During the fifth evening of finals at the European Championships, Andriy Govorov set a championship record on his way to victory in the men’s 50 fly, and superstars Adam Peaty and Sarah Sjostrom each hit championship records in semi-finals.
And then, in the most exciting race of the night, hometown hero Duncan Scott pulled off a stunning win in the men’s 200 free final. Russia’s Yulia Efimova also picked up gold in the women’s 200 breast, and Great Britain’s Freya Anderson anchored the British women to gold in the 4×200 free relay.
Read below for an event-by-event recap from Glasgow.
Women’s 1500 Free FINAL
Italy’s Simona Quadarella, already European champion in the 800 free, posted a dominant win in the women’s 1500 free to open the fifth session of finals in Glasgow. Quadarella dealt with an early challenge from Germany’s Sarah Koehler and pulled away to win by more than six seconds.
Quadarella put up a time of 15:51.61, making her the second-fastest swimmer in the world this year behind Katie Ledecky and the eighth-fastest swimmer in history. Koehler was the only other swimmer to crack 16:00, finishing with the silver medal in a time of 15:57.85.
Hungary’s Ajna Kesely took bronze in 16:03.22. Fourth went to Slovenia’s Tjasa Oder in 16:10.46.
Also in the final were Liechtenstein’s Julia Hassler (16:14.15), Spain’s Jimena Perez Blanco (16:16.41), Portugal’s Tamila Hryhorivna Holub (16:26.82) and Germany’s Celine Rieder (16:26.83).
Men’s 50 Fly FINAL
Ukraine’s Andriy Govorov couldn’t touch his own world record set las month, but he still dominated the men’s 50 fly final. Great Britain’s Ben Proud got off to the best start and held a comfortable lead through 25 meters, only for Govorov to swim right by him and win by three tenths.
Govorov touched in 22.48, breaking his own championship record of 22.73 set two years ago. Only Govorov himself (22.27) and Rafael Munoz (22.43) have ever swum quicker.
Proud, last year’s World Champion in the event, finished second in 22.78, and Russia’s Oleg Kostin also broke 23 to claim bronze in 22.97.
Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev finished fourth in 23.19, followed by Poland’s Konrad Czerniak (23.34), the Netherlands’ Nyls Jan Korstanje (23.38), Germany’s Damian Wierling (23.46) and Italy’s Andrea Vergani (23.49).
Women’s 100 Back FINAL
In a reversal of the finish in the 50 back final earlier in the week, Russia’s Anastasia Fesikova took the gold medal in the 100 back, holding off a brilliant late charge from Great Britain’s Georgia Davies. Fesikova touched in 59.19, moving to eighth in the world this year, followed by Davies in a 10th-ranked time of 59.36.
The continental title in the 100 back was the second in Fesikova’s career, 10 years after she first won the event in 2008 (when she was then known as Anastasia Zueva).
Italy’s Carlotta Zofkova took the bronze in 59.61, barely holding off Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu (59.64). Hosszu, who won one of her three Olympic gold medals in the event in 2016, has yet to win a medal this week in Glasgow, with only the 200 IM and 200 back to go.
Italy’s Margherita Panziera (59.71), Denmark’s Mie Nielsen (59.93), Hungary’s Katalin Burian (1:00.05) and the Netherland’s Kira Toussaint (1:00.14) rounded out the top eight.
Men’s 200 Back Semi-Finals
Russia’s Evgeny Rylov, the reigning World Champion and top swimmer in the world in the men’s 200 back, cruised to the top seed in semi-finals in a swift time of 1:55.50. He was almost two seconds off his No. 1-ranked time (1:53.71), but he sits more than two seconds ahead of the field heading into the final.
Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki, the three-time defending European champion in the event, qualified second in 1:57.56, and Russia’s Grigory Tarasevich took third in 1:57.62. Tarasevich qualified second behind Rylov in prelims, locking out Kliment Kolesnikov, world junior record-holder and already the European champion in the 50 and 100 back, due to the two-per-country rule.
Italians Matteo Restivo and Luca Mencarini finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Restivo touched in 1:57.80 and Mencarini just behind in 1:57.83. Also qualifying for the final were Germany’s Christian Diener (1:57.92), Greece’s Apostolos Christou (1:58.14) and Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez (1:58.43).
Women’s 100 Free Semi-Finals
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom tied her own championship record from 2014 in the women’s 100 free semi-finals, touching at 52.67. She improved to fourth in the world rankings behind the trio of Bronte Campbell, Cate Campbell and Simone Manuel.
Sjostrom finished almost seven tenths ahead of the field, with the Netherlands’ Femke Heemskerk qualifying second in 53.35. France’s Charlotte Bonnet, the 200 free European champion, qualified third in 53.55.
Russia’s Mariia Kameneva (53.60), Great Britain’s Freya Anderson (53.90), France’s Marie Wattel (54.12), Denmark’s Signe Bro (54.27) and Italy’s Federica Pellegrini (54.28) also made the final. Pellegrini, the World Champion and world record-holder in the 200 free, skipped her signature event, meaning this will be her lone individual final of the week.
Denmark’s Pernille Blume, ranked No. 5 in the world at 52.72 after winning bronze in the event at last year’s World Championships, shockingly missed the final. Blume split 23.98 for the first 50 meters, but she inexplicably touched the wall instead of flipping. She tried to keep up with the field on the second 50 but could not, and she ended up finishing 10th in 54.74.
Men’s 50 Breast Semi-Finals
Great Britain’s Adam Peaty was in the middle of the pack of his semi-final heat at the 25-meter mark, but he unleashed on the field over the back half and won the race in 26.23, more than a half-second ahead of the field. Peaty’s time broke his own championship record of 26.50 set in the morning prelims.
Peaty’s time is the fourth-fastest performance in history, and no other man has ever been quicker.
Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli qualified second in 26.80, and Serbia’s Caba Siladji also broke 27 with a 26.99. Slovenia’s Peter John Stevens qualified fourth in 27.08.
Other finalists will include Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich (27.09), the Netherlands’ Ties Elzerman (27.15), Germany’s Fabien Schwingenschlogl (27.16) and Russia’s Kirill Prigoda (27.17).
Women’s 200 Breast FINAL
Russia’s Yulia Efimova toyed with the field over the first 100 meters, as she often does, and then she turned on the jets as the rest of the field could not keep pace. Efimova won the title in 2:21.31, not far off her own world No. 1-ranked time of 2:20.72.
Spain’s Jessica Vall Montero claimed silver in 2:23.02, and Great Britain’s Molly Renshaw took bronze in 2:23.43, much to the delight of the partisan Glasgow crowd. Spain’s Marina Garcia Urzainqui just missed the medals with a fourth-place time of 2:23.63.
Denmark’s Rikke Moeller Pedersen, the world record-holder, finished fifth in 2:24.73, followed by Belgium’s Fanny Lecluyse (2:26.01) and Germany’s Jessica Steiger (2:27.66). Great Britain’s Chloe Tutton was disqualified.
Men’s 200 Free FINAL
Great Britain’s Duncan Scott barely snuck into the 200 free final, but the home favorite unleashed a massive swim out of lane eight to take the title. After a slow start, Scott moved up to flip dead-even with Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys at the 150 before blasting a 26.87 closing split to hit the wall in 1:45.34. Scott’s time made him the second-fastest swimmer in the world this year.
The bigger shocker, perhaps, was Rapsys fading to second after setting the world’s fastest time earlier this year at 1:45.12 and then swimming a 1:45.33 in the semi-finals, both faster than Scott’s swim in the final. Rapsys ended up barely hanging on for a silver medal, swimming a time of 1:46.07.
Just behind Rapsys was Russia’s Mikhail Dovgalyuk, who claimed bronze in 1:46.15. 2015 World Champion James Guy of Great Britain just missed the medals, finishing fourth in 1:46.20.
Italy’s Felippo Megli took fifth in 1:46.60, and the rest of the final will include Russia’s Mikhal Vekovishchev (1:46.79), Serbia’s Velimir Stjepanovic (1:47.00) and Germany’s Jacob Heidtmann (1:47.26).
Women’s 200 IM Semi-Finals
Great Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor was the only swimmer to crack 2:10 in the women’s 200 IM semi-finals. Her time of 2:09.80 matches her own season-best time, which ranks fifth in the world this year.
O’Connor, the Olympic silver medalist, set up a showdown with the woman who defeated her two years ago in Rio, Katinka Hosszu. The Hungarian, still looking for her first medal of the week, touched in 2:10.49. Hosszu currently ranks seventh in the world at 2:10.07.
Italy’s Ilaria Cusinato qualified third in 2:10.77, good for No. 9 in the world rankings. Switzerland’s Matia Ugolkova (2:11.41) was fourth, followed by Turkey’s Viktoria Zeynep Gunes (2:12.73), Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakobos (2:12.96), Great Britain’s Aimee Willmott (2:13.09) and France’s Fantine Lasaffre (2:13.13).
Women’s 4×200 Free Relay FINAL
One day after she anchored the British mixed 4×100 medley relay to victory, teenager Freya Anderson was again pressed into a key spot on relay duty, and she delivered. Anderson, 17, delivered a split of 1:56.00, the fastest in the race, to come from behind, pass France and hold off a strong charge from Germany to take gold.
The British team of Eleanor Faulkner (1:59.25), Kathryn Greenslade (1:57.94), Holly Hibbott (1:58.45)and Anderson combined to swim a time of 7:51.65.
Russia’s Valeriia Salamantina, Anna Egorova, Arina Openysheva and Anastasia Guzhenkova finished second in 7:52.87. Bronze went to the German team of Reva Foos, Isabel Marie Gose, Sarah Koelher and Anika Bruhn in 7:53.76.
France, with 200 free European champion Charlotte Bonnet swimming the second leg, ended up fading to fourth in 7:53.86. Bonnet swam under 1:56 in the individual 200 free final, but she only managed a 1:56.23 split on the relay.
Also competing in the final were Spain (8:02.04), the Netherlands (8:02.94), Denmark (8:04.43) and Poland (8:04.51).
