Peaty, Hosszu Headline Euro SC Championship Psych Sheets

2017 LEN European Short Course Championships

• December 13-17
• Copenhagen, Denmark
• Psych Sheet

Nearly all of Europe’s best will be in action next week at the European Short Course Championships in Copenhagen, as the psych sheets indicate we’re in store for five very exciting days of racing. The meet will begin on Wednesday, December 13th, running through Sunday the 17th.

Women

The first two names that come to mind when you think of European women are Katinka Hosszu and Sarah Sjostrom, both of whom will be in action in Copenhagen. Hosszu, who won six gold medals at the 2015 version of the event, has not surprisingly entered a staggering nine events for the competition. She’ll contest all three IMs and all three backstrokes, along with the 100 fly, 200 fly and 400 free. After several great races with Sjostrom on the World Cup circuit in the 100 IM, the two will only clash in the 100 fly as Sjostrom has opted out of the sprint medley event here. The 24-year-old Swede will contest the 50 and 100 free, 50 and 100 fly, and the 200 free.

Joining Sjostrom in the sprints will be the Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who became the first woman sub-23 in the short course 50 free in August, and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Pernille Blume of Denmark.

Other notable names in action include Spain’s Mireia Belmonte, who has five entries (400/800 free, 200/400 IM, 200 fly), Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte (all three breaststrokes), Federica Pellegrini (100 free, 100/200 back) and Femke Heemskerk (50/100/200 free). Denmark’s Mie Nielsen, who opted out of the 2017 World Championships after initially being named to the team, will also be in action in the 50 and 100 back.

Men

The men’s side, absolutely stacked to the brim, is headlined by British breaststroke star Adam Peaty. Peaty, the fastest breaststroker in history in long course (50 and 100), will contest all three distances of his signature stroke. He hasn’t raced short course in two years, and given his improvement in long course since then, it’ll be fun to see just how fast he can go here.

Joining him in the breaststroke races is a loaded field including Russian Kirill Prigoda, German Marco Koch, Italians Nicolo Martinenghi and Fabio Scozzoli, Belarussian Ilya Shymanovich, and fellow Brit Ross Murdoch.

The 1500 freestyle will see a rematch between Gregorio Paltrinieri and Mykhailo Romanchuk, as the two went head-to-head at the World Championships in the summer before the Italian ultimately pulled away for the win. Romanchuk has shown rapid improvement recently, but Paltrinieri is still the world record holder in this event at 14:08.06. Romanchuk, with a best of 14:15.49, is 3rd all-time.

Vlad Morozov, known for his wide range of abilities in the sprint events, has opted for a light schedule in Copenhagen, only slated to swim the 50 free and 100 IM (plus numerous relays we’re assuming). After dominating the World Cup circuit last year, a heavy schedule caught up with him at the SC World Championships where he failed to win the 50 free and 100 IM, and didn’t even make it out of the heats of the 100 free. This small schedule likely has something to do with that. Other notable sprint freestylers suiting up include Kristian Gkolomeev, Ben Proud, Jesse Puts, Simonas Bilis and veteran Sergei Fesikov.

Hungarian Laszlo Cseh swims on, entered in the 50, 100 and 200 fly. His countryman Dominik Kozma holds the top seed in both the 100 and 200 free, and Olympic bronze medalist Tamas Kenderesi joins Cseh in the 200 fly.

Junior standout Kliment Kolesnikov headlines the backstroke events along with Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki, who will look for his 5th straight title in the 200m distance and a defense of his 100m crown.

Jérémy Stravius, Aleksandr Krasnykh and Duncan Scott are three other big names in attendance. Scott will tackle a massvie schedule that includes the 100/200/400 free, 200 fly, and the 200/400 IM.