European Championships, Day 5 Finals: Martin Malyutin Wins 200 Free In CR 1:44.79; Triple Gold For GB Women

Martin Malyutin 200 European Championships

Martin Malyutin: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Kathleen Dawson and her victory in the 100 back re-swim dominated the fifth night of finals at the European Championships in Budapest.

Following a Swedish protest over the starter signal in lane eight, governing body LEN declared the race be swum again and the British woman won for a second time in 58.49 ahead of Margherita Panziera of Italy and Maria Kameneva, who claimed bronze first time around.

However, there was despair for Kira Toussaint, who won silver in the first race and had mentioned the starter system post-race, as she came fourth.

For more in-depth coverage of the 100 back re-swim click here.

It was one of three golds for British women at the Duna Arena.

Molly Renshaw won the 200m breaststroke in 2:21.ahead of Lisa Mamie, who was in tears after setting a Swiss record of 2:22.05, with Yulia Efimova the champion no more taking bronze in 2:22.16.

The women’s 4×200 free relay squad – without Abbie Wood with a prohibitive schedule – then defended their title in 7:53.15 ahead of Hungary and Italy.

Martin Malyutin added the 200 free to his 400 gold in a championship record of 1:44.79, slicing 0.10 from Pieter van den Hoogenband‘s mark that had stood since Berlin 2002 shortly before the Russian turned seven.

Behind him, 2018 champion Duncan Scott headed a British two-three with Tom Dean.

Simona Quadarella completely dominated the 1500 free to add the title from the longest race in the pool to her 800 gold, the Italian now a five-time European champion with the 400 to come.

The world champion defended her title in 15:53.59 with a winning margin of 7.47secs over Anastasia Kirpichnikova, who repeated her 800 silver, with Martina Caramignoli ensuring an Italy one-three.

Hungarian Szebasztian Szabo won the 50 fly in 23.00 by 0.01 from defending champion and world-record holder Andrei Govorov of Ukriane with Russian Andrey Zhilkin in third.

Martin Malyutin Doubles Up With Thunderous Final 50

The last time Malyutin and Scott faced each other in a major long-course competition was at the 2019 worlds in Gwangju.

The pair shared a bronze medal in the 200 free on that occasion but Scott refused to share a podium with Sun Yang, sparking an angry reaction from the Chinese swimmer.

In Budapest, it was Kristof Milak – who swam to the second-fastest 200 fly en-route to gold on Wednesday – that led at halfway after splits of 23.96 and 27.07 ahead of Malyutin and Scott.

Gold Medal MALYUTIN Martin RUS Silver Medal SCOTT Duncan W GBR Bronze Medal DEAN Thomas GBR 200m Freestyle Men Swimming Budapest - Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

A third 50 of 26.98 put Scott in pole with Dean moving through to second but the Russian accelerated down the final length, coming home in 26.27 to lower Van Den Hoogenband’s long-standing record.

Scott clocked 1:45.19 and Dean 1:45.34 with Danas Rapsys and Milak next home.

Malyutin, who also won gold with Russia’s 4×200 relay, said:

“I feel tired but at the same time I also feel comfortable and confident because of my finish and my strategy which worked very well.”

Scott said:

“I’m really happy with this silver. The time is not far off my best time and the world’s best in 2021.

“This is my seventh 200m race in three days so I was a bit tired. All in all, I’m really happy with this outcome.”

Dean added:

“I’m really happy with the race and the time, plus we have two Brits on the podium, that’s always great.

“This was without rest or tapering, so I’m very happy and obviously there is a lot more coming in the summer.”

Molly Renshaw Joy; Dream Come True For Mamie

Renshaw, who won bronze in Glasgow, has had a superb year, matching the British record in February before lowering it to 2:20.89 at the British Selection Trials in April.

Mamie was first at the 50 but the Briton forged ahead on the second to turn at halfway in 1:07.86 with Loughborough training partner Wood second, 0.82 behind.

The three-time European medallist was 0.95 ahead at the final turn with Efimova moving into second and touched with clear water between her and Mamie, who clocked a 36.77 final 50 en-route to silver with Efimova taking bronze, 0.01 ahead of fellow Russian Evgeniia Chikunova.

RENSHAW Molly GBR 200 Breaststroke Women Final Swimming Budapest - Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Renshaw said:

“I’m extremely happy, this is my first gold medal in this event.

“The semi-final was very strong and I’m really satisfied because I didn’t expect to swim as fast as I did in the final.”

Mamie was almost – but not quite – lost for words, saying:

“I don’t even know what to say right now. I’m so happy, I never expected that.

“This is a dream come true and I don’t think I’m realising everything right now. I have no words…”

Efimova said:

“I’m really happy in this medal because I know I’m not in a good shape because of Covid and in general.

“After Gwangju 2019, knowing that we would going into an Olympic year, I took three months of vacation.

“Then it turned out that the Olympics were postponed by one year so ultimately I didn’t compete for more than two years.

“My first event was the Russian national two months ago so this is my second race.

“So I need time and races.

“After this I will do Mare Nostrum because I need more meets to have the racing routine once again.”

Simona Quadarella In Dominant Defence

By 300, Quadarella held a 1.29 lead over Caramignoli, out in lane one, with Kirpichnikova a further 0.09 behind.

She extended that to 3.17 by 400 with the Russian having moved into second.

At 600 it was up to 3.99 and by the halfway mark, the Italian was 4.55secs up with Kirpichnikova and Caramignoli fighting their own battle behind her.

QUADARELLA Simona ITA Italy CARAMIGNOLI Martina Rita ITA Italy 1500m Freestyle Women Final Swimming Budapest - Hungary 21/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Perottino / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

She built her lead lap by lap as Kirpichnikova pulled away in second and with 250 to go Quadarella upped the pace.

The Italian went through 1400 in 14:51.00 with a lead of 6.88 and came home to win by 7.47secs ahead of Kirpichnikova in 16:01.06 with Caramignoli taking bronze in 16:05.81.

Quadarella will take on the 400 free on Saturday as she looks to repeat her Glasgow 400-800-1500 clean sweep.

She said:

“I’m satisfied, I was hoping for a little bit better time.

But I’m happy for the win and content with taking home the gold once more from the Europeans.”

Freya Anderson Brings Britain Home Once More

The British have enjoyed relay medals galore in Budapest.

Gold had already been won in the women’s 4×100 free, mixed medley relay and mixed 4×200 free – with Anderson anchoring them all – ahead of Friday night’s women’s 4×2 in which Britain were defending champions.

Not to leave the men out of course with silvers in the 4×100 free and 4×200 free.

Charlotte Bonnet, fourth in the individual event, put France in the lead after an opening leg of 1:57.31 with Britain second thanks to Lucy Hope‘s 1:58.45.

Tamryn van Selm took up the baton for Britain and steered them into the lead (1:58.59) with Holly Hibbott (1:59.71) handing over to Anderson who brought them home in 1:56.40 – the fastest leg of the field.

Behind them, Federica Pellegrini was doing her best to mow down the Hungarians and despite a leg of 1:56.54, the host nation held out for silver in 7:56.26 with Italy third in 7:56.72.

Freya Anderson 4x2 European Championships

Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Hope said:

“I’m really happy to win, obviously. I wanted to start the team off really well and I think I put on a good performance and a good time.

“I still felt a little bit off since basically we had no rest since our Olympic trials three weeks ago. It’s really exciting how Team GB is doing here.”

Van Selm, 17, added:

“I’m so happy and excited to be part of this group of girls.

“I remember watching the relay in 2018 on TV in my home and now it’s unbelievable to be part of this group.

“I’m so honoured to be here and to have done such an amazing performance.”

Boglarka Kapas, who anchored Hungary, said:

“Before the final I really believed we could win a medal here, though I didn’t want to tell the girls and didn’t want to put myself under pressure until I stepped on to the podium and saw we were in a very good position.

“Since I had to race against Federica Pellegrini, I knew I had to gear myself up. I’m pretty happy with this 1:57 split, and it’s great to achieve such result in an Olympic year.”

Pellegrini, headed for Tokyo 17 years after her first Olympics in Athens in 2004, said:

“This relay was a little lost for a while. Step by step, we are coming back.

“I’m very satisfied with my time, this bronze is an impulse and a motivation for us to work more and go further, for sure.”

Szabo Takes Gold By The Merest Of Margins

Govorov had qualified fastest in 22.97 to book lane four but he was out-touched by Szabo by the tiniest margin.

Szebasztian Szabo 2021 European Championships Szabo won in 23.00 to the Ukrainian’s 23.01 with

Zhilkin third in 23.08.

The Hungarian said:

“First of all, this time is pretty bad but I came for the gold here, I took it, so it’s alright after all.

“We are in the Olympic year so the focus is on the 100m fly and I think I have the necessary speed to clock a much better time in that event. OK, I’m happy, of course.”

Govorov looked ahead to the 50 free, saying:

“This is a very strange season for me.

“Yesterday I swam better, losing by 0.01 is random, but this event is for fun, winning the silver is fine for me I just need to swim the 50m free better.”

Zhilkin echoed the others’ sentiments regarding the time, saying:

“This medal is nice but not the time.

The 50m fly is like a surprise, any swimmer can win this race and each small detail is very important from start to finish.

“Today I missed the touch at the end and this is one of the details why I did not win this race.”

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