2023 Mersin Performans ve TOHM Seçmesi (TUR)
- Friday, March 3rd
- Turkey Arena, Mersin, Turkey
- LCM (50m)
- Results
A Turkish national record went down over the weekend at the hands of 20-year-old Polat Uzer Turnali.
Competing at a long course meet in Mersin, Turnali turned in a time of 1:59.12 in the men’s 200m butterfly to become the fastest Turkish swimmer ever in the event. His outing shaved .04 off the longstanding national mark of 1:59.16 which Kaan Özcan put on the books at the 2016 European Junior Championships.
Entering the race, Turnali’s personal best in the 2fly rested at the 1:59.94 he put up last December with this weekend’s performance representing just his 2nd time ever under the 2:00 barrier.
Spits for Turnali’s 1:59.12 result: 26.02/30.30/30.70/31.96
This marks Turnali’s first Turkish national record in either long course or short course.
At the competition, the Volkan Burak Tuncil-trained athlete also topped the 100m butterfly podium in a time of 54.26. That also checked in as a new lifetime best crushing his previous career-quickest time of 55.08 logged in April of last year.
Fun fact: Mehmet Ugur Taner was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1974 and swam for that country in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
But he had moved to the US in 1975 and changed his sport citizenship to the USA, making the USA National team from 1993 – 2000, and winning 9 national titles. At one point, he missed the US Olympic team by 0.01 seconds. He Won the 1997 Pan Pacs 200 Butterfly in 1:57.35; my memory says his PB was 1:56.81, though I couldn’t find it today in my net search.
For college, Taner went to Cal where he won 3 NCAA 200 Fly titles. After college he continued training at University of Arizona.
Ugur and his… Read more »
He was a Washington State beast. I always loved the Chinook Aquatic Club name and swim cap. I have a (now digitized) VHS video of the 1991 or ’92 State Swim Champs when it was televised with a feature on his accomplishments (and a neat interview with Dick Hannula). Those were the days!