Sjostrom & Manaudou Unleash Scorching Meet Records On Euro Meet 2020 Day Two In Luxembourg

Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden celebrates after winning in the women's 50m Butterfly Final during the Swimming events at the Gwangju 2019 FINA World Championships, Gwangju, South Korea, 27 July 2019.

Sarah Sjostrom - Photo Courtesy: Patrick B. Kraemer

Sarah Sjostrom unleashed an eye-watering 56.71secs in the 100m butterfly and Florent Manaudou hit the wall after just 21.56secs in the 50 free on the second day of the 22nd Euro Meet 2020 in Luxembourg.

Both were meet records and Sjostrom, who had warmed up with second in the 50m backstroke, then returned to win the 50 free in 24.14 at the National Aquatic Center d’Coque.

There was also a meet mark of 3:32.52 for an Italian quartet in the mixed 4x100m freestyle and Mykhaylo Romanchuk and Giulia Salin both claimed their second titles in the 800m and 1500m freestyle respectively but it was Sjostrom and Manaudou who will have sent some shudders across pool decks around the world.

Sarah Sjostrom – Photo Courtesy: Gian Mattia D’Alberto/LaPresse

Sjostrom, the Olympic 100 fly champion, had served notice with an eye-opening 25.12 in the 50 fly on Friday and a heat time of 57.88.

Out in 26.93 and back in 30.95, the Swede had no rivals bar the clock which she stopped 0.06secs inside her own meet mark from 2018.

Behind her a battle unfolded down the final 50 in which Lisa Hoepink held off Katinka Hosszu by 0.01secs after the Hungarian had blasted a 30.05 second length.

Eyes were on Sjostrom though who was just 0.49secs off the time that guided her to silver at last year’s World Championships behind Canadian Maggie MacNeil‘s 55.83 thunderclap.

Just 25 minutes later and Sjostrom was back on the blocks for the 50 free.

It was all over 24.14secs later as the world-record holder left the field in her slipstream with Silvia Di Pietro second 1.19secs adrift in 25.33.

There was no meet record this time though with Sjostrom’s own mark of 24.01 still standing.

It concluded a medal-laden evening for the 26-year-old who had won silver in the 50 back in 28.21, 0.10secs behind Energy Standard team-mate Georgia Davies.

Florent Manaudou – Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / MIA Rossiya Segodnya

The highly-anticipated men’s 50 free was next up featuring the likes of double world silver medallist Bruno Fratus, Ben Proud – who took bronze behind the Brazilian at the Budapest worlds in 2017 – and 2012 Olympic champion Manaudou.

The Frenchman took just 21.56secs to make his way from start to finish, slicing 0.15 off Proud’s meet record from 2019.

Fratus was next home in 21.77 with Vladislav Bukhov – who set a world junior record in the 50 fly on Friday – in third in 21.97 and Proud locked out in 22.04.

Ivano Vendrame (50.41), Manuel Frigo (49.07), Di Pietro (55.87) and Ilaria Bianchi (57.17) came together to take 1.92 off the mixed 4×100 free mark that had stood since 2016 to a German quartet.

Romanchuk and Salin Again Go The Distance For Victory

Romanchuk and Dan Jervis replicated Friday’s 1500m one-two in the 800m but this time the gap between the pair was just 0.15secs.

(140817) -- Nanjing,Aug 17,2014 (Xinhua) -- Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine celebrates in the final of Men's 400m Freestyle of Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, capital of east China?s Jiangsu Province, on Aug. 17, 2014. (Xinhua/Fei Maohua) (txt)

Mykhaylo Romanchuk – Photo Courtesy: Xinhua/Fei Maohua

Jervis again went out quickly in 56.40 and was still ahead by 0.38 at the halfway point but the Ukrainian made his move and led at the 500m mark.

There was little in it though with Jervis coming back on the final 100 but it was Romanchuk, the double world 1500 silver medallist, who hit the wall first in 7:48.90.

Jervis touched in 7:49.05 – a pair of silver medals in the bag for the Swim Wales athlete whose ability in the water is unquestioned but who admitted to “buckling under the pressure” in the heat of major competition at last year’s World Championships.

Giulia Salin – Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / deepbluemedia

Salin won her second title in as many days as she dominated the 1500m freestyle in 16:35.81 to add to her 800 gold.

The Italian won the European junior title last year in Kazan, Russia, and was second behind Lani Pallister of Australia at the World Junior Championships a month later in Budapest, Hungary.

The 17-year-old was never threatened and finished 10.65secs ahead of second-placed Michaella Glenister, who added silver to her 400IM bronze in 16:46.46.

Her fellow Briton Leah Crisp was third in 16:58.33.

Velimir Stjepanovic, the 2014 European champion, had a commanding win in the 200 free in 1:47.04 ahead of Matt Richards (1:48.83) and Alexandre Marcourt (1:49.21).

Richards won the European 100m junior title last summer as well as 200 silver with the freestyle an intriguing prospect at the British Olympic trials in April where the 17-year-old will join fellow teen Jacob Whittle – the fastest 14-year-old over 100m in history – in facing the likes of Duncan Scott and James Guy.

European champion Charlotte Bonnet dominated the women’s 200m free from start to finish to win in 1:57.41 ahead of Valentine Dumont (1:58.94) and Barbora Seemanova (1:59.65).

Jessica Steiger won the 200m breaststroke after a thrilling duel with Kayla Van Der Merwe in which the lead kept on changing hands.

Van der Merwe, the European junior 100m champion, went out in 33.71 to lead at 50 only for Steiger to take over and turn first at halfway.

Again though Van der Merwe went ahead and led at 150 by 0.18 but Steiger came back on the final length to get her hand to the wall first in 2:27.28, 0.04secs ahead of the Briton with Kim Harkle third in 2:27.66 as the top three were separated by 0.38secs.

Marco Koch, the 2015 world champion, overhauled Giedrius Titenis in the second half of the men’s race to win in 2:11.90 to the Lithuanian’s 2:13.53.

Nicolo Martinenghi sped to the men’s 50m breaststroke in 27.18 ahead of fellow Italian Fabio Scozzoli (27.33) and Imogen Clark took the women’s title in 30.95 – the only sub-31 performance in the field – while Yohann N’Doye Brouard added the men’s 50m backstroke title in 25.44 to his 100m silver.

Results in full

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use