Italy Maintains Hold Atop Euro Juniors Medals Table After Day 2

2019 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Italy remains on top of the medals table after day 2 of the 2019 European Junior Championships, but only by a hair after the German team surged on Thursday.

Italy picked up a pair of golds in backstroke races when Thomas Ceccon won the boys’ 100 backstroke (54.13) and Erika Gaetani won the girls’ 200 backstroke (2:10.28). But a headline performance from Germany’s Isabel Gose, who is coming straight down from altitude training for this meet, pulled the Germans nearly-even: first she won gold in the 400 free in 4:07.96, which was more than 2 seconds ahead of the field; and 45-minutes later she won gold in the 100 free in 54.86, taking a 1-2 German finish with countrymate Maya Tobehn.

Gose then finished the day with a 54.42 anchor split to bring the Germans from behind to overtake Russia in the mixed 400 free relay.

Germany’s 4 gold medals this year already easily surpass the 1 they won in 2018. In fact, it’s more than Germany has won in the last 3 editions, combined, and is already their best single-meet total since 2014 when they won 4. All of this comes on day 2.

The Italian story is just as enticing – after a breakthrough European (senior edition) Championship in 2018, their momentum is continuing to grow in the youth ranks. They had 0 gold medals last year after 5 in 2017. If next year (2020) plays out like the year after their big Euro Juniors in 2017 did, the Italians are going to win a lot of medals in Tokyo.

MEDALS AFTER 13 EVENTS
RANK NAT TOTAL
G S B TOTAL RNK BY TOTAL
1 ITALY 4 2 1 7 2
2 GERMANY 4 2 6 3
3 RUSSIA 2 4 5 11 1
4 SWITZERLAND 2 2 6
5 HUNGARY 1 2 3 4
6 SPAIN 1 1 8
7
GREAT BRITAIN
1 2 3 4
8 TURKEY 1 1 8
8 LITHUANIA 1 1 8
8 NETHERLANDS 1 1 8
11 FRANCE 2 2 6
12 BELARUS 1 1 8
12
CZECH REPUBLIC
1 1 8
12 SWEDEN 1 1 8
12 FINLAND 1 1 8
TOTAL 13 13 13 39

Russia, meanwhile, continues to show the best depth of the field. While their 2 gold medals doesn’t put them on pace to match their historic haul of 18 last year, the Russians have built a clear lead in the Points Trophy standing. The trophy standings offer points for each top 8 finish, and Russia is dominating, especially on the men’s side, where they’ve more-than-doubled their next-closest competitors (Germany).

TROPHY AFTER 13 EVENTS
RANK NAT MEN WOMEN MIXED POINTS
1  RUSSIA 218 (15) 210 (15) 428
2  GREAT BRITAIN 82 (5) 224 (18) 306
3  ITALY 94 (7) 186 (13) 280
4  GERMANY 102 (7) 147 (11) 249
5  HUNGARY 38 (3) 151 (12) 189
6  FRANCE 95 (8) 92 (8) 187
7  SPAIN 24 (2) 151 (11) 175
8  TURKEY 35 (3) 124 (10) 159
9  POLAND 63 (4) 57 (4) 120
10  NETHERLANDS 54 (4) 40 (4) 94
11  SWEDEN 54 (3) 38 (3) 92
12  GREECE 59 (5) 12 (1) 71
13  ISRAEL 41 (3) 17 (1) 58
14  SWITZERLAND 44 (2) 7 (1) 51
15  CZECH REPUBLIC 34 (4) 16 (1) 50
16  FINLAND 46 (3) 46
17  DENMARK 8 (2) 37 (6) 45
18  SLOVENIA 43 (5) 43
18  SLOVAKIA 43 (2) 43
20  BELARUS 22 (2) 19 (1) 41
21  BELGIUM 34 (3) 34
21  CROATIA 34 (5) 34
23  LITHUANIA 13 (1) 20 (1) 33
24  PORTUGAL 14 (1) 17 (4) 31
25  IRELAND 16 (1) 12 (1) 28
26  BULGARIA 24 (2) 24
27  LATVIA 21 (2) 21
27  UKRAINE 21 (2) 21
29  AUSTRIA 2 (1) 18 (1) 20
30  NORWAY 19 (2) 19
31  SERBIA 12 (1) 12
32  ESTONIA 2 (1) 6 (1) 8
33  ROMANIA 5 (1) 5

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AnEn
5 years ago

Very impressive by Italy and Russia, especially because …
1) Burdisso isn’t here
2) Neither Ceccon nor Minakov seem to have tapered for this

: Where did you get the information that Gose is coming straight down from altitude training? Do you maybe know what her “plans” are for the world championships?

I am not sure whether it is normal for someone of her age to already do altitude training, but it explains her improvement. I just hope this doesn’t hurt her long term development.

Andy Dwyer
Reply to  AnEn
5 years ago

The group she trains with was 1-2 weeks ago in the Sierra Nevada. I’ve seen it on instagram.

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Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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