Russia’s Evgeny Rylov, the reigning World Champion and top swimmer in the world in the men’s 200 back, cruised to the top seed in semi-finals in a swift time of 1:55.50. He was almost two seconds off his No. 1-ranked time (1:53.71), but he sits more than two seconds ahead of the field heading into the final.
Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki, the three-time defending European champion in the event, qualified second in 1:57.56, and Russia’s Grigory Tarasevich took third in 1:57.62. Tarasevich qualified second behind Rylov in prelims, locking out Kliment Kolesnikov, world junior record-holder and already the European champion in the 50 and 100 back, due to the two-per-country rule.
Italians Matteo Restivo and Luca Mencarini finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Restivo touched in 1:57.80 and Mencarini just behind in 1:57.83. Also qualifying for the final were Germany’s Christian Diener (1:57.92), Greece’s Apostolos Christou (1:58.14) and Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez (1:58.43).
