finished the second half with a split of 4:00.64, ultimately collecting the silver in a time of 8:05.49. Coming into the race Muelleitner was ranked 12th in Europe with a season’s best of 8:12.01.

D’Oriano finished third in a time of 8:07.42.

Girls 50 freestyle

For the second time this evening and for the second night in a row the Russian girls finished first and second in two events. Earlier in the evening Arina Openysheva and Daria Mullakaeva collected the gold and silver in the 200 freestyle which was followed by Daria S Ustinova and Maria Kameneva finishing one two in the 50 freestyle.

Ustinova hit the wall in a time of 25.39 while Kameneva posted a time of 25.57. Both were lifetime best times for the two girls.

Valerie van Roon of the Netherlands finished third in a time of 25.69.

Mixed 4 x 100 medley relay

The Russian team made up Daria K Ustinova (1:00.46), Anton Chupkov (1:00.91), Alexksandr Sadovnikov (53.01) and Daria S Ustinova (54.67) collected the gold in the mixed 4 x 100 medley relay in a championship record time of 3:49.05. It was the second gold medal of the evening for Daria S Ustinova.

At the 2013 championships the Russians set a record of 3:50.58, which the 2014 Russian squad broke tonight.

The German team finished second in a time of 3:52.71 followed by the Italian team who posted a time of 3:54.51.

Girls 100 backstroke semi-finals

Daria K Ustinova who came into the event tied for fifth in the world with Georgia Davies, having posted a season’s best of 59.78, was the top qualifier for the women’s 100 backstroke posting a 1:01.21. If Ustinova has already set two championship records in the 50 and 200 backstroke and if she goes on to win this event tomorrow evening it will be her fourth gold of the competition, having picked up the her third win as part of the women’s 4 x 100 medley relay.

Ustinova’s Russian teammate Ekaterina Tomashevskaia qualified second with a time of 1:01.74, while Laura Riedmann of Germany qualified third in a time of 1:02.58.

Boys 100 butterfly semi-finals

For the second event in a row the Russians had the top qualifier as Aleksandr Sadovnikov qualified with the top for the boys 100 butterfly final recording a time of 53.38. The time was Sadovnikov’s lifetime best bettering his previous best time of 54.37 by almost a full second. Nils Liess of Switzerland qualified second in a time of 53.55 while Filip Milcevic of Austria qualified third with a time of 54.13.

The top ranked swimmer coming into the event, Hungarian Tamas Kenderesi, qualified fifth in a time of 54.37. Kendersi’s season’s best is a 53.40.

Girls 200 IM semi-finals

Maxine Wolters of Germany qualified in the top position in the girls 200 IM final posting a time of 2;16.40 in this evening’s semi-final event. She was followed closely by Georgina Coates of Great Britain who recorded a time of 2:16.87 and Spanish athlete Africa Zamorano Sanz who touched the wall in a time of 2:16.89.

Sanz came into the competition with the top ranked time of 2:15.90 which she put up in May.

Boys IPC 100 butterfly

Great Britain went one two in the boys IPC 100 butterfly with Craig Harris (S14) winning the gold and Ryan Nicholls (S14) collecting the silver. Harris posted a time of 1:04.06 while Nicholls recorded a time of 1:06.89.

Olivier van de Voort (S10) of the Netherlands finished third in a time of 1:03.39.

Girls IPC 100 backstroke

British athlete Katie Nesbitt (S14) won the girls IPC 100 backstroke in a time of 1:10.75. She was followed by Huangarian Bianka Pap (S10) who posted a time of 1:11.53 and Lisa Kruger (S10) of the Netherlands who finished in a time of 1:13.35.