During the second evening of finals at the 2018 European Championships, Great Britain’s Adam Peaty set a world record in the men’s 100 breast, and Russian teenager Kliment Kolesnikov followed that up with another world record in the men’s 50 back.
Additionally, Sarah Sjostrom won a pair of gold medals, in the women’s 100 fly and 50 free, while Russia’s Yulia Efimova broke a championship record in the women’s 100 breast semi-finals. Finally, the mixed 4×200 free relay made its international debut to conclude the night.
Read below for an event-by-event recap of the session.
Women’s 800 Free FINAL
Italy’s Simona Quadarella took command of the women’s 800 free final and pulled away to capture the first gold medal of night No. 2 at the European Championships. Quadarella put up a massive time of 8:16.35, making her the second-fastest swimmer in the world this year behind Katie Ledecky and the seventh-fastest swimmer of all-time, in between the great Janet Evans (8:16.22) and Boglarka Kapas (8:16.37).
Hungary’s Anja Kesely took second in 8:21.91, setting the first European junior record in the event. Russia’s Anna Egorova claimed bronze in 8:24.61, just ahead of Germany’s Sarah Koehler (8:25.81).
Hungary’s Kapas fell to fifth in 8:26.32, followed by Slovenia’s Tjasa Oder (8:30.08), Liechtenstein’s Julia Hassler (8:33.00) and Spain’s Jimena Perez Blanco (8:35.51).
Men’s 100 Breast FINAL
Great Britain’s Adam Peaty took down his own world record in the men’s 100 breast on his way to a dominant performance at the European Championships. After a stunning 0.47 reaction time, Peaty went out in 26.65 and finished in 57.00, under his own world record of 57.13 set on his way to Olympic gold two years ago.
Peaty has admitted that he is aiming for a sub-57-second 100 breaststroke before the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and now, he just has one-hundredth to go.
Great Britain ended up finishing 1-2 in the race, as teammate James Wilby took second in 58.54, moving him behind Peaty and Cameron van der Burgh as the third-fastest swimmer in history. Russia’s Anton Chupkov, the World Champion in the 200 breast, took third in 58.96, followed by teammate Kirill Prigoda in 59.10.
Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli (59.51), Lithuania’s Andruis Sidlauskas (59.52), the Netherlands’ Arno Kamminga (59.59) and Serbia’s Caba Siladji (1:00.05) filled out places five through eight, respectively.
Women’s 100 Fly FINAL
Swedish superstar Sarah Sjostrom went out under world record-pace for the first 50 meters of her 100 fly, but she couldn’t quite hang on to that sizzling pace. Sjostrom ended up finishing in 56.13, moving her ahead of Rikako Ikee (56.23) as the fastest swimmer in the world this year.
No one in the field could challenge Sjostrom. Russia’s Svetlana Chimrova finished second in 57.30, and Italy’s Elena Di Liddo took bronze in 57.58. Just missing the medals were Italy’s Ilaria Bianchi (57.62) and Greece’s Anna Ntountounaki (57.67).
Also in the final were Sweden’s Louise Hansson (57.89), Denmark’s Emilie Beckmann (58.35) and Germany’s Aleina Schmidtke (58.80).
Men’s 100 Free Semi-Finals
The top three times in the men’s 100 free semi-finals and four of the top five came out of the first of two heats. Italy’s Alessandro Miressi led the way in 48.11, followed by French World Championships bronze medalist Mehdy Metella in 48.31.
Hungary’s Nandor Nemeth and Russia’s Vladislav Grinev tied for third in 48.48. Grinev and fellow Russian Danila Izotov combined to lock teammate Vladimir Morozov out of the semi-finals because of the two-per-country rule.
Scotish hometown favorite Duncan Scott qualified fifth in 48.52, followed by Ukraine’s Sergii Shevtsov (48.62), Italy’s Luca Dotto (48.66) and Croatia’s Bruno Blaskovic (48.800. Izotov missed the final by two-hundredths with his ninth-place time of 48.82.
Women’s 100 Breast Semi-Finals
Russia’s Yulia Efimova used her typical go-out-slow, come-back-fast strategy in the women’s 100 breast European semi-finals, and she turned in the top time with a 1:05.77. She broke the championship record of 1:06.16, a mark set by Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte two years ago.
Efimova holds the top time in the world at 1:04.98, followed by American rival Lilly King in 1:05.36. Whatever happens in the final, Efimova will be looking to post a mark out of reach for King, who will compete next week at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo.
Great Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor qualified second in 1:06.89, and Italy’s Arianna Castiglioni took third in 1:06.91. Also under 1:07 was Spain’s Jessica Vall Montero (1:06.98).
Meilutyte took fifth in 1:07.06, and joining her in the final will be Spain’s Marina Garcia Urzainqui (1:07.48), Sweden’s Sophie Hansson (1:07.51) and Italy’s Martina Carraro (1:07.61).
Men’s 200 Fly Semi-Finals
Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi and Kristof Milak claimed the top two seeds for the men’s 200 fly final as Kenderesi won the first semi-final in 1:55.16, and Milak claimed semi-final No. 2 in 1:55.38. Kenderesi was the Olympic bronze medalist in the event in 2016, while Milak is the world junior record-holder (1:52.71) and the World Champs silver medalist in the 100 fly.
Hungary is so strong in the 200 fly that Bence Bizco finished third in prelims and 2015 World Champion Laszlo Cseh was fifth, but neither made the semis because of the two-per-country rule.
Denmark’s Viktor Bromer qualified third in 1:55.73, while Great Britain’s James Guy, out quick over the first 150 meters before fading, took fourth in 1:56.06.
Azerbaijan’s Maksym Shemberev (1:56.11), Belgium’s Louis Croenen (1:56.48), Bulgaria’s Antani Ivanov (1:56.58) and Poland’s Jan Switkowski (1:56.77) also got into the final.
Women’s 50 Back Semi-Finals
After setting a European record in prelims with a lightning-quick time of 27.21, Great Britain’s Georgia Davies did what she needed to do to claim lane four for Sunday’s final, touching in 27.46. Just behind her was Russia’s Anastasia Fesikova, who swam a time of 27.49 to set up a run at gold in the final.
Finland’s Mimosa Jallow took third in 27.62, followed by Poland’s Alicja Tchorz (27.72), France’s Beryl Gastadello (27.86), the Czech Republic’s Simona Baumrtova (27.91), the Netherlands’ Kira Toussaint (27.92) and Italy’s Carlotta Zofkova (27.94). So fast was the field that Italy’s Silvia Scalia posted a time of 27.96 and ended up ninth.
Men’s 50 Back FINAL
Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov took down the world record in the men’s 50 back, touching in 24.00 to erase the 24.04 set by Great Britain’s Liam Tancock in 2009. Kolesnikov, 18, also smashed his own world junior record of 24.25 set in the semi-finals.
Romania’s Robert Glinta, who swam a time of 24.12 in the semis that now ranks fourth all-time, took silver in 24.55. Ireland’s Shane Ryan finished with a bronze medal, touching in 24.64.
Russia’s Vladimir Morozov took fourth in 24.69, followed by France’s Jeremy Stravius (24.83), Belarus’ Mikita Tsmyh (25.04), Greece’s Apostolos Christou (25.14) and Israel’s Jonatan Kopelev (25.41).
Women’s 50 Free FINAL
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom and Denmark’s Pernille Blume went head to head down the entire length of the pool, and just when it looked like Blume, the Olympic gold medalist in the event, Sjostrom fought back. Sjostrom hit the wall in 23.74, seven-hundredths off her own world record of 23.67. She broke Blume’s championship record of 23.85 from the semi-finals.
Blume finished one-hundredth behind in 23.75, moving past Cate Campbell (23.78) as the third-fastest swimmer in history behind Sjostrom and Britta Steffen.
The Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in both the 50 and 100 free, took bronze in 24.21.
Russians Mariia Kameneva (24.40) and Rozaliya Nasretdinova (25.04) took fourth and fifth, respectively, followed by the Netherlands’ Tamara Van Vliet (25.11), Greece’s Theodora Drakou (25.14) and Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte (25.16).
Mixed 4×200 Free Relay FINAL
The mixed 4×200 free relay made its debut at the European Championships, and Germany out-dueled Russia to take the gold medal. The team of Jacob Heidtmann (1:46.52), Henning Muehlleitner (1:47.32), Reva Foos (1:58.25) and Annika Bruhn (1:56.34) combined for a time of 7:28.43. Bruhn swam away from Russian anchor Viktoriia Andreeva after leading by just two-hundredths with 50 meters to go.
Russia’s Mikhail Vekovishchev, Mikhail Dovgalyuk, Valeriia Salamatina and Andreeva took silver in 7:29.37, and Great Britain’s Stephen Milne, Craig McLean, Kathryn Greenslade and Freya Anderson won bronze in 7:29.72. Anderson anchored in 1:55.80 to secure the medal for her country.
Hungary took fourth in 7:31.19, ahead of Italy in 7:32.73. Federica Pellegrini split 1:56.76 on the third leg for Italy. Also in the final were the Netherlands (7:32.39), Israel (7:40.07) and Slovakia (8:03.50).
