European Championships: Big Meet Records by Katinka Hosszu, Sarah Sjostrom, Andrey Govorov Highlight Day One

Photo Courtesy: Pamela Roberts

BERLIN, Germany, August 17. The first morning of the European Championships featured a handful of meet records that were pretty stunning considering they came during qualifying.

Scheduled Events

Men’s 400 free
Women’s 50 fly
Men’s 100 back
Women’s 400 IM
Men’s 100 breast
Women’s 200 back
Men’s 50 fly
Men’s 400 free relay

LIVE STREAM

LIVE RESULTS

Men’s 400 free

Photo Courtesy: Scottish Swimming

This morning produced a stunning result as the men’s 400-meter freestyle finale will be lacking some serious starpower. Both Germany’s Paul Biedermann (3:50.42 for 9th) and France’s Yannick Agnel (3:50.81 for 11th) missed out on making the finale. That’s an amazing result as the preliminary swimmers definitely brought the heat to make the championship finale.

Great Britain’s Stephen Milne dropped the hammer in the final 50 meters to top qualifying in 3:48.62. That performance is off his 10th-ranked 3:46.88 from the Commonwealth Games as the Brit will be vying for a stronger time tonight.

Milne’s Splits:

26.61 (2) 55.68 (4)
29.07 1:24.73 (5)
29.05 1:53.72 (4)
28.99 2:22.88 (4)
29.16 2:52.11 (4)
29.23 3:20.94 (4)
28.83 3:48.62
27.68

In the same heat as Milne, Italy’s Mitch D’Arrigo (3:48.77) and Gabriele Detti (3:48.79) also had strong swims to qualify second and third.

Germany’s Clemens Rapp (3:49.03), Czech’s Jan Micka (3:49.10), Serbia’s Velimir Stjepanovic (3:49.49), Great Britain’s Jay Lelliott (3:49.82) and Hungary’s Gergo Kis (3:50.35) also made the finale.

Women’s 50 fly

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

World-record holder Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, who shocked the world with a no-breather 24.43 earlier this summer to set the world record on its head, put up an easy speed 25.12 this morning in the sprint fly. That swim eclipsed the previous meet record of 25.50 set by Therese Alshammar as Sjostrom continues to erase her compatriot from all sorts of record books.

Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen chased down the second seed in the sprint with a time of 25.64, while The Netherlands’ Inge Dekker joined them under 26 seconds with a third-seeded time of 25.71.

Great Britain’s Fran Halsall (26.06), Belgium’s Kimberly Buys (26.10), Italy’s Silvia Di Pietro (26.13), Alshammar (26.15) and Italy’s Elena Gemo (26.28) made up the rest of the top half of the semifinalists.

France’s Melanie Henique (26.36), France’s Marie Wattel (26.36) and Israel’s Amit Ivri (26.54) finished ninth through 11th. France’s Anna Santamans (26.55) missed out on semis as the third-best Frenchwoman even though she placed 12th.

Poland’s Anna Dowgiert (26.60), and Aleksandra Urbanczyk (26.85) as well as Russia’s Svetlana Chimrova (26.88) made their way into semis, while 16th-place Beryl Gastaldello of France did not make the next round as the fourth-best Frenchwoman with a 26.93.

Slovakia’s Katarina Listopadova (26.95) and Belarus’ Sviatlana Khakhlova (27.03) were pulled into the semis with the pair of France’s swimmers being pushed out of semis due to some parity rules here at Euros.

Men’s 100 back

Photo Courtesy: British Swimming

Great Britain’s Chris Walker-Hebborn was the only swimmer to manage a sub-54-second performance this morning at the Velodrome. He powered his way to a 53.88 to lead qualifying this morning, not too far off his fifth-ranked 53.12 from the Commonwealth Games.

Walker-Hebborn’s Splits:

25.95 (1) 53.88
27.93

France’s Jeremy Stravius (54.14) and Ben Stasiulis (54.27) took second and third in the morning heats and will provide Walker-Hebborn some serious competition during semis.

Germany’s Jan-Philip Glania drew some hometown cheers with a fourth-ranked 54.47, while Italy’s Christopher Ciccarese took fifth in 54.71.

Russia’s Nikita Ulyanov (54.85), Italy’s Luca Mencarini (54.87) and Germany’s Christian Diener (54.94) rounded out the top eight.

Spain’s Juan Miguel Rando Galvez (54.99), Norway’s Lavrans Solli (55.01), Hungary’s Gabor Balog (55.09), Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki (55.29), Sweden’s Mattias Carlsson (55.43), Hungary’s Peter Bernek (55.46), The Netherlands’ Bastiaan Lijesen (55.50) and Israel’s David Gamburg (55.53) also made semis.

Italy’s Niccolo Bonacchi, who took 15th in 55.49, was bounced from semis due to the two-per-country rule.

Women’s 400 IM

Photo Courtesy: Mike Comer/ProSportsVisuals.com

Inside world-record pace before the freestyle, Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu smashed the meet record in the distance medley with a ridiculously fast time of 4:31.53 this morning. That performance wiped out the 2010 record of 4:33.09 set by Hannah Miley in Budapest, and fired Hosszu to second in the world rankings behind only Ye Shiwen’s 4:30.84 from the Chinese Nationals. Hosszu’s previous best had been a sixth-ranked 4:33.80, and it is scary how fast Hosszu could go tonight, as she definitely will be vying for her Hungarian record of 4:30.31 from the 2009 World Championships in Rome.

Hosszu’s time is a statement swim as she’s slated to compete in 10 events this week. If she’s on point this early, the rest of the fields could be worried the rest of the way.

Hosszu’s Splits:

28.43 (1) 1:01.30 (1)
32.87 1:35.89 (1)
34.59 2:10.06 (1)
34.17 2:48.51 (1)
38.45 3:28.52 (1)
40.01 4:00.22 (1)
31.70 4:31.53
31.31

Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia took a distant second this morning with a 4:36.89, well off her fourth-ranked 4:32.92 from Spanish Nationals. Czech’s Barbora Zavadova finished third in 4:38.82.

Great Britain’s Aimee Willmott (4:39.01), Hungary’s Evelyn Verraszto (4:41.15), Spain’s Maria Vilas Vidal (4:41.43), Italy’s Stefania Pirozzi (4:41.80) and Sweden’s Stina Gardell (4:44.16) rounded out the rest of the championship heat.

Men’s 100 breast

Photo Courtesy: British Swimming

Great Britain’s Adam Peaty produced the only sub-1:00 of the morning with a swift 59.97. That’s just half-a-second off Alexander Dale Oen’s 2010 meet record of 59.20, a time well in reach for Peaty, who topped the Commonwealth Games with a second-ranked performance of 58.94 earlier this summer. Only Christian Sprenger has been faster than Peaty this year with a 58.87 from Australian Nationals.

Peaty’s Splits:

28.18 (2) 59.97
31.79

Hungary’s Daniel Gyurta (1:00.13) led a host of swimmers to post 1:00s this morning. Great Britain’s Ross Murdoch (1:00.16) and Lithuania’s Giedrius Titenis (1:00.48) qualified third and fourth, while Great Britain’s depth in the event proved out here in Berlin as Andrew Willis placed fifth in 1:00.88 but still missed semis due to the two-per-country rule.

Germany’s Hendrik Feldwehr (1:00.89), Russia’s Andrey Nikolaev (1:00.90), Russia’s Grigory Falko (1:00.93) and France’s Giacomo Perez-Dortona (1:00.94) also put up 1:00s to make semis.

Russia’s Vsevolod Zanko placed 10th with a 1:01.06 but lost out due to the two-per-country rule.

Slovakia’s Tomas Klobucnik (1:01.12), Slovenia’s Damir Dugonjic (1:01.40), Luxembourg’s Laurent Carnol (1:01.43), Italy’s Mattia Pesce (1:01.44), Ukraine’s Dmytro Oseledets (1:01.59), Italy’s Andrea Toniato (1:01.68), France’s Thomas Dahlia (1:01.69) and Norway’s Sverre Naess (1:01.73) also will swim in semis.

Russia’s Anton Lobanov’s 15th-place 1:01.49 was another two-per-country bounce.

Women’s 200 back

Photo Courtesy: Pamela Roberts

With just three heats of the 200 back, nearly the entire field made its way back to semis. Germany’s Jenny Mensing topped qualifiers with a time of 2:10.33, just off her 10th-ranked 2:09.25 from German Nationals. She’ll have some work to do, however, to challenge Krisztina Egerszegi’s meet record of 2:06.62 from way back in 1991.

Mensing’s Splits:

30.50 (1) 1:03.45 (1)
32.95 1:36.93 (1)
33.48 2:10.33
33.40

Spain’s Duane Da Rocha Marce (2:10.34) and Germany’s Lisa Graf (2:10.75) also posted 2:10s to make semis, while Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu made her way to semis with a fourth-seeded 2:11.09 after crushing the 400 IM this morning.

Spain’s Melanie Costa Schmid (2:11.63), Italy’s Carlotta Zofkova (2:11.74), Czech’s Simona Baumrtova (2:11.88) and Great Britain’s Elizabeth Simmonds (2:12.32) made up the top half of the semi field.

Germany’s Sonnele Oeztuerk felt the burn of the two-per-country rule with a ninth-place 2:13.15 not moving on to break up the top and bottom halves of the semis.

Russia’s Daria Ustinova (2:13.93), Poland’s Alicja Tchorz (2:14.51), Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina (2:14.79), Austria’s Joerdis Steinegger (2:15.14), Poland’s Klaudia Nazieblo (2:15.69), Croatia’s Matea Samardzic (2:15.80), Russia’s Ekaterina Tomashevskaya (2:16.30) and Sweden’s Ida Lindborg (2:17.09) also secured spots in semis.

Men’s 50 fly

Photo Courtesy: HEAD Swimming

Ukraine’s Andrey Govorov blazed his way to the top of the world in the sprint fly with a scorching time of 22.87. That swim not only beat Milorad Cavic’s meet record of 23.11, it also cleared Govorov’s Ukrainian record of 22.97 set at last summer’s World Championships. His performance also shot him to the top of the world rankings, ahead of Ben Proud’s sterling 22.93 from the Commonwealth Games. Govorov could potentially challenge Rafael Munoz Perez’s world record of 22.43 from 2009.

France’s Florent Manaudou (23.06), Germany’s Steffen Deibler (23.38), Munoz Perez (23.43), Belarus’ Yauhen Tsurkin (23.54), Great Britain’s Proud (23.55), Italy’s Piero Codia (23.58) and Russia’s Nikita Konovalov (23.61) comprised the rest of the top eight.

The Netherlands’ Joeri Verlinden (23.68), Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh (23.73), Croatia’s Mario Todorovic (23.84), Belgium’s Francois Heersbrandt (23.95), Lithuania’s Tadas Duskinas (23.98), Serbia’s Ivan Lendjer (24.02), Finland’s Tuomas Pokkinen (24.04) and Great Britain’s Adam Barrett (24.04) also will contend for spots as part of the semifinals.

Men’s 400 free relay

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

Sparked by a blistering 48.25 leadoff leg by Andrey Grechin, enough to move him to a tie for fifth in the world with Vlad Morozov in the 100 free, Russia topped qualifying in 3:14.17. Italy, meanwhile, won the first heat with a 3:14.38 to qualify second overall.

Comparative Splits:

RUSSIA – 3:14.17
GRECHIN Andrey – 48.25
FESIKOV Sergey – 48.52
TIKHOBAEV Oleg – 48.97
LOBINTSEV Nikita – 48.43

ITALY – 3:14.38
DOTTO Luca – 48.55
BELOTTI Marco – 49.50
LEONARDI Luca – 47.80
ORSI Marco – 48.53

Poland (3:15.78), France (3:16.24), Belgium (3:16.51), Spain (3:17.47), Israel (3:18.95) and Lithuania (3:19.91) also made the finale.

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