Luca Hoek was within touching distance of his Spanish 50 free record as he posted the top time in prelims on day three of the European Junior Championships in Munich.
The 18-year-old – who won bronze at the 2025 edition in Samorin – went 22.03, only 0.10secs off his 21.93 national standard from the Spanish Open Championships in March.
Hoek – who split 47.97 for the Spanish mixed freestyle relay on Wednesday – was clear of the rest of the qualifiers who were separated by 0.50secs. Jan Foltyn – the 50 breast silver medallist – was second through in 22.32. Defending champion Tajus Kuska didn’t compete but instead focused on the 100 fly.
Francesco Ceolin led the way in the men’s 100 fly in 52.83 ahead of AIN duo Egor Baranov (52.89) and Egor Proshin who posted 52.98 the morning after his 47.94 lead-off as the mixed 4×100 free clinched gold in a WJR. Defending gold and silver medallists Juska and Dean Fearn progressed in 10th and fifth respectively.
Hungarian Fanni Viktoria Kokas headed the women’s 200 back in 2:12.13 ahead of neutral athlete Varvara Filippova (2:12.55). Nathan Muratory of France was the only swimmer inside 2mins in the men’s event in 1:59.92.
Neutral athlete Viktoriia Kariuk led the women’s 200 breast in 2:27.94 ahead of Italian Lucrezia Mancini (2:28.37). Last year’s bronze medallist Kay-Lyn Löhr of Switzerland safely progressed in sixth but Paulina Baran of Poland – who won silver at Samorin 2025 – only just squeaked in by 0.06 in 16th. Doruk Yogurtcuoglu, who won Samorin silver, headed the men’s event in 2:14.22 ahead of Italian duo Gabriele Garzia (2:14.35) and Michele Longobardo (2:14.45).
The neutral athletes narrowly led the way in the women’s 4×2 relay in 8:06.76 to Italy’s 8:06.80 with Great Britain third through in 8:08.61.
With the AIN not featuring on the medal table, Great Britain lead the way with three golds, one silver and two bronze medals followed by Hungary (one gold, one silver) and Germany (one gold and one bronze).