Day 7 of the European Championships kicked off with Thursday’s preliminary session in Glasgow, Scotland.
Only two individual events were contested this morning: the men’s 400 IM and the women’s 400 Freestyle. They were followed by preliminary heats of the 4 x 100 Medley Relay for both genders where Russia (3:33.08) and Denmark (3:58.40) took the top seeds.
Men’s 400 IM
Hungary’s David Verraszto cruised to the top seed in this morning’s prelims of the men’s 400 IM in 4:14.18. A smooth middle 200 for the defending Champion and World Championship silver medalist in this event implies that he’ll post a bigger swim in the finals. He currently holds the fifth-fastest time in the world this year at 4:11.98.
Verraszto was followed by Great Britain’s Max Litchfield in one of his first 400 IMs since a shoulder injury in February. The swim was therefore a season-best 4:14.91. Over two seconds off his best, the race still puts him in the top twenty world rankings for this year.
Azerbaijan’s Maksym Shemberev and Portugal’s Joao Alexandre Vital earned the third and fourth seeds out of heat two in 4:15.33 and 4:15.87, respectively. Shemberev’s 1:09.33 breaststroke split out-paced the field – this leg of the race should help him fight for a medal in tonight’s final.
Joining the men in the final are Germany’s Johannes Hintze (4:16.18), Spain’s Joan Lluis Pons Ramon (4:17.01), Russia’s Maxim Stupin (4:17.60) and Germany’s Jacob Heidtmann (4:17.77).
| SUMMARY | ||||||||||||||||||||
| RANK | HEAT | LANE | NAT | SURNAME AND NAME | BORN | R.T. | TIME | GAP | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 4 | 4 |
|
VERRASZTO David | 22 AUG 1988 | 0.76 | 4:14.18 | q | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 |
|
LITCHFIELD Max | 04 MAR 1995 | 0.65 | 4:14.91 | 0.73 | q | |||||||||||
| 3 | 2 | 5 |
|
SHEMBEREV Maksym | 25 SEP 1993 | 0.80 | 4:15.33 | 1.15 | q | |||||||||||
| 4 | 2 | 4 |
|
VITAL Joao Alexandre | 13 JUN 1998 | 0.67 | 4:15.87 | 1.69 | q | |||||||||||
| 5 | 3 | 2 |
|
HINTZE Johannes | 05 JUL 1999 | 0.72 | 4:16.18 | 2.00 | q | |||||||||||
| 6 | 4 | 3 |
|
PONS RAMON Joan Lluis | 09 DEC 1996 | 0.64 | 4:17.01 | 2.83 | q | |||||||||||
| 7 | 4 | 1 |
|
STUPIN Maxim | 11 MAY 2000 | 0.69 | 4:17.60 | 3.42 | q | |||||||||||
| 8 | 3 | 6 |
|
HEIDTMANN Jacob | 06 NOV 1994 | 0.76 | 4:17.77 | 3.59 | q | |||||||||||
Women’s 400 Freestyle
Hungarian teenager and European Junior Record-Holder in this event Ajna Kesely dominated the third preliminary heat this morning to earn the top seed headed into tonight’s finals. Her opening speed set her apart from the field, out-splitting the competition by about one and a half seconds at the 200. She should have much more left in the tank to chase her best this season of 4:05.61 from the Hungarian Championships.
Great Britain’s Holly Hibbott (4:09.41), Germany’s Sarah Koehler (4:09.85) and Italy’s Simona Quadarella (4:09.97) went stroke-for-stroke in heat four to post the second, third and fourth fastest times. The women swam nearly identical races which is not surprising as they have all posted around the same time so far this season: 4:05.31, 4:05.68 and 4:05.74, respectively. These four will battle for all three medals in the final.
Russia’s Anna Egorova (4:10.77), Liechtenstein’s Julia Hassler (4:12.03), Portugal’s Diana Margarida Duraes (4:12.16) and Great Britain’s Eleanor Faulkner (4:12.85) will round out the final.
| SUMMARY | ||||||||||||||||||||
| RANK | HEAT | LANE | NAT | SURNAME AND NAME | BORN | R.T. | TIME | GAP | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 3 | 5 |
|
KESELY Ajna | 10 SEP 2001 | 0.72 | 4:08.77 | q | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 4 | 5 |
|
HIBBOTT Holly | 13 DEC 1999 | 0.78 | 4:09.41 | 0.64 | q | |||||||||||
| 3 | 4 | 4 |
|
KOEHLER Sarah | 20 JUN 1994 | 0.75 | 4:09.85 | 1.08 | q | |||||||||||
| 4 | 4 | 3 |
|
QUADARELLA Simona | 18 DEC 1998 | 0.77 | 4:09.97 | 1.20 | q | |||||||||||
| 5 | 4 | 6 |
|
EGOROVA Anna | 31 MAY 1998 | 0.77 | 4:10.77 | 2.00 | q | |||||||||||
| 6 | 4 | 7 |
|
HASSLER Julia | 27 FEB 1993 | 0.81 | 4:12.03 | 3.26 | q | |||||||||||
| 7 | 4 | 2 |
|
DURAES Diana Margarida | 08 JUN 1996 | 0.71 | 4:12.16 | 3.39 | q | |||||||||||
| 8 | 3 | 3 |
|
FAULKNER Eleanor | 05 JAN 1993 | 0.74 | 4:12.85 | 4.08 | q | |||||||||||
