European Records For Vazaios & Shymanovich As Morozov And Anderson Take Freestyle Gold

Freya Anderson, of Britain, into the all-time top 10 at No 10 for victory in the 100m freestyle at the European Short-Course Championships in Glasgow - Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer

European Short-Course Championships

Glasgow, Day 3 Finals and Semi-Finals

Andreas Vazaios and Ilya Shymanovich set European records for gold in the 200m medley and the men’s 100m breaststroke semi-finals respectively and Vladimir Morozov won gold in the 50m freestyle as Florent Manaudou took silver on his solo return to international waters on a breathless third evening of finals at the European Short-Course Championships in Glasgow.

Freya Anderson claimed her first senior international medal of any colour with gold in the 100m, the 18-year-old shocked by her achievement after arriving at Tollcross International Swimming Centre hoping for a PB.

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Freya Anderson into the all-time top 10 at No 10 for victory in the 100m freestyle at the European Short-Course Championships in Glasgow – Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer

Shymanovich set the records rolling when he touched in 55.89secs in the second semi-final at Tollcross International Swimming Centre to cut 0.05 from the 2017 record set by Adam Peaty. There was little ceremony though – the gold medal still to be won in tomorrow’s final.

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Duncan Scott had been the one commanding attention after setting about James Goddard‘s British record in the 200IM in this morning’s heats, an eye-watering freestyle 50 of 26.49 propelling him to a time of 1:52.33, 0.24 inside the previous standard set eight years ago in Berlin.

Scott was going all out in the heats as part of his planning for morning finals at Tokyo 2020 but it was the turn of Greek medley specialist Vazaios to take centre-stage with victory in 1:50.85, 0.51 inside the 2015 mark of Hungarian great Laszlo Cseh.

Tomoe Zenimoto of Norway took silver in 1:51.74 ahead of Germany’s defending champion Philip Heintz (1:52.55) with Scott fourth.

Vazaios said:

“I wanted to do the European record so I’m so excited now. It was so hard and I really wanted to win this. This represents all my hard work and dedication, which has just paid off. I want to thank this to my family and my coaching staff for always being there for me.”

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Morozov had broken the European record in the 50m breaststroke and had served notice in the semis in the opening event of tonight’s programme when he clocked 20.73.

Maksim Lobanovskii of Hungary separated Morozov and Manaudou, a ripple of expectation in the air as the men took to their blocks amid shouts of support for both.

It was the Russian who rose ahead and although Manaudou made inroads on the second 25, it was Morozov who took victory in 20.40, 0.14secs outside the Frenchman’s 2014 world record.

Manaudou, the 2012 Olympic champion, was second in 20.66, 0.10 ahead of Lobanovskii in third.

It was Morozov’s fourth gold medal of the event but he revealed it had been Manaudou’s world record that he coveted.

“I feel good, I wanted this gold. Racing against Manaudou is always motivating and now the mission is accomplished. I wanted to break the world record but I’ve come a bit short. This is my fourth final and my fourth gold here so I’m really happy. I’m ready and prepared for racing a lot, we’ll see how the 100m will go tomorrow.”

Florent MANAUDOU of France prepares himself before competing in the men's 50m Freestyle Heats during the 20th LEN European Short Course Swimming Championships in Glasgow, Great Britain, Friday, Dec. 6, 2019. (Photo by Patrick B. Kraemer / MAGICPBK)

Florent Manaudou set for action at the European Championships in Glasgow – Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer / MAGICPBK

For Manaudou, it was silver in his first international solo final since Rio 2016 when he finished second behind Anthony Ervin in the 50 free, four years after victory in London.

After today’s heats, the 29-year-old had pinpointed high-performance competition as one of the things he had missed while away from the pool.

While he embraced his return, there was disappointment that he did not make it to the top step of the podium at Tollcross.

He told Swimming World: “I enjoy this competition. It’s always bad to finish second but Vlad was very, very fast tonight. He wanted to beat the world record and now he is first in the 50 free.

“He did a European record in the 50 breaststroke, he is in shape and I am just disappointed because it is always good to win and I wanted to hear my national anthem one more time. The last time was four years ago at the World Championships in Kazan: it was good, I enjoyed my race and I think it’s good for the long course.”

Anderson won the 100m freestyle with a well-paced race in 51.49, the Briton touching ahead of Beryl Gastaldello of France (51.85) and the Netherlands’ Femke Heemskerk (51.88).

Anderson – the youngest in the field at 18 – was shocked after claiming her first senior international medal in a time that elevates her into the world top three this season.

She said: “My short-course has never been a strong point for me so I just came into this meet expecting to PB and hopefully make some finals. I definitely didn’t expect a medal so I am really happy with that.”

Championship Quick Links:

Women’s 4x50m Freestyle Relay

France and the Netherlands could not be separated as they shared gold in 1:35.21, the Dutch making up a deficit of 0.04secs on the final 50. Denmark won bronze in 1:35.24.

Men’s 1500m Freestyle

Gregorio Paltrinieri upgraded 2017 silver to gold in 14:17.14 with Henrik Christiansen second in 14.18.15 but although it looks close, that owes much to the Norwegian’s speedy final 25. David Aubry of France was third in 14:25.66.

Paltrinieri, heading into Olympic-crown defence season, said:

“I didn’t have a plan for today’s race. It was quite difficult, I haven’t swum since the World Championships. But then this field all came together with great rivals, so it’s a great feeling to be European champion once again. The race was tough, very tough. Yesterday I felt better in the heats, today I didn’t have the same feeling but then it’s a final, tensions are in the air and that’s how finals look like. All in all, I’m quite satisfied.”

Women’s 100m Individual Medley

Katinka Hosszu – Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer

Katinka Hosszu hopped off the podium following the 200m butterfly medal ceremony to claim victory in 57.36 after catching early leader Maria Kameneva on the breaststroke before edging away on the final 25. Kameneva took silver in 57.59 with Finland’s Jenna Laukkanen third in 58.62.

Hosszu said:

“Wow, that was fun! And it’s an honour that I could win Hungary’s 1000th medal at big championships since 1896.

“Obviously, this had to be a gold so I’m really happy to win this race. This 57.3 makes me pretty satisfied because I’m anything but fast now in the middle of heavy training but after so many years spent at this level I kind of know that in a final like this I have to step up and indeed I step up.”

Men’s 100m Backstroke

Kliment Kolesnikov – Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer

Kliment Kolesnikov successfully defended his 2017 title, his underwater phase on the final length seeing him emerge with a clear lead over Christian Diener. The Russian won in 49.09 ahead of Diener (49.94) and Robert Glinta of Romania (50.30).

The time was 0.12 off the championship record set in 2009 when Kolesnikov was nine and 0.19 off his own European record set two years ago in St Petersburg.

He said: “I feel tired, but that’s cool and I’m happy with the result. I think I can go faster, I don’t think I’ve reached my limit today. I don’t like to talk about times but I’m sure I’ll go faster in the relay.”

Women’s 200m Butterfly

Katinka Hosszu produced an astonishing final 50 to overhaul long-time leader Ilaria Bianchi of Italy and take her first victory in the event since Chartres in 2012. The Hungarian was 1.01secs down with 50 to go but she rattled off an eye-watering 31.31 to touch in 2:03.21, 0.99 ahead of Bianchi with Zsuzsanna Jakabos third in 2:05.00.

Margherita Panziera – Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer

Women’s 200m Backstroke

Margherita Panziera set an Italian record of 2:01.45, her splits metronomic for victory ahead of Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina on 2:02.25.

The bronze went to 100m champion Kira Toussaint of the Netherlands in 2:03.04 as a stellar season of Dutch record breaking long and short-course draws to a close for her.

With records a-tumbling, Mona McSharry – who won bronze in the 50m breaststroke – was not to be outdone in the 100m semis as she set a new Irish mark of 1:04.63 to head the field going into tomorrow’s final.

Martina Carraro of Italy (1:04.63) and Jenna Laukkanen (1:04.97) were the next fastest qualifiers.

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