Zheltiakov (Ukraine), Siskos (Greece) Set National Records In Men’s 200 Backstroke

2024 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

Day 3 Finals Heat Sheets

MEN’S 200 BACKSTROKE – FINAL

  • World Record: 1:51.92 – Aaron Peirsol, USA (2009)
  • European Record: 1:53.23 – Evgeny Rylov, Russia (2021)
  • Championship Record: 1:53.36 – Evgeny Rylov, Russia (2018)

Final: 

  1. Oleksandr Zheltiakov (UKR) — 1:55.39
  2. Apostolos Siskos (GRE) — 1:55.42
  3. Roman Mityukov (SUI) — 1:55.75
  4. Benedek Kovacs (HUN) — 1:56.13
  5. Ksawery Masiuk (POL) — 1:57.50
  6. David Gerchik (ISR) — 1:57.53
  7. John Shortt (IRL) — 1:58.48
  8. Adam Telegdy (HUN) — 2:01.30

Two National records went down in the first final on night 3 of the 2024 European Championships. Oleksandr Zheltiakov of Ukraine swam to a win in a national record of a 1:55. while Apostolos Siskos of Greece swam to 2nd in a Greek National Record of a 1:55.

Zheltiakov broke his own national record that he set last July at the World Junior Championships. He swam a 1:55.79 then to win the European Junior Title in Belgrade. His win also puts Ukraine onto the medal table as they had not won a medal yet this week in Serbia.

Split Comparison:

2024 Euros
2023 World Juniors
50 27.58 27.23
100 29.4 29.21
150 29.76 29.80
200 28.65 29.55
1:55.39 1:55.79

The biggest difference for Zheltiakov was his final 50, coming home 0.90 seconds faster today than he did last July.

Siskos broke the previous record of a 1:56.34 that Apostolos Christou set last month at the Greek Championships. Christou notably also holds the 50 and 100 backstroke records. Siskos’s takes back the 200 back record as he previously held the mark before Christou broke it last month.

Split Comparison:

Siskos Christou
50 26.97 26.66
100 29.49 28.82
150 29.65 30.11
200 29.31 30.75

Siskos took his own record back with a strong back-half. Although he was out slower than Christou on the first 100, he had enough left in the tank to come home strong.

In addition to their record-setting swims, both swimmers move up in the World Rankings this season to sit at #3 and #5 respectively.

2023-2024 LCM Men 200 Back

RyanUSA
MURPHY
06/20
1:54.33
2Hugo
GONZALEZ
ESP1:54.5106/20
3Keaton
JONES
USA1:54.6106/20
4Jack
AIKINS
USA1:54.7806/20
5Jiayu
XU
CHN1:55.3709/29
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jablo
7 days ago

men’s 2bk is THICK with 1:55s, it’s not as absurdly fast as the 100 free and 100 fly but I think this one will be a dogfight in a month

About Anya Pelshaw

Anya Pelshaw

Anya has been with SwimSwam since June 2021 as both a writer and social media coordinator. She was in attendance at the 2022 and 2023 Women's NCAA Championships writing and doing social media for SwimSwam. Currently, Anya is pursuing her B.A. in Economics and a minor in Government & Law at …

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