Lana Pudar Goes 56.95 For 100 Fly Gold As Records Tumble At European Juniors

Lana Pudar: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia

Lana Pudar rocketed into the top 10 of the 100 fly rankings with a Bosnian record of 56.95 en-route to gold at the European Juniors in Belgrade.

It was also a championship record and cut 0.44secs from the previous mark of 57.39 that stood to Anastasia Shkurdai of Belarus since 2019.

While Pudar was rewriting the national record books, Oleksandr Zheltyakov lowered his Ukrainian 200 back standard as he made his first journey inside 1:57, going 1:56.49 to head the semis.

That’s 0.66 outside Kliment Kolesnikov‘s championship record of 1:55.83 set in 2018 and makes him the 12th-fastest performer in the world this year, his time the 16th swiftest.

Kuzey Tuncelli set a championship record in the boys’ 1500 free of 14:58.89, slicing 2.7secs from the previous mark of 15:01.59 set by Kirill Martynychev at the 2019 European Juniors in Kazan.

Lana Pudar: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia

Vlad Stancu set a Romanian record of 15:00.51, cutting 4.96secs from his time of 15:05.47 en-route to gold at last year’s edition in his hometown of Otopeni.

Pudar won silver at the 2022 European Juniors behind Roos Vanotterdijk of Belgium, a year after taking the title at the 2021 edition.

Weeks later, the 17-year-old went on to take bronze over 100 and gold in the 200 fly at the Europeans in Rome.

On Thursday, she split 26.65/30.30 to take her maiden voyage inside 57secs to propel herself into the world top-10 with the 12th-swiftest time this year.

Behind her came Martine Damborg of Denmark in 58.35 with Swede Emmy Hallkvist taking bronze in 59.50.

Tuncelli Makes It A Turkish Double

Tuncelli became the fastest 15-year-old in the 1500 free when he went 14:56.67 at the Turkish Championships in April in what is a national record.

In Belgrade, it was defending champion Stancu who struck out and he held a 4.26-second lead over Tuncelli at 500m with his fellow Turk Emir Batur Albayrak a further 0.71 adirft.

Tuncelli gradually ate into the deficit and with 400 to go had cut it to 0.25 before making his move with a 1:00.31 100 to take a 1.15sec lead with 300 remaining.

He increased that to 2.62 going into the final 100 and despite Stancu going 57.73 to 58.63, victory in a championship mark was Tuncelli’s.

Stancu took silver with Albayrak setting a new PB of 15:00.57 – 0.06 behind the Romanian – as the first three men home were separated by 1.68secs.

It meant a Turkish 1500 free double after Merve Tuncel had topped the podium in the girls’ race on Wednesday.

Curtis And Padar Continue Golden Form

Sara Curtis claimed her second gold and third medal overall after a 25.14 victory in the 50 free.

The 2022 bronze medallist – who won the girls’ 4×100 free title and mixed silver – was 0.24 ahead of defending champion Nina Jazy of Germany (25.38) with Britain’s Skye Carter taking her second bronze of the meet in 25.41, 0.01 ahead of Alexandra Hrncarova.

Miroslav Knedla: Photo Courtesy: István Derencsény/LEN

Miroslav Knedla won his second title in the 200IM following victory in the 50 back, the Czech Republic swimmer stopping the clock in 2:00.26.

Christian Mantegazza came out in front in a close duel with Matthew Ward in 2:01.10 to 2:01.17, the Briton claiming his second bronze so far.

Nikolett Padar claimed her third gold of the meet when she led off the Hungary quartet in the girls’ 4×200 free.

The individual 200 champion went out in 1:58.95 – the fastest split of the entire field – with Lili Gyurinovics (2:00.91), Dora Molnar (2:00.90) and Lilla Minna Abraham (1:59.49) combining to come home in 8:00.25, 1.26 outside the championship record of 7:58.99 set by Hungary in 2017.

Italy were second in 8:03.22 with France in bronze in 8:05.62.

European Juniors: Day 3 Semi-Finals

Zheltyakov – who won silver in Otopeni last year – had a previous 200 back best of 1:57.18 from the 2022 Hungarian Championships, a time he matched at the 2023 Swim Open Stockholm.

Oleksandr Zheltyakov: Photo Courtesy: István Derencsény/LEN

On Thursday the 50 back silver medallist split 27.66/57.30/1:27.52/1:56.49 to lead the field by almost two seconds from Merlin Ficher of France (1:58.45) and Greek Apostolos Siskos (1:58.81).

John Shortt – who set an Irish senior record of 1:58.65 in prelims – was next through in 1:59.08.

Lorenzo Ballarati led the boys’ 50 free in 22.65 ahead of Leo Verschooten of Belgium (22.79) and Davide Passafaro (22.84).

Ballarati and Passafaro were members of the Italian boys’ 4×100 free quartet that won gold on the opening evening with the latter also taking silver with the mixed freestyle squad.

Casper Puggaard of Denmark dominated the 100 fly in 52.70 with Austria’s Lukas Edl booking lane five in 53.36 and Ethan Dumesnil next through in 53.54.

Dora Molnar – winner of the 100/200 double at last year’s edition in Otopeni – headed the four-length semis in 2:11.40, the Hungarian 1.39secs ahead of Britain’s Holly McGill (2:12.79) with Estella Tonrath Nollgen next in 2:12.88.

Grace Palmer of Belgium led the girls’ 200m breaststroke in 2:25.53 ahead of France’s Justine Delmas (2:26.95) and defending champion Eneli Jefimova (2:27.39).

Netherlands swimmers will be in the centre lanes in the boys’ 200br with Steijn Louter (2:15.20) and Collin Van Der Hoff (2:15.52) the only ones inside 2:16.

Kenneth Bock of Germany was next through in 2:16.85.

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