by Jason Marsteller

23 August 2014, 06:50am

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

BERLIN, Germany, August 23. Tough double by Mireia Belmonte Garcia as the Spanish swimmer put on a show tonight at the European Championships.

Scheduled Events

• Women’s 1500 free final
• Women’s 50 breast semis
• Men’s 100 fly final
• Women’s 200 free final
• Men’s 50 free semis
• Women’s 50 back final
• Men’s 200 back final
• Women’s 200 fly semis
• Men’s 50 breast final
• Women’s 50 free semis
• Men’s 800 free relay final

LIVE STREAM

LIVE RESULTS

FINALS

Women’s 1500 free

Photo Courtesy: USA Today Sports

Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia put on a show in the women’s 1500 free this evening to opening the night off as she raced to a 15:57.29.  That swim undercut the previous meet record of 15:58.54 set by Switzerland’s Flavia Rigamonti back in 2008, and just beat Belmonte Garcia’s second-ranked 15:58.03 from Spanish Nationals.  She still has another 20-odd seconds to drop to catch the world record of Katie Ledecky (15:34.23) from earlier this summer, but she’s on the right path.

Belmonte Garcia’s Splits:

30.43 (4)
30.43 1:03.23 (5)
32.80 1:35.74 (4)
32.51 2:08.40 (4)
32.66 2:40.45 (4)
32.05 3:12.79 (4)
32.34 3:45.08 (4)
32.29 4:17.56 (4)
32.48 15:57.29
30.58 CR
4:49.79 (3)
32.23 5:22.03 (3)
32.24 5:53.95 (2)
31.92 6:26.22 (2)
32.27 6:58.11 (2)
31.89 7:30.48 (2)
32.37 8:02.37 (2)
31.89 8:34.50 (2)
32.13
9:06.13 (2)
31.63 9:38.22 (1)
32.09 10:10.11 (1)
31.89 10:42.16 (1)
32.05 11:13.73 (1)
31.57 11:45.60 (1)
31.87 12:17.23 (1)
31.63 12:48.96 (1)
31.73
13:20.39 (1)
31.43 13:52.04 (1)
31.65 14:23.64 (1)
31.60 14:55.38 (1)
31.74 15:26.71 (1)
31.33

Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas (16:03.04), Italy’s Martina Rita Caramignoli (16:05.98), Slovenia’s Tjasa Oder (16:11.17), Italy’s Aurora Ponsele (16:13.20), Germany’s Isabelle Haerle (16:17.55), Spain’s Maria Vilas Vidal (16:22.48) and Lichtenstein’s Julia Hassler (16:26.37) also competed this evening.

Men’s 100 fly

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

Poland’s Konrad Czerniak downed the meet record in the men’s 100 fly finale with a time of 51.38, smoking the rest of the field by half-a-second.  That time clipped Milorad Cavic’s meet mark of 51.45 from 2012, and jumped Czerniak from sixth in the world (51.58) to fourth behind Michael Phelps (51.17), Tom Shields (51.29) and Chad le Clos (51.29).

Czerniak’s Splits:

24.03 (1) 51.38
27.35

Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh raced his way to second in 51.89, while Belarus’ Pavel Sankovich (51.92) and Great Britain’s Adam Barrett (51.95) also cleared 52 seconds in the finale.  Cseh moved up to a 15th-ranked tie in the world rankings with his swim this evening.

Germany’s Steffen Deibler (52.01), Poland’s Pavel Korzeniowski (52.15), The Netherlands’ Joeri Verlinden (52.17) and Russia’s Nikita Konovalov (52.40) also competed in the championship heat.

Women’s 200 free

Photo Courtesy: br1dotcom

Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, the world record holder with a 1:52.98 from 2009, as well as meet-record holder with a 1:55.45 from 2010, showed she still has some life in her career with a win in the 200-meter freestyle tonight.  And, she had to go through the Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu to do it.

In the end, Pellegrini touched in 1:56.01 for gold to move to seventh in the world rankings, while Hosszu claimed her first silver of the meet with a 1:56.69.  That give Hosszu three golds, a silver and a bronze so far in what has been an ambitiously-scheduled week in Berlin.

Pellegrini’s Splits:

27.52 (4) 56.78 (3)
29.26 1:26.47 (1)
29.69 1:56.01
29.54

The Netherlands’ Femke Heemskerk hit the wall third in 1:56.81, while Spain’s Melanie Costa Schmid also beat 1:57 with a fourth-place 1:56.92.

Russia’s Veronika Popova (1:57.20), Sweden’s Michelle Coleman (1:57.65), France’s Charlotte Bonnet (1:58.22) and Bulgaria’s Nina Rangelova (1:58.56) also vied for the continental title in the finale.

Women’s 50 back

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

It took a touchout by the slimmest of margins, but Great Britain’s Fran Halsall clipped teammate Georgia Davies, 27.81 to 27.82, for the sprint backstroke title.  That’s an upset for Halsall as Davies is currently ranked second in the world with a 27.56 from the Commonwealth Games, while Halsall had not cleared 28 seconds yet this year.  Halsall moved up to fifth in the world with her swim.

Denmark’s Mie Nielsen (27.87), and Spain’s Mercedes Peris Minguet (27.98) also touched faster than 28 seconds for third and fourth in the finale.

Italy’s Arianna Barbieri (28.36), Belarus’ Aliaksandra Herasimenia (28.37), Italy’s Elena Gemo (28.59) and Russia’s Daria Ustinova (28.63) rounded out the top eight.

Men’s 200 back

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

It took a lightning fast backhalf set of splits of 28.53 and 29.00, but Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki was able to reel in Germany’s Christian Diener for the win.  Diener went out fast, leading at the 150-meter mark, 1:26.84 to 1:27.02, but Kawecki overhauled him down the stretch to win by more than a second, 1:56.02 to 1:57.16.

Kawecki jumped from 11th in the world (1:56.4%) to eighth with his swim this evening.

Kawecki’s Splits:

28.63 (7) 58.49 (6)
29.86 1:27.02 (2)
28.53 1:56.02
29.00

Hungary’s Gabor Balog clipped teammate Peter Bernek, 1:57.42 to 1:57.47, for the third spot on the podium.

Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys (1:57.68), France’s Ben Stasiulis (1:58.30), Germany’s Jan-Philip Glania (1:58.84) and Italy’s Luca Mencarini (1:58.92) finished fifth through eighth.

Men’s 50 breast

Photo Courtesy: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com

After setting the world on fire last night with a world-record time of 26.62 during semis, Great Britain’s Adam Peaty focused on the next task at hand – a European title.  He accomplished that tonight with a 27.00 for the win, well ahead of the rest of the pack.

Lithuania’s Giedrius Titenis edged Slovenia’s Damir Dugonjic for silver, 27.34 to 27.48, while Serbia’s Caba Siladji placed fourth in 27.50.

Russia’s Andrey Nikolaev (27.53), Italy’s Andrea Toniato (27.53), France’s Giacomo Perez-Dortona (27.54) and Germany’s Hendrik Feldwehr (27.72) also swam in the finale.

Men’s 800 free relay

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY

The partisan fans went home happy as the foursome of Robin Backhaus, Yannick Lebherz, Clemens Rapp and Paul Biedermann delivered a gold medal with a 7:09.00 on the back of a sizzling 1:44.95 anchor leg from Biedermann.

Germany’s Splits:

BACKHAUS Robin – 1:48.52
LEBHERZ Yannick – 1:48.73
RAPP Clemens – 1:46.80
BIEDERMANN Paul – 1:44.95

Russia’s Artem Lobuzov (1:48.18), Dmitry Ermakov (1:47.90), Alexander Krasnyckh (1:47.19) and Alexander Sukhorukov (1:47.02) had a pretty consistent set of swims to take silver in 7:10.29, while Belgium’s Louis Croenen (1:48.41), Glenn Surgeloose (1:48.56), Emmanuel Vanluchene (1:48.25) and Pieter Timmers (1:45.17) touched third in 7:10.39.

France (7:10.81), The Netherlands (7:11.59), Italy (7:12.24), Spain (7:15.80) and Poland (7:16.00) filled out the rest of the finale.

SEMIFINALS

Women’s 50 breast

Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Youth Olympic Games

Olympic gold medalist Ruta Meilutyte is young enough jet lag really doesn’t mean anything to her.  The Lithuanian youngster, literally right off the plane from winning two golds at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, dropped a stunning 29.88 in the sprint breaststroke semis tonight.  That swim beat Yuliya Efimova’s meet record of 30.29 from the 2010 edition, and is just half-a-second off Meilutyte’s world record of 29.48.

Sweden’s Jennie Johansson (30.74), Germany’s Dorothea Brandt (30.83), The Netherlands’ Moniek Nijhuis (30.98), Czech’s Petra Chocova (31.09), Ireland’s Fiona Doyle (31.30) and Iceland’s Hilda Luthersdottir (31.31) also made the finale, while Denmark’s Rikke Moeller Pedersen and Ukraine’s Mariya Liver set up a swimoff with eighth-place 31.32s.

Men’s 50 free

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY

France’s Florent Manaudou was far and away the top swimmer in semis with a 21.57 for the top seed. That swim isn’t too far off Fred Bousquet’s meet record of 21.36 from 2010, and moved Manaudou up to fifth in the world rankings this year.  Manaudou may be able to challenge both the meet record and Cesar Cielo’s world-leading 21.39 from the Maria Lenk Trophy meet during finals tomorrow night.

Two other swimmers broke 22 seconds with Great Britain’s Ben Proud (21.94) and Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev (21.96) qualifying second and third in the splash-and-dash.

Ukraine’s Andriy Govorov (22.02), Poland’s Konrad Czerniak (22.06), Russia’s Andrey Grechin (22.06), Finland’s Ari-Pekka Liukkonen (22.10) and Italy’s Marco Orsi (22.15) also grabbed transfer spots into the championships.

Women’s 200 fly

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia followed up her victory in the women’s 1500-meter freestyle with a bit of a victory lap in the 200-meter fly semifinals.  She hit the wall in 2:06.53 for the top time out of the semis, just off her second-ranked season best of 2:06.33 from Spanish Nationals.

Belmonte Garcia’s Splits:

29.23 (3) 1:02.06 (5)
32.83 1:34.54 (3)
32.48 2:06.53
31.99

Belmonte Garcia will have her work cut out for her in the finale as the field is loaded.  Teammate Judit Ignacio Sorribes touched second in 2:07.44 with Switzerland’s Martina van Berkel placing third in 2:08.45.  Katinka Hosszu of Hungary picked up another finals swim with a fourth-place 2:08.83, while Italy’s Stefania Pirozzi took fifth in 2:08.96.

Germany’s Franziska Hentke (2:09.03), Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakabos (2:09.19) and Italy’s Alessia Polieri (2:10.31) will also vie for the title in the finale.

Women’s 50 free

Photo Courtesy: Joao Marc Bosch

Although the Aussies might have one of the deepest single-national sprint groups in the world, the European top eight this year is one of the best you could find.  With Fran Halsall (23.96) and Sarah Sjostrom (23.98) both ranked 1-2 in the world with sub-24 second swims this year, tomorrow’s finale has a chance to be special.

Sjostrom led the way out of the semis with a 24.39 in the second semi, while Halsall touched in 24.45 for the second seed in the splash-and-dash.

Denmark’s Jeanette Ottesen (24.55), Germany’s Dorothea Brandt (24.60), The Netherlands’ Inge Dekker (24.86), Russia’s Elizaveta Bazarova (24.94), Sweden’s Therese Alshammar (24.99) and France’s Anna Santamans (25.03) will also compete in the finale.

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