THREE European Junior records wre broken on Day Two of the European junior Championships in Dunkerque, France, bringing to nine the total that have been broken thus far.
Croatia's Duje Dragonja breezed to a record in winning the men 50 meter freestyle in 22.68. Israel's Vered Borchovsky set her record of 27.00 in the prelims of the women's 50 fly, winning the event in finals in 27.30. And Viktor Bodrogi of Hungary eked out a win–and a junior record–for himself in taking the 200 back in 2:00.22.
Three swimmers notched their second gold medal of the meet. Germany's Desiree Mahle took the women's 200 breast in 2:31.04, to go along with her win in the 50 yesterday.
Kvetoslav Svoboda, the pride of the Czech Republic, won the 400 free in 3:53.40, though it did not comes as easy as his victory yesterday in the 200. Svoboda just missed Massi Rosolino's 1995 European Junior record of 3:52.96.
Hungary's Eva Risztov took the 800 free in a see-saw battle with Ukraine's Olga Beresnyeva, nipping her rival 8:36.54 to 8:36.73. Risztov took a lead of more than two seconds on the first 100 meters, then saw it dwindle with each passing lap. At 400 meters, the Ukrainian grabbed the lead at 4:18.34, 26-hundredths ahead of Risztov. Beresnyeva kept extending her lead and by 700 meters had amassed a margin of more than two seconds. But Risztov came roaring back with a 1:01.37 final 100. Beresnyeva tried to respond, but her 1:03.60 split just wasn't fast enough.
The men's 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay saw Russia and Germany battle head-to-head all the way. Russia held a narrow lead the entire race, and hung on to win in 7:31.33, with Germany three-tenths back.