{"id":616392,"date":"2025-07-03T18:48:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T01:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=616392"},"modified":"2025-07-03T22:44:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T05:44:59","slug":"kuzey-tuncelli-claims-hat-trick-of-1500-free-titles-at-european-juniors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/kuzey-tuncelli-claims-hat-trick-of-1500-free-titles-at-european-juniors\/","title":{"rendered":"Kuzey Tuncelli Claims Hat-Trick Of 1500 Free Titles At European Juniors; Luka Hoek le Guenedal Sets Spanish 50 Free Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kuzey Tuncelli Claims Hat-Trick Of 1500 Free Titles At European Juniors; Luka Hoek le Guenedal Sets Spanish 50 Free Record<\/h4>\n

Olympic finalist Kuzey Tuncelli<\/strong> earned his third consecutive 1500m freestyle title with a 14:45.05 victory at the European Junior Championships in Samorin.<\/p>\n

The Turkiye swimmer set a world junior record of 14:41.89 in winning this title in Vilnius last year and lowered it to 14:41.22 in finishing fifth at the Paris 2024 Olympics.<\/p>\n

\"Kuzey

Kuzey Tuncelli: Photo Courtesy: European Aquatics<\/p><\/div>\n

With his focus having been on\u00a0 his preparations for the World Championships in Singapore, and suffering the after-effects of badly bruising his foot in a training accident, the 17-year-old was in clear water as he secured his hat-trick ahead of Germany\u2019s Johannes Liebermann<\/strong> who took silver in 14:53.15, with bronze going to Spain\u2019s Cristobal Vargas Trujillo<\/strong>, who just held off the challenge of Romania\u2019s Andrei-Theodor Proca,<\/strong> 15:11.34 to 15:11.77.<\/p>\n

Now Tuncelli will turn his attention to the defence of his 800m freestyle title.<\/p>\n

\u201cActually it\u2019s a great feeling, coming from training I\u2019m feeling so great about this title,\u201d he told European Aquatics.\u00a0\u201cThis means that my prospects for Singapore are looking better than I thought yesterday. It\u2019s a great time without taper and with an injury so I hope I will be even better in Singapore. It\u2019s so great to have this support from my team-mates and I feel so great with them here cheering for me, I couldn\u2019t do it without them and I want to thank\u00a0them\u00a0so\u00a0much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoek le Guenedal Sets Spanish 50 Free Record; European Junior Mark For Nowacki<\/strong><\/p>\n

Luka Hoek le Guenedal<\/strong> became the first Spanish man to break 22secs in the 50 free when he went 21.99 in the semis. Javier Noriega<\/strong> had held the national record of 22.04 for almost 16 years since the super-suited 2009 worlds. Hoek le Guenedal however sliced 0.05 from that mark to head the semis going into Friday’s final. It followed the 17-year-old’s 48.14 on the leadoff of the mixed 4×1 free relay on Wednesday, inside the national record but unlikely to be recognised as a new standard given it was a mixed lineup.<\/p>\n

The men’s 200 breast semis featured two Championship records in as many races.\u00a0Turkiye\u2019s defending champion Doruk Yogurtcuoglu<\/strong>, won the first race in a personal best and Championship record of 2:10.63, bettering the mark of 2:10.69 set by Anton Chupkov<\/strong>, who went on to win Olympic bronze and world gold.<\/p>\n

Filip Nowacki<\/strong> set a personal best of 2:10.74 in prelims but he dipped inside the 2:10 barrier in the second semi in a time of 2:09.11, a new European junior record. He became eighth all-time British performer and said: “I\u2019m quite speechless to be honest, I wasn\u2019t expecting that time on the board. I knew I had to go fast to make the final as the field is stacked this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s Martine Damborg<\/strong> won two golds in less than an hour,\u00a0Damborg, who won women\u2019s 50m backstroke silver on day two, earned the first of her titles in the 50m freestyle after Croatia\u2019s 2024 silver medallist Jana Pavalic<\/strong>, whom she followed home, was disqualified.<\/p>\n

The Croatian was credited with what would have been a personal best winning time of 24.87, but \u00a0was then ruled to have moved too early at the start and the title went to the 18-year-old Danish swimmer, who had clocked 25.00.\u00a0Neutral athlete Kira Manokhina<\/strong> and Britain\u2019s Theodora Taylor<\/strong>, from lane 2, shared silver after clocking 25.12.<\/p>\n

Damborg re-focused and re-appeared to defend her women\u2019s 100m butterfly title, which she managed comfortably in 58.30, with silver going to Finland\u2019s Aliisa Soini<\/strong> in 58.95 and Poland\u2019s Flawia Kamzol<\/strong> earning bronze in 59.10.<\/p>\n

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Martine Damborg: Photo Courtesy: Istvan Derencsenyi\/European Aquatics<\/p><\/div>\n

Neutral athlete Mikhail Shcherbakov<\/strong> dominated the men\u2019s 200IM final, winning in a personal best and Championship record of 1:59.04, bettering the mark of 1:59.17 held by three-time Olympic champion Tom Dean. <\/strong>Romania\u2019s defending champion Robert-Andrei<\/strong> Badea<\/strong>, had to settle for silver on this occasion as, after narrowing Shcherbakov\u2019s lead to 0.12 at 150m he was unable to match his rival\u2019s final 50, finishing in 2:00.59.\u00a0Bronze went to Iason Routoulas<\/strong> of Greece in 2:01.18.<\/p>\n

Italy won the women\u2019s 4x200m freestyle relay in a Championship and European junior record of 7:56.06 with 14-year-old Alessandra Mao<\/strong> bringing the quartet home in 1:57.53.\u00a0Lithuania took silver in 8:02.15, with bronze going to Great Britain \u2013 who had women\u2019s 400m individual medley champion Amalie Smith<\/strong> on the last leg \u2013 in 8:04.12.<\/p>\n