European Championships: Peaty & Co Ready To Go But No Pool Programme For Wellbrock

PEATY Adam GBR Gold Medal 50m Breaststroke Finals Glasgow 08/08/18 Swimming Tollcross International Swimming Centre LEN European Aquatics Championships 2018 European Championships 2018 Photo Andrea Masini/ Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

Adam Peaty, 2018 European Championships: Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

The swimming programme gets under way at the 35th LEN European Championships on Monday with 26 defending champions among 726 athletes competing in Budapest.

Adam Peaty, Federica Pellegrini, Katinka Hosszu and Kristof Milak are among several big names who will take their places on the blocks although there will be no pool match-up between Gregorio Paltrinieri and Florian Wellbrock.

Paltrinieri already has three golds to his name following the open water programme but Wellbrock, the world 1500m champion, is not competing in the pool this coming week.

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Federica Pellegrini: Photo Courtesy: Mine Kasapoglu / ISL

Also absent is Sarah Sjostrom, who won her first European gold in the 100 fly aged 14 in Eindhoven in 2008 and has 14 titles over six championships.

The Swede is currently recovering after a broken elbow sustained as she fell on ice in February required surgery.

A name that always conjures debate is that of Yulia Efimova and the Russian will compete at the Duna Arena in the 100 and 200 breaststroke, although she has only qualified in the former for Tokyo 2021.

The seven-day competition at the Duna Arena is the first large-scale international swimming meet after the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc across the world from early 2020.

The meet, involving a record 51 national federations, was due to take place 12 months ago before being postponed and will go ahead without spectators.

A total of 43 events will be contested – including the mixed 4x200m freestyle relay which is only held at European Championships – offering an opportunity for the first long-course racing at this level since the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju.

Milák Kristóf a200 méteres férfi pillangóúszás előfutamában a CXXIII. Országos Bajnokság Széchy Tamás emlékére úszóversenyen budapesti Duna Arénában 2021.03.23.-án. fotó:MÚSZ/Derencsényi István

Kristof Milak: Photo Courtesy: Hungarian Swimming Federation

So too will it give the athletes – 315 men and 411 women – a chance to experience an extended meet with the Tokyo Olympics little more than nine weeks hence.

It also offers an opportunity for countries to qualify relay teams for the Games.

The top 12 nations at the 2019 World Championships automatically qualified a relay team and with 16 slots available per relay, it means four positions are still available before the qualification period ends on 31 May.

The women’s 400IM opens proceedings with Hosszu looking to add to the three titles she has already claimed.

The Olympic champion didn’t contest the event at the last Europeans in Glasgow where Fantine Lesaffre won gold but the Frenchwoman doesn’t line up on Monday.

Britain’s Aimee Willmott, en-route to her third Olympics, is second in the entry lists.

Photo Courtesy: Mine Kasapoglu / ISL

The stand-out race of the morning is the men’s 100 breaststroke which features the five fastest men in history in Adam Peaty, Arno Kamminga, Ilya Shymanovich, Nicolo Martinenghi and James Wilby, who stands joint fifth-fastest with Cameron van der Burgh.

Peaty lines up in the seventh and final heat alongside Martinenghi.

Gabriele Detti and Danys Rapsys meet in the 400 free while Kliment Kolesnikov gets his campaign under way in the 50 back in which he set the world record of 24.00 at Glasgow 2018.

There’ll be new champions in the 50 free and 100 fly given Sjostrom’s absence while Simona Quadarella spearheads the 800 free in which she is the world silver medallist.

The men’s and women’s 4×100 freestyle relays will all take to the water on Monday.

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