While breakout swimmers such as Merve Tuncel and Kuzey Tuncelli have been putting the spotlight on Turkey’s talent in the pool in recent elite international competitions, another teenager is also making waves in his own right.
15-year-old Kirhan Yilmaz has been slashing national age records over the past several months, giving us a glimpse into another potential elite Turkish star.
Last October, Yilmaz broke the Turkish age record for 14-year-olds in the boys’ 200m IM, producing a time of 2:09.10. Just one month later the teen dropped that down to 2:08.02 to earn gold in the event at the Central European Countries Junior Multinations meet in Slovenia.
This month as a 15-year-old, Yilmaz churned out yet another best time, hitting 2:06.24 on his home turf. This most recent outing now ranks the Turk as the 4th-fastest European male under 18 years of age on the season.
Top 5 European Male LCM 200 IM Performers Under 18 for 2024 Season
- Nil Cadevall (ESP) – 2:05.17, January 14th
- Eren Kuru (TUR) – 2:06.60, January 5th
- Emre Aktas (TUR) – 2:06.19, January 5th
- Kirhan Yilmaz (TUR) – 2:06.24, January 5th
- Onur Oksuz (TUR) – 2:06.87, January 5th
Yilmaz’s coach Reha Mazlum told SwimSwam of his protege’s recent success, “As a coach, first of all, I always try to keep the motivation levels of Kırhan and the other swimmers in the team high and make them adopt the discipline of working from day one. These are the two main elements that I care about the most as a coach.
“At the same time, I set individual goals with them, no matter how big or small, and explain in detail how we can reach these goals.”
Yilmaz told SwimSwam, “My club Yeşilovaspor and Reha Mazlum, who is also the coach of my twin brother, guided me and my other teammates correctly in our development.
“We won first place in the country in the competitions known as the 11-12 years old Development Project in Turkey. Then at the age of 13, we broke Turkish records with our relay team and became champions.”
Conveying the fact that Yilmaz hails from a city much smaller than Istanbul or Ankara, the teen continued, “It is not very common in Turkey for swimmers from Anatolian cities outside the big clubs of big cities to break records, especially in relay teams.
“Finally, as a result of the competitions held in our country on January 5-7, I won the right to participate in the Multinations Youth to be held in April and the Central European Countries Meet to be held in July at the national team level. I want to be on the podium in all of the individual races I will participate in these two competitions and break new records.
“I also aim to take part in this competition by passing the European Junior Competition thresholds determined by our federation. In the coming years, I want to start with EYOF and reach the Olympics step by step.”
The next edition of the European Youth Olympic Festival is slated for 2025 in North Macedonia. At the most recent edition last year, Turkey placed 6th in the overall swimming medal table, accumulating 5 medals including 3 golds.
