Lana Pudar On 200 Fly Euro Jr Record: “I’m So Proud Of Myself”

2023 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, July 4th – Sunday, July 9th
• Sports and Recreational Center “Milan Gale Muškatirović”, Belgrade, Serbia
• Prelims at 10am local (4am EDT)/Finals at 5pm local (11am EDT)
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Entries
• SwimSwam Preview
• Live Results
• Livestream
• Day 1 Prelims Recap |Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
• Day 4 Prelims Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
• Day 5 Prelims Recap | Day 5 Finals Live Recap

With just one day remaining at the 2023 European Junior Swimming Championships, athletes are taking advantage of their final remaining opportunities to make their marks here in Belgrade, Serbia.

Tonight we saw 17-year-old Lana Pudar crush a new European Junior Record of 2:06.26 in the girls’ 200m butterfly, hitting a winning effort of 2:06.26. That demolished the field by over 4 seconds en route to ranking the Bosnian & Herzegovina athlete 4th in the world on the season.

This performance came after the teen already smashed a new national record of 56.95 in the 100m butterfly to capture gold earlier in the meet.

Commenting on her 200m fly performance, Pudar said, “Wow, it’s a really special feeling. I’m so happy and excited after the 100m which was a championship record and now this which is my second personal best this week.

“I’m so proud of myself. Last year I won two golds, one silver and swam pretty well, but now I’m in better form and I really want to achieve three gold medals in three butterfly events.”

The nation of Lithuania got on the board with its first gold of these championships, courtesy of Smilte Plytnykaite‘s victory in the girls’ 100m freestyle.

Plytnykaite clocked a winning effort of 55.31 to just beat out the 50m freestyle champion here, Sara Curtis of Italy who settled for silver in 55.35. Hungary’s versatile Dora Molnar rounded out the top 3 in 55.56.

On her gold medal, Plytnykaite commented, “I can’t believe it. This is my first medal at European Junior Championships!

“I can’t be more happier! Thank you for the support, what I got from my parents, team and friends. It surprised me very much! I was not thinking before that I could win a medal, because I did not believe I can swim as fast!”

Bulgarian freestyle ace Petar Mitsin doubled up on his 200m freestyle gold here in Belgrade with a decisive win in the 800m free.

The 17-year-old clocked a monster personal best outing of 7:47.45 to establish a new European Junior Championships Record, holding off Romania’s Vlad-Stefan Stancu in the process.

Stancu snagged silver in 7:49.68 while Turkey’s 1500m freestyle champion here Kuzey Tuncelli rounded out the top 3 in 7:52.39.

“I think it’s a very good performance,” Mitsin said post-race.

“I was so tired on my last 200m, but I gave out everything. I’m happy with my swim and with my result. I didn’t expect this time, I so happy that I cannot explain it.”

Merve Tuncel of Turkey impressively reaped her 3rd consecutive European Junior Championships title with her win in the girls’ 800m free this evening.

Tuncel hit 8:35.10 while a pair of Germans in Marian Ploeger and Julia Ackermann also landed on the podium in respective efforts of 8:36.55 and 8:36.85.

18-year-old Tuncel said after the contest, “I’m very happy with this result. It’s my last European Junior Championships and tomorrow I have my last race, the 400m freestyle and so I hope I can win that too!”