The nation of Turkey is ripe with upcoming talent, primarily on the boys’ side, as evidenced at the recent European Junior Championships.
17-year-old Kuzey Tuncelli reaped 800m and 1500m free gold in Lithuania while also capturing 400m free bronze and 4x200m free relay bronze.
However, 16-year-old countryman Arel Gültekin has been making some noise on his own, having broken a multitude of national records across the 50m/100m/200m fly and 400m IM events domestically.
In April of this year, Gültekin posted a time of 55.49 in the 100m fly and 2:02.45 in the 200m fly to become the 2025 Multinations Youth Champion in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Later that same month, the teen set new Turkish age records in the 50m fly (24.99) and 100m fly (54.63) to establish himself as a bona fide rising star.
Finally, this past May, he eclipsed his former records, hitting a new benchmark of 24.94 in the 50m fly and 54.19 in the 100m fly.
Trained by coach Volkan Burak Tuncil, the teen is well on his way to following in the footsteps of his teammates who have paved the way before him.
He is set to race at the European Youth Olympic Festival later this month, as well as the Turkish Summer LCM Championships in August.
