Nina Rangelova picked up three more wins on the second day of Bulgarian Nationals, one individual and two relays.
Rangelova, a US-based swimmer who competes for SMU in the NCAA, won the 100 free with a 55.88, missing her own national record by about three tenths. She set that record at the London Olympics.
Rangelova still had enough to easily win the national title, topping second place by almost 4 full seconds. She came back later in the same session to help her Mladost 4×200 free relay claim gold in 8:53.26 – that was an even bigger blowout, with second place a whopping 26 seconds behind. Rangelova split 2:08.43, which isn’t particularly fast for her (her national record in the event is 1:59.21), but was still a solid effort, given there was just one event between the 100 free and 4×200 free relay.
That was in the day’s first session. In the second, Rangelova didn’t swim any individual races, saving her energy instead for the mixed 4×100 free relay. Rangelova led off in 55.84, just a tick faster than she was in the open 100 free, and her Mladost relay closed things out for the national title.
Martin Zhelev, who won the 100 back on day 1, doubled up on day 2, taking the 50 back and 200 IM. His backstroke time was 26.46, a win you could see coming after he blazed to a 100 back win on the strength of a great opening 50 the day before. Zhelev also went 2:09.97 to win the 200 IM, putting up a field-best 31.2 backstroke split after leading the pool on the butterfly leg as well.
One more notable time was Lachezar Shumkov‘s win in the 200 breast. Shumkov went 2:16.40 in absolutely obliterating the field. His next-closest challenger was over four seconds back.
The closest race of the day was the women’s 100 back, where Gabriela Georgieva eked out a win over Boiyana Tomova 1:06.14 to 1:06.30.
The meet continues two more days, wrapping up on Sunday. You can find live results here.
