Hugo Gonzalez Dominates 200 IM In 1:57.74; Pernille Blume Wins 100 Free At Mare Nostrum

Celebrating Gold Medal GONZALEZ DE OLIVEIRA H. ESP 200m Individual Medley Men Swimming Budapest - Hungary 20/5/2021 Duna Arena XXXV LEN European Aquatic Championships Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Hugo Gonzalez; Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Hugo Gonzalez Dominates 200 IM In 1:57.74; Pernille Blume Wins 100 Free At Mare Nostrum

European champion Hugo Gonzalez dominated the 200IM to win by more than four seconds in 1:57.74 at the Mare Nostrum in Canet, France.

Pernille Blume added the 100 free title to her 50 gold in 53.80 as Sarah Sjostrom continued her racing comeback with third once more.

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Maxime Grousset won the men’s 100 free in 48.57, Chad Le Clos claimed gold and bronze while Melanie Henique was only 0.13 outside her French 50 fly record of 25.24 as she claimed the most emphatic of victories in 25.37.

The European silver medallist amassed a winning margin of 1.35secs over one length with Spain’s Lidon Munoz del Campo in second in 26.72.

Yulia Efimova completed a clean sweep of the breaststroke races with victories in the 50 and 200 to add to her 100 from Tuesday.

Gonzalez In Dominant Form; Efimova Sweeps The Titles

Gonzalez claimed the European crown in Budapest less than a fortnight ago with a late charge to unseat reigning champion Jeremy Desplanches by 0.19.

It was a vastly-different race in Canet with the Spaniard dominating throughout.

Splits of 25.62/55.21 (29.59)/1:29.48 (34.27) and a final 50 of 28.06 saw him stop the clock 4.34secs ahead of his nearest rival, Alexis Manacas Santos who touched in 2:01.88.

Photo Courtesy: Mike Lewis/ISL

Blume had gone 24.09 to win the 50 on Tuesday in a race in which Sjostrom – recovering from elbow surgery and rehab – was third.

The Dane, who will defend her 50 crown in Tokyo next month, went out in 25.79 – the only sub-26 of the field – and came back in 28.01 for a clear win.

Del Campo claimed her second silver of the night in 54.52 with Sjsotrom next home in 54.84.

There was however no Therese Alshammar with the three-time Olympic medallist, who is looking to qualify for her seventh Games, not progressing from prelims and finishing eighth in the B final.

Grousset – fifth at the Europeans in Budapest – split 23.59/24.98 to win by 0.84 over Cristian Quintero Valero (49.41).

Efimova won the 50 breaststroke in 30.58 in the opening race of the evening before returning for the 200.

The Russian – who failed to qualify for Tokyo in the four-length event – was fifth at 100 before a third 50 of 36.63 saw her move through to first and she eventually enjoyed a comfortable victory in 2:24.85.

Jessica Vall was 1.29secs behind in 2:26.14 for second with Kristyna Horska third in 2:26.85.

European bronze medallist Erik Persson of Sweden won the men’s race by almost five seconds in 2:09.58.

Back To The Future For Ndoye Brouard; Gold For Le Clos & Hosszu

European joint bronze medallist Yohann Ndoye Brouard was 0.58 adrift of leader Mewen Tomac at halfway in the 100 back but a second 50 of 27.17 propelled him past his France team-mate to win in 53.57.

Yohann Ndoye Brouard: Photo Courtesy: (KMSP / Stéphane Kempinaire)

Tomac, who was 0.03 off the podium to finish fifth at the Europeans in Budapest, was second in 53.86.

The women’s race followed a similar pattern as Pauline Mahieu made up a deficit of 0.39 at halfway to move from third to first in 1:01.89, 0.01 ahead of second-placed Rafaela Azevedo.

Le Clos went out in 24.93 in the 200 fly with no other swimmer even nearing a sub-26 first 50.

By halfway, the 2012 Olympic champion’s lead over second-placed Alexei Sancov of Moldova was 1.60 seconds and come the final touch, Le Clos stopped the clock at 1:56.00, adding to Tuesday’s 100 fly title.

Sancov, who reached the semis at the Europeans, was second in 1:58.63 with Joan Lluis Pons Ramon of Spain third in 2:00.01.

Katinka Hosszu won the women’s 400IM in 4:41.98 after a customary busy schedule which had seen her pick up double gold and a silver in the space of 53 minutes on Tuesday.

Ahmed-Ayoub Hafnaoui added the 800 to his 400 free title in 7:55.26 ahead of France’s Logan Fontaine (7:57.25) while Kregor Zirk continued his record-breaking run by slicing an almighty 25.24secs off his own Estonian mark of 8:23.12 from March 2015 in 7:57.88.

That followed his 200 free on Tuesday when he lowered the national mark he set during the first leg in Monaco.

Katinka Hosszu 2021 European Championships

Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

World record-holder Andriy Govorov of Ukraine won the men’s 50 fly in 23.19 ahead of Meiron Cheruti (23.64) and Le Clos (23.97) who would return later for the 200.

Barbora Seemanova won the 400 free in 4:11.90 and Ana Monteiro took the 200 fly in 2:09.92 – in which Hosszu was fourth in 2:16.73 with her 400IM to come 30 minutes later –

Johannes Skagius won the men’s 50 breaststroke in 27.79.

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