The 2015 Estonian Nationals kicked off Sunday Morning and gave way to some very fast overall performances as well as a national record in prelims.
The women’s 800m freestyle final swam in the morning of day one prelims. Fifteen-year-old Meribel Saar was the fastest of the bunch, dropping a 9:48.96 to claim gold for Top Swimclub. That was the only individual final of the morning.
Day one prelims also featured finals for both the men’s and women’s 4x50m medley relays. In the women’s relay, Top Swimclub broke the previous national record of 1:59.25 by a long shot, clocking in at 1:58.10 at the wall.
There was no record in the men’s 4×50 medley relay was Audentsee Spordiklubi claimed gold with a time of 1:45.55, falling short of the national mark of 1:42.80 that they set back in 2014.
Heading into finals, Tess Grossman claimed victory in the first event, the women’s 50m freestyle, with a time of 26.36. She won by almost a full second over Karleen Kersa’s time of 27.24. Pjotr Degtjarjov won the men’s 50 free in 23.23. That race was much tighter as he had Daniel Zaitsev on his heels the whole way. Zaitsev ended up second in 23.55.
The next event on the docket was the women’s 100m backstroke. Sigrid Sepp dropped a 1:04.35 to win the event by over two full seconds. Margaret Markvardt was second overall in 1:06.36 to take home the silver. Katrin Zaitseva was third in 1:07.66.
Endri Vinter was the winner of the men’s 50m backstroke. At the touch he was a 57.69 to take down Karl Johann Luht who was second overall. Vinter’s second half is what really separated himself from his competitors. He was behind Luht by 0.10 seconds at the 50 wall, however turned thing around and beat him by almost half-a-second. Luht was a 58.11 at the wall.
In the men’s 1500m freestyle Mihhail Stseglov took down national record holder Kregor Zirk to win the event in a time of 17:00.56. It was a close race however, as Zirk finished second just 0.24 seconds behind him in 17:00.80. Zirk was ahead at the 1450m mark, however Stseglov beat him on the last 50, splitting a 31.05 to Zirk’s 31.60.
In the last individual women’s event of the evening, Maria Romanjuk won the 50m breaststroke in 32.23. In the men’s race, it was Martin Allikvee who won with a time of 28.55.
Top Swimclub rounded out the night with a win in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay. Collectively, swimmers from the team put forth a 4:05.11 effort. Audentese Spordiklubi won the men’s race in 3:29.32.
For full meet results click here.
Best wishes to all athletes now and in the future. Has Lisa Lockie’s 200m backstroke been broken? I have not heard since last spoke with Mrs. Creem before she passed. Good part of childhood and all the best to the athletes.