Turkish Swimming Championships Day 1&2
- Dates: May 25-29, 2016
- Location: Mersin, Turkey
- Live Results
Day 1 and 2 of the Turkish Championships saw some dominating swims, but the most impressive came from 17-year old Buse Topçu. Buser broke the Turkish National Record in the 800 freestyle (8:50.15), coming in over 13 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
The previous record of 8:53.42 belonged to Merve Eroglu, who swam the time in Istanbul in 2009. Buser’s new record is over 3 seconds faster than the previous set by Eroglu. In the event, Eroglu swam the 2nd fastest time, touching the wall in a 9:03.53.
The country’s biggest star, breaststroker Viktoria Zeynep Gunes also had a dominating performance in the 400 medley, finishing over 13 seconds ahead of the competition with a time of 4:48.35. Defne Kurt placed second in the event in a time of 5:01.41.
The men’s 400 medley was taken by Alpkan Ornek by over 5 seconds with a time of 4:23.44, while second place went to Batuhan Hakan (4:28.63).
The women’s 100 free was a closer event, seeing a winning time of 56.92 from Nihan Cakici, followed closely by Esra Kacmaz (57.64) and Isabela Tafur (57.96). On the men’s side, Doga Celik took the event in an almost record-breaking time of 49.13, to beat the rest of the field by over a second. Kemal Arda Gurdal finished 2nd (50.28), inching out Emre Sakci (50.31).
Zulal Zeren, who trains at Ohio State, came close to reclaiming her Turkish National Record in the 200 back, but fell short of Avramova’s record of 2:11.21, swimming a time of 2:11.85. Ekaterina Ivanova Avramova came in 2nd at 2:14.34, over 3 seconds slower than the National Record she set in London At the European Championships earlier this month.
Metin Aydin won the 200 back for the men, swimming a time of 2:02.03, followed in 2nd by Ege Baser (2:03.44).
The next event was the women’s 50 fly, where 17 year-old Sezin Eligul inched out the field for the win (27.95). Kardelen Kova trailed closely behind (28.00) and out-touched Ayse Ezgi Yazici (28.01).
Former record-holder Berk Ozkul took the men’s 50 fly in a time of 24.54, followed closely by Kemal Arda Gurdal (24.58).
16 year-old Efe Turan won the men’s 1500 free in a time of 16:27.87, with 2nd place going to Ahmet Yosmaoglu (16:35.83).
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Turkish swimming improves a lot for a few years.
Always good to see records being broken, especially when they are likely untapered