by Jason Marsteller

24 August 2014, 06:49am

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY

BERLIN, Germany, August 24. Florent Manaudou’s textile best in the 50 free and Denmark’s European record in the women’s 400 medley relay were two of the top swims of the night as the European Championships came to a close.

Scheduled Events

• Women’s 50 free
• Men’s 50 free
• Women’s 50 breast
• Women’s 200 fly
• Men’s 400 IM
• Women’s 400 free
• Women’s 400 medley relay
• Men’s 400 medley relay

LIVE STREAM

LIVE RESULTS

Women’s 50 free

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

Great Britain’s Fran Halsall, who is now tied with Australia’s Cate Campbell for the fastest time in textile with a 23.96 from the Commonwealth Games, captured the European title with a 24.32 to 24.37 touchout triumph against Sweden’s sprint star Sarah Sjostrom. Sjostrom came into the day with a third-ranked season best of 23.98 from Swedish Nationals, and was unable to upend Halsall as the top European sprinter.

Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen rounded out the podium with a bronze-winning time of 24.53 as there was clear separation between the podium-placers and the rest of the pack.

France’s Anna Santamans (24.81), Italy’s Silvia di Pietro (24.84), Russia’s Elizaveta Bazarova (24.91), The Netherlands’ Inge Dekker (25.01) and Sweden’s Therese Alshammar (25.20) also competed this evening.

Men’s 50 free

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY

France’s Florent Manaudou sprinted to the top of the world this year in the men’s splash-and-dash with a scorching time of 21.32.  That time clipped compatriot Fred Bousquet’s meet record of 21.36 from 2010 in Budapest, and also bested Cesar Cielo’s 21.39 from the Maria Lenk Trophy meet as the top swim in the world this year.  Manaudou dropped a huge amount of time tonight, having a seventh-ranked 21.70 from French Nationals as his best swim so far this year until this evening.

Additionally, Manaudou’s time matches Cielo’s textile best 21.32 from last summer’s World Championships in Barcelona.

Poland’s Konrad Czerniak hit the wall second for silver in 21.88, while Finland’s Ari-Pekka Liukkonen delivered a bronze-winning time of 21.93.

Great Britain’s Ben Proud (21.94), Italy’s Marco Orsi (22.09), Russia’s Andrey Grechin (22.10), Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev (22.13) and Ukraine’s Andriy Govorov (22.14) closed out the rest of the finale field.

Women’s 50 breast

Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Youth Olympic Games

Olympic gold medalist Ruta Meilutyte, who already won a pair of Youth Olympic golds in Nanjing, China before jet-setting to Berlin for the 50 breaststroke, wound up winning the sprint European title with a 29.89.  That’s just off her world-leading meet record of 29.88 from the semifinal heats and closes out a truly productive week of swimming for the Britain-based Lithuanian.

Sweden’s Jennie Johansson finished second in 30.52 with The Netherlands’s Moniek Nijhuis placing third in 30.64. Johansson has been faster with a fourth-ranked 30.39 from Swedish Nationals, while Njhuis moved up to an eighth-ranked tie with Corrie Scott in the world rankings.

Ukraine’s Mariya Liver (30.68), Germany’s Dorothea Brandt (30.82), Czech’s Petra Chocova (31.13), Ireland’s Fiona Doyle (31.37) and Iceland’s Hilda Luthersdottir (31.53) put up the rest of the times in the finale.

Women’s 200 fly

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia capped a remarkable week of swimming with a dominant effort in the women’s 200-meter fly.  She raced her way to a 2:04.79 for the win, cutting a second off Otylia Jedrzejczak’s 2002 meet record of 2:05.78, and moving to within a second of Katinka Hosszu’s European record of 2:04.27 from 2009. In fact, Belmonte Garcia is the only sub-2:05 swimmer this year, besting Natsumi Hoshi’s 2:05.98 set at the Japanese Nationals by a wide margin.

Belmonte Garcia’s teammate Judit Ignacio Sorribes finished second in 2:06.66, while Hosszu collected yet another medal with a bronze-winning 2:07.28.  Ignacio Sorribes beat her fifth-ranked 2:06.79 by a bit, while Hosszu moved up to a ninth-ranked tie with Jiao Liuyang with her swim.

Belmonte Garcia’s Splits:

28.76 (2) 1:00.63 (1)
31.87 1:32.61 (1)
31.98 2:04.79
32.18

Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakabos (2:08.03), Italy’s Stefania Pirozzi (2:08.31), Germany’s Franziska Hentke (2:08.93), Switzerland’s Martina Van Berkel (2:10.28) and Italy’s Alessia Polieri (2:11.58) finished fourth through eighth in the swift finale.

Men’s 400 IM

Photo Courtesy: Greg Bertram – USA Today Sports

Hungary’s David Verraszto might not have led wire-to-wire, but once he moved into the lead in the backstroke there was little doubt he would dominate the finale as he won in 4:11.89.  That swim was nearly two seconds ahead of silver-winning Roberto Pavoni of Great Britain’s 4:13.75.  Italy’s Federico Turrini took third place overall in 4:14.15.

Verraszto moved up to eighth in the world with his swim, while Pavoni could not duplicate his ninth-ranked season best of 4:12.24 from the British Nationals.  Turrini bettered his 4:14.58 from Italian Spring Nationals, but remained 14th overall in the world.

Verraszto’s Splits:

27.13 (3) 57.37 (2)
30.24 1:30.12 (2)
32.75 2:02.01 (1)
31.89 2:36.76 (1)
34.75 3:12.27 (1)
35.51 3:42.55 (1)
30.28 4:11.89
29.34

Great Britain’s Max Litchfield (4:14.97), Germany’s Yannick Lebherz (4:16.17), Germany’s Jacob Heidtmann (4:18.10), Portugal’s Alexis Manacas Santos (4:18.28) and Slovakia’s Richard Nagy (4:18.66) also vied for the continental title in the distance medley.

Women’s 400 free

Photo Courtesy: British Swimming

It is unreal how much Katie Ledecky has adjusted the mindset of what is “fast” in the middle distance free.  With sub-4:00s almost becoming routine for Ledecky, a pair of swimmers hitting the wall in 4:03 tonight in Europe doesn’t immediately ring any bells.  But, upon a further look, Great Britain’s Jazz Carlin (4:03.24) and The Netherlands’ Sharon Rouwendaal (4:03.76) had a pretty impressive set of performances in Berlin.

In fact, Carlin moved up to second in the world behind Ledecky with her time, while open-water star Rouwendaal is now third in the world ahead of Mireia Belmonte Garcia’s 4:03.84 from Spanish Nationals.

Carlin’s Splits:

28.66 (3) 59.42 (3)
30.76 1:30.39 (2)
30.97 2:01.63 (2)
31.24 2:32.53 (1)
30.90 3:03.49 (2)
30.96 3:33.84 (1)
30.35 4:03.24
29.40

Rouwendaal’s Splits:

29.09 (5) 1:00.15 (5)
31.06 1:31.10 (5)
30.95 2:02.28 (5)
31.18 2:33.02 (5)
30.74 3:04.00 (4)
30.98 3:34.18 (3)
30.18 4:03.76
29.58

Fresh off her 200 fly victory, Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia snared bronze in 4:04.01, while Italy’s Federica Pellegrini finished fourth in 4:04.42.

Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas (4:06.61), Spain’s Melanie Costa Schmid (4:07.42), Denmark’s Lotte Friis (4:10.13) and Italy’s Diletta Carli (4:12.56) also swam in the finale.

Women’s 400 medley relay

Photo Courtesy: Pia Ellegaard Mortensen

The women’s 400 medley relay proved to be a dogfight with Denmark having just enough to emerge from a full-blown battle with Sweden with not only the win but also the European record.  The quartet of Mie Nielsen, Rikke Moeller Pedersen, Jeanette Ottesen and Pernille Blume threw down a 3:55.62 to win tonight.  That swim demolished Germany’s meet record of 3:58.43 from 2012, and also clipped Germany’s European mark of 3:55.79 from the 2009 World Championships.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s Ida Lindborg, Jennie Johansson, Sarah Sjostrom and Michelle Coleman gave the Danes nearly all they could handle, but settled for silver in 3:57.97.

Splits:

Denmark (3:55.62):

NIELSEN Mie Oe. – 1:00.37
PEDERSEN Rikke Moeller – 1:06.07
OTTESEN Jeanette – 56.15
BLUME Pernille – 53.03

Sweden (3:56.04):

LINDBORG Ida – 1:01.25
JOHANSSON Jennie – 1:06.28
SJOESTROEM Sarah – 55.47
COLEMAN Michelle – 53.04

Great Britain’s Georgia Davies (1:00.00), Sophie Taylor (1:06.97), Jemma Lowe (57.97) and Fran Halsall (53.03) took bronze in 3:57.97.

The Netherlands (3:58.33), Italy (3:59.62), Russia (4:01.56), Spain (4:02.84) and Ukraine (4:04.44) also competed in the finale.

Men’s 400 medley relay

Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini

Great Britain concluded a remarkable three-gold night for its country with a win in the men’s 400-meter medley relay to close out the meet.  Chris Walker-Hebborn, Adam Peaty, Adam Barrett and Ben Proud combined to win the title in 3:31.73.  That’s just about half-a-second off France’s meet record of 3:31.32 from 2010, and delivered the Brits a third continental victory tonight to go along with Fran Halsall and Jazz Carlin’s wins.

Great Britain’s Splits:

WALKER-HEBBORN Christoph – 54.04
PEATY Adam – 58.55
BARRETT Adam – 50.69
PROUD Benjamin – 48.45

France’s Jeremy Stravius (53.79), Giacomo Perez-Dortona (1:00.04), Mehdy Metella (51.22) and Fabien Gilot (47.42) finished with a silver-winning 3:32.47, while Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh (54.38), Daniel Gyurta (59.64), Bence Pulai (52.01) and Dominik Kozma (47.08) turned in a bronze-winning 3:33.11.

Germany (3:33.92), Russia (3:34.23), Poland (3:34.51), Lithuania (3:36.18) and The Netherlands (3:37.85) placed fourth through eighth in the final heat of the competition.

Twitter Coverage

For up to the minute coverage, follow us on Twitter @SwimmingWorld:

Subscribe

Login

Notify of

new follow-up comments new replies to my comments

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

1 Comment

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Danny

9 years ago

I am sure Florent Manaudou is next big name in sport. Best luck!

0

Reply