Pernille Blume, Robert Glinta Pop Stellar Semi Swims on European Champs Day One

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Photo Courtesy: SIPA USA

Four gold medals were handed out on the first night of finals at the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, and France was the standout country with two gold medals, both in women’s races and one coming courtesy of a surprising relay win.

Meanwhile, in semi-final action, superstars Sarah Sjostrom and Adam Peaty each laid down fine efforts, while Pernille Blume (women’s 50 free) and Robert Glinta (men’s 50 back) made world record runs, only to fall just short. Also in the men’s 50 back, Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov set a world junior record.

Read below for an event-by-event summary of the session.

FULL RESULTS

Women’s 400 IM FINAL

France’s Fantine Lesaffre captured the first gold in swimming at the European Championships with a triumphant effort in the women’s 400 IM. Lasaffre took command of the race on the breaststroke leg and ended up winning by almost a second. She touched in 4:34.17, beating out Ilaria Cusinato’s 4:34.65 from June as the fastest time in the world this year.

Italy’s Cusinato took the silver medal with her time of 4:35.05, and Great Britain’s Hannah Miley held off teammate Aimee Willmott for third, 4:35.34 to 4:35.77. Miley was the European champion in the event back in 2010.

The medalists benefited from the absence of Katinka Hosszu, the Hungarian who won Olympic gold in the 400 IM in 2016 as well as the past three World titles in the event. Hosszu is present at the meet but did not swim the 400 IM.

Zsuzsanna Jakobos did compete in the event for Hungary, and she took fifth in 4:38.48. Also competing in the final were Catalina Corro Lorente (4:38.83), Italy’s Carlotte Toni (4:40.18) and Serbia’s Anja Crevar (4:41.40).

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Men’s 400 Free FINAL

Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk became the first man to win a European championship in 2018 with a dominant win in the men’s 400 free. He led almost wire-to-wire, and his final time of 3:45.18 ranked him third in the world for 2018 behind the past two Olympic gold medalists in the event, Mack Horton and Sun Yang.

Norway’s Henrik Christiansen finished third in 3:47.07, and Germany’s Henning Muehlleitner edged out Austria’s Felix Aubock for third, 3:47.18 to 3:47.24. Sweden’s Victor Johansson touched fifth in 3:47.74.

Other finalists included the Czech Republic’s Jan Micka (3:48.46), Germany’s Poul Zellman (3:48.97) and Poland’s Wojciech Wojdak (3:49.08).

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Women’s 50 Free Semi-Finals

Denmark’s Pernille Blume qualified first for the women’s 50 free final with a monstrous time of 23.85. That broke the meet record of 24.07 set by Ranomi Kromowidjojo in 2016 and moved her into a tie with Kromowidjojo as the fifth-fastest performer ever in the event. Blume’s previous best was a seventh-ranked 23.92 from June.

Only Sarah Sjostrom (23.67), Britta Steffen (23.73) and Cate Campbell (23.78) have ever swum quicker.

But Sjostrom will be a threat to Blume in the final as the Swede qualified second in 23.92. Russia’s Mariia Kameneva finished third in 24.21, followed by the Dutch duo of Kromowidjojo (24.58) and Tamara Mariska Van Vliet (24.70).

Russia’s Rozaliya Nasretdinova (24.86) and Greece’s Theodora Drakou (24.96) also broke 25, and breaststroke specialist Ruta Meilutyte got into the final with an eighth-place time of 25.04.

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Men’s 50 Back Semi-Finals

Romania’s Robert Glinta became the third-fastest man in history in the men’s 50 back European semi-finals, qualifying first for the final with a mark of 24.12. Only Liam Tancock (24.04) and Camille Lacourt (24.07) have ever beaten that time.

Also skyrocketing up in the all-time rankings were a pair of Russians. Kliment Kolesnikov qualified second in 24.25, breaking his own world junior record of 24.46 set in April. Countryman Vladimir Morozov took third in 24.29, and those two now rank sixth and seventh all-time in the event, respectively.

Ireland’s Shane Ryan finished fourth in 24.57, followed by Belarus’ Mikita Tsmyh (24.66), France’s Jeremy Stravius (24.66), Israel’s Jonatan Kopelev (24.88) and Greece’s Apostolos Christou (24.92).

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Women’s 100 Fly Semi-Finals

Minutes after qualifying second in the women’s 50 free semi-finals, Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom comfortably claimed the top seed in the 100 fly. Sjostrom recorded a time of 56.66, well off her world record of 55.48 and her own world No. 2-ranked time of 56.29.

Sjostrom finished almost a full second ahead of anyone else in the field, with Russia’s Svetana Chimrova her closest competition in 57.54. Italians Ilaria Bianchi (57.79) and Elena Di Liddo (57.82) finished third and fourth, respectively, with Swedish NCAA champion Louise Hansson taking fifth in 57.99.

The final will also include Greece’s Anna Ntountounaki (58.34), Denmark’s Emilie Beckmann (58.40) and Germany’s Aliena Schmidtke (58.42).

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Men’s 100 Breast Semi-Finals

After swimming a time of 57.89 in the 100 breast prelims at the European Championships, Great Britain’s Adam Peaty came in a tick slower in the semi-finals, his time of 58.04 still plenty quick enough to earn him lane four in Saturday’s final. Peaty’s prelims swim marked the first time he or any man had broken 58 this year.

Another Brit, James Wilby, qualified second in 59.23. Peaty, Wilby (59.12) and Ross Murdoch (59.14) were actually the top three swimmers overall in prelims, but only two per country can advance, leaving Murdoch locked out.

Russia’s Anton Chupkov qualified third in 59.43. Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli (59.65), the Netherland’s Arno Kamminga (59.74) and Lithuania’s Andruis Sidlauskas (59.76) followed close behind.

Serbia’s Caba Siladji qualified seventh in 59.91, while Ireland’s Darragh Greene tied with Russia’s Kirill Prigoda for eighth in 59.92, setting up a potential swim-off. Prigoda was the bronze medalist in the event at last year’s World Championships.

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Women’s 4×100 Free Relay FINAL

Charlotte Bonnet split 52.20 on the second leg, and anchor Beryl Gastadello held off 2012 Olympic gold medalist Ranomi Kromowidjojo as France upset the Netherlands for gold in the women’s 4×100 free relay at the European Championships.

Marie Wattel (54.35), Bonnet (52.20), Margaux Fabre (54.41) and Gastadello (53.69) won gold in 3:34.65, just 12-hundredths ahead of the Netherlands (3:34.77). The Dutch team consisted of Kim Busch, Femke Heemskerk, Kira Toussaint and Kromowidjojo. Heemskerk split 52.33 for the quickest Dutch split and Kromowidjojo anchored in 53.22.

Denmark finished third in 3:37.03. Pernille Blume led off in 52.83, and she was followed by Signe Bro, Julie Jensen and Mie Nielsen. Great Britain was fourth in 3:37.26, followed by Italy (3:38.11), Russia (3:38.65), Switzerland (3:38.85), Germany (3:39.37) and Poland 3:40.94). Nine teams swam in the final after Denmark and Poland tied for eighth in the prelims.

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Men’s 4×100 Free Relay FINAL

Despite a strong effort from the Italians, Russia claimed gold in the men’s 4×100 free relay to conclude night one of finals at the European Championships. The foursome of Evgeny Rylov (48.62), Danila Izotov (48.61), Vladimir Morozov (47.61) and Kliment Kolesnikov (47.39) combined to swim a time of 3:12.23. The swim was the second of the night for both Morozov and Kolesnikov, who earlier posted top marks in the 50 back semis.

Italy’s Luca Dotto, Ivano Vendrame, Lorenzo Zazzeri and Alessandro Miressi finished with a silver medal, posting a time of 3:12.90. Miressi posted an impressive 46.99 split on the anchor leg.

Third went to Poland’s team of Jan Switkowski, Konrad Czerniak, Jakub Kraska and Kacper Majchrzak in 3:14.20. Hungary, after winning bronze behind the United States and Brazil at last year’s World Championships, fell to fourth in 3:14.51.

Also competing in the final were Greece (3:14.52), the Netherlands (3:14.60), Germany (3:15.12) and Serbia (3:15.16).

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