VALETTA, Malta, July 5. THE opening day of the European Junior Championships got off to a fast start here today when Great Britan's James Goddard went a blistering 4:19.30 to win the 400 IM.
Blistering?
Well, how 'bout these numbers? Goddard's time is a four-second improvement over his old pr of 4:23.82 from the British World Championship Trials at
Manchester last April.
It's a six-second improvement over the 4:25+ he swam a couple of weeks ago during the Scottish Nationals in Glasgow, is a British record and – AND – rockets him into the No. 6 position on the yearly world list.
The old British record was 4:19.90 by Simon Militis, also from the Manchester meet in April. Before that it belonged to former short course world 200 fly record-holder James Hickman, who went a 4:20.17 and captured
the silver medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lampur.
The "world junior record" for swimmers 18 and under would belong to America's Michael Phelps' who clocked 4:15.20 at the U.S. World Championship Trials in Austin in March. Phelps, 15 at the time (he just turned 16),also set a world record in the 200 fly
at that meet and will be seeded No. 1 at Fukuoka.
The European Junior meet is open to men born in 1983 or later and women born in 1984 or later and has been a proving ground for swimmers moving into the upper echelon of inernational competition for more than three decades.
Russia's Dimitri Komornikov's 2:12.18 200 breast win in 1998 is the most impressive swim at an EJC competition, as that time ranked him No. 1 globally for the year. The previous year, his 2:13.42 from the junior championships ranked the then 17-year-old No. 6 for the year.
Last season Komornikov ranked seventh (2:13.09), but that time was good for the gold at the European Championships in Helsinki in his first major senior
international competition.
Goodard's fine IM swim is somewhat analogous to Australia's Jim Piper's several NRs records in the 200 breast that he swam at the East Asian Games in May, then at the Mare Nostrum Series in Barcelona, Canet and Rome last month.
Piper just missed making the plane to Fukuoka at the Aussie Trials in March, but showed he's the best Commonwealth 200 breaststroker in subsequent meets
– and may get a chance to face some of the world's best at the Goodwill Games in September.
The other men's finals here were the 200 free and the 50 backstroke. In the double-century, Russia's 18-year-old Denis Rodkine scored a close 1:51.77-1:51.91 win over Spain's Olaf Wildeboer, with France's Paul-Alain
Kersale (1:52.01) earning the bronze.
In the 50 backstroke it was Hungary's Viktor Bodrogi winning in 26.19 to Ukrain'es Pavlo Illichow's 26.81, with Switzerland's Flori Lang (26.84) third.
In women's competition three finals were held including the 50 breast, won by Austria's fast-improving Mirna Jukic (32.83-33.01 over Slovenia's Tamara Sambrailo); the 200 fly, won by Hungary's Eva Resztov (2:13.91-2:16.91 for Macedonia's Vesna Stojanovska); and the 400 IM, where the gold went to
Romania's Diana Remenyi in a pr 4:48.51 with Hungary's Katalin Molnar (4:51.67) second and Britain's Julia Preston thrid (4:51.80).
Both Remenyi and Preston were born in 1986 while Molnar was born in 1985.
Restov's winnings swim is some three and-a-half seconds slower than her pr-NR of 2:10.39 from the Hungarian Nationals-World Championship Trials last
April in Budapest.
— Bill Bell
2001 EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2001
Valetta, Malta
July 6-10, 2001
50 M
•National Record
MEN'S EVENTS
200 METER FREESTYLE
FINAL
1. Denis Rodkine 1983 RUS 01:51.77
2. Olaf Wildeboer 1983 ESP 01:51.91
3. Paul-Alain Kersale 1984 FRA 01:52.01
4. Luis Monteiro 1983 POR 01:52.33
5. Martin Skacha 1983 CZE 01:53.13
6. Guy-Noel Schmitt 1983 FRA 01:55.36
7. Michal Budny 1984 POL 01:55.39
8. Richard Bryant 1983 GBR 01:56.03
50 METRES BACKSTROKE/DOS
FINAL
1. Viktor Bodrogi 1983 HUN 00:26.19
2. Pavlo Illichov 1983 UKR 00:26.81
3. Flori Lang 1983 SUI 00:26.84
4. Enrico Catalano 1983 ITA 00:26.87
5. Matthew Bowe 1983 GBR 00:27.03
6. Jens Pettersson 1983 SWE 00:27.20
7. Andriy Oleynik 1983 UKR 00:27.24
8. Nathan Oxford 1983 GBR 00:27.46
400 METER IND. MEDLEY
FINAL
1. James Gooddard 1983 GBR 04:19.30
2. Pierre Henri 1983 FRA 04:21.39
3. Vasilios Demetis 1983 GRE 04:22.32
4. Igor Berezutskiy 1984 RUS 04:28.13
5. Lukasz Drzewinski 1984 POL 04:30.55
6. Martin Vrhoysek 1983 SLO 04:31.81
7. Francisco Garcia 1983 ESP 04:33.94
8. Krzysztof Zoldak 1984 POL 04:35.15
400 M FREESTYLE RELAY
FINAL
1. GER 03:26.68
MEEUW, Helge 1984 00:52.04 ; RUETER, Thomas 1983 01:43.32
WELZL, Robert 1983 02:35.73 ; KRUEGER, Leif Marten 1983 03:26.68
2. FRA 03:27.05
MALLET, Gregory 1984 00:52.13 ; CAYETTE, Germain 1983 01:43.52
VANHACK, Clement 1983 02:35.39 ; KERSALE, Paul-Alain 1984 03:27.05
3. RUS 03:28.37
KOROTYCHKINE, Evgueni 1983 00:52.67 ; OUFIMTSEV, Iouri 1983 01:45.45
KIT, Taras 1983 02:37.48 ; SKRYNNIKOV, Maxim 1983 03:28.37
4. ITA 03:28.52
PECCIANTI, Federico 1984 00:52.17 ; ROSSI, Giovanni 1983 01:43.91
BARBINI, Patrizio 1983 02:36.98 ; GALLO, Fabio 1983 03:28.52
5. ESP 03:29.10
CAPELO, Ignacio 1983 00:52.65 ; LOPEZ, Ares 1984 01:45.35
MASIP, David 1984 00:00.00 ; WILDEBOER, Olaf 1983 03:29.10
6. SWE 03:31.45
DORCH, Erik 1983 00:52.58 ; RIEN, Tian 1984 01:45.50
PERSSON, Jonas 1983 02:39.14 ; STYMNE, Petter 1983 03:31.45
7. POL 03:31.76
GEGOTEK, Piotr 1984 00:52.89 ; BUDNY, Michal 1984 01:46.10
MROZ, Grzegorz 1983 02:38.92 ; CZOKOW, Przemyslaw 1983 03:31.76
8. POR 03:32.45
MONTEIRO, Luis 1983 00:52.20 ; FERRO, David 1984 01:44.68
DANTAS, Duarte 1984 02:39.47 ; CARNEIRO, Ivo 1984 03:32.45
WOMEN'S EVENTS
50 METER BREASTSTROKE
FINAL
1. JUKIC, Mirna Jukic 1986 AUT 00:32.83
2. Tamara Samvbrailo 1986 SLO 00:33.01
3. BOEHM, Carolin Boehm 1986 GER 00:33.09
4. Lisa Schoellhammer 1985 GER 00:33.13
5. Belen Domenech 1985 ESP 00:33.32
6. Petra Chocova 1986 CZE 00:33.34
7. Caroline Drab 1985 SWE 00:33.42
Svetlana Beliaeva 1986 RUS DSQ
200 METRES BUTTERFLY
FINAL
1. Eva Resztov 1985 HUN 02:13.91
2. Vesna Stojanovska 1985 MKD 02:16.91
3. Cristina Malagamba 1985 ITA 02:17.22
4. Danai Athanasouli 1985 GRE 02:18.02
5. Christine Neubrech 1985 GER 02:19.28
6. Diana Hegedus 1985 HUN 02:19.58
7. Patrycja Pawlak 1985 POL 02:20.34
8. Frederikke Glesner 1986 DEN 02:20.45
400 METER IND. MEDLEY
FINAL
1. Diana Remenyi 1986 HUN 04:48.51
2. Katalin Molnar 1985 HUN 04:51.67
3. Julia Preston 1986 GBR 04:51.80
4. Katarzyna Siuda 1985 POL 04:56.77
5. Sophie De Ronchi 1985 FRA 04:59.63
6. Franziska Steinmetz 1986 GER 05:02.01
7. Melissa Caballero 1985 ESP 05:02.45
9. Silvie Rybarova 1985 CZE 05:06.79
800 M FREESTYLE RELAY
FINAL
1. HUN 08:19.19
MOLNAR, Viktoria 1985 02:04.71 ; LIPCSEI, Krisztina 1986 04:08.55
MOLNAR, Katalin 1985 06:16.75 ; RESZTOV, Eva 1985 08:19.19
2. RUS 08:20.91
BELIAKINA, Daria 1986 02:05.78 ; MINGAJDINOVA, Dinara 1985 04:12.83
CHORNIKOVA, Polina 1986 00:00.00 ; NASYROVA, Ekaterina 1985 08:20.91
3. GER 08:21.45
LORENZ, Janina 1985 02:07.38 ; KRAUS, Natascha 1985 04:11.72
NOWOTZIN, Silke 1985 06:16.57 ; HACHMANN-THIESSEN, Tanja 1985 08:21.45
4. ITA 08:27.80
SALVADOR, Sylvia 1985 02:05.79 ; TURINI, Agnese 1985 04:12.25
BOGGIATTO, Chiara 1986 06:21.04 ; IOPPI, Roberta 1985 08:27.80
5. SWE 08:28.00
FREDRIKSSON, Malin 1986 02:07.94 ; MATTSSON, Ida 1985 04:12.28
FAGUNDEZ, Gabriella 1985 06:20.78 ; KNUTSSON, Linda 1985 08:28.00
6. GRE 08:28.01
SEREMETAKI, Nikoletta 1986 02:08.08 ; KOSTI, Eleni 1985 04:16.45
PIASTOPOULOU, Joanna 1985 06:26.65 ; DIMOSCHAKI, Zoi 1985 08:28.01
7. FRA 08:30.24
BESCHERON, Emmanuelle 1985 02:06.36 ; QUESADA, Aurelie 1985 04:14.14
LECLERCQ, Pauline 1986 06:21.97 ; CHAUVET, Caroline 1985 08:30.24
8. BEL 08:41.39
COX, Elodie 1985 02:10.75 ; DEVREESE, Sofie 1985 04:21.03
VANHERZEELE, Charlotte 1985 06:32.50 ; VAN BOXEL, Anja 1985 08:41.39
_________________