Zulal Zeren continued a huge summer by breaking the national 100 and 200 backstroke records at the Turkish Summer Championships in Istanbul.
Zeren has been all over the national records this summer. Competing with her college program, Ohio State, Zeren broke the 200 backstroke record in prelims of the Columbus Speedo Sectional Meet back in July. (Zeren has two more years of eligibility left with the Ohio State Buckeyes.)
Her time at that point was 2:13.63. After a stop in Kazan, Russia to compete at the World Championships, Zeren returned to Istanbul, Turkey for the Turkish Summer Championships, where she bettered that record with a 2:12.41.
That time is also a FINA “B” cut, which puts Zeren in contention for an Olympic berth at next summer’s Rio Games.
Zeren also tied the Turkish 100 back record at the Summer Championships, going 1:02.46. That tied a national record set just last spring by Ekaterina Avramova – Avramova was second at Turkish Nationals with a 1:02.77.
Both of those events ended in gold medals for Zeren. She was also third in the 50 backstroke, going 30.17. Avramova won that race, going 29.48 and rattling the national record of 29.10.
The Turkish Summer Championships took place in Istanbul over five days, stretching from August 12-16.
You can find full results of the Turkish National meet here.
