During the sixth evening of finals at the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow, Russia’s Evgeny Rylov posted an impressive European record in the men’s 200 back, while Sarah Sjostrom, Adam Peaty and Katinka Hosszu all claimed individual gold medals.
In semi-final action, Ben Proud recorded perhaps the most stunning swim of the day when he became the third-fastest man in history in the 50 free and the fastest-ever in a textile suit.
Read below event-by-event coverage from Scotland.
Men’s 800 Free FINAL
Ukraine’s Mykhailo Romanchuk won gold in the 400 free to open his European Championships but was beaten by German Florian Wellbrock in the 1500. Romanchuk made his way back to the top of the podium in the 800, putting up a time of 7:42.96 that makes him the fastest swimmer in the world this year. Previously, the USA’s Zane Grothe held that top spot at 7:44.57.
Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri took second in 7:45.12, holding off an impressive last 50 from Wellbrock. Wellbrock took bronze in 7:45.60, and those two remain No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, in the world rankings.
Norway’s Henrik Christiansen put up a strong effort from lane eight, but he ended up fourth in 7:46.75. Other finalists included the Czech Republic’s Jan Micka (7:49.73), Italy’s Domenico Acerenza (7:51.64), France’s Damien Joly (7:56.75) and Croatia’s Marin Mogic (7:58.03).
Women’s 100 Free FINAL
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom picked up her third gold medal of the European Championships in the women’s 100 free, even if she didn’t swim anywhere close to her best. Sjostrom, who holds the world record at 51.71 and tied her own championship record at 52.67 in the semi-finals, went out quick and held on to win in 52.93.
The Netherlands’ Femke Heemskerk finished quickly to take silver in 53.23, followed by France’s Charlotte Bonnet for bronze in 53.35.
Great Britain’s Freya Anderson, who has anchored two relays to gold this week, finished fourth in 53.61, smashing her own European junior record of 53.88.
Italy’s Federica Pellegrini, the world record-holder in the 200 free, finished fifth in her only individual final of the week, touching in 54.04. Also in the final were Russia’s Mariia Kameneva (54.07), France’s Marie Wattel (54.52) and Denmark’s Signe Bro (54.56).
Men’s 50 Breast FINAL
After setting a world record in the 100 breast earlier in the week, Great Britain’s Adam Peaty won gold in the 50 breast by seven-tenths. Peaty failed to take gold in the 50 breast earlier this year at the Commonwealth Games, finishing second behind Cameron van der Burgh, but he was back in sizzling form in Glasgow.
Peaty touched in 26.09, 14-hundredths off his own world record of 25.95. That broke his championship record of 26.23 from Tuesday’s semi-finals. The time was the third-fastest performance in history, and no one else has ever been quicker than 26.52. Peaty was nearly dead even with the field after 25 meters, but he left the rest of the field in the dust after that.
Italy’s Fabio Scozzoli was the best of the rest, touching in 26.79. Scozzoli has been just a bit quicker this year, ranking third in 26.73. Bronze went to Slovenia’s Peter John Stevens in 27.06.
Russia’s Kirill Prigoda (27.18) and Serbia’s Caba Siladji (27.20) just missed medals. The Netherlands’ Tie Elzerman (27.24), Germany’s Fabien Schwingenschlogl (27.29) and Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich (27.32) also swam in the heat.
Women’s 200 Back Semi-Finals
Italy’s Margherita Panziera finished ahead of Hungary’s Katalin Burian in the first semi-final of the women’s 200 back, and those two will again swim next to each other in the final as the top two seeds. Panziera, who owns a sixth-ranked season-best time of 2:07.16, touched just off that in 2:07.27, while Burian moved into a tie for eighth in the world with her time of 2:07.65.
Russia’s Daria Ustinova won semi-final No. 2 to qualify third in 2:08.19, followed by the German duo of Jenny Mensing (2:08.92) and Lisa Graf (2:09.32).
Russia’s Anastasiia Andeeva finished sixth in 2:09.54, followed by Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina (2:11.17) and Spain’s Africa Zamorano Sanz (2:11.69).
Men’s 50 Free Semi-Finals
Great Britain’s Ben Proud became the third-fastest performer in history in the men’s 50 free, swimming a time of 21.11 in the European Championships semi-finals. Only Cesar Cielo (20.91) and Fred Bousquet (20.94) have ever been quicker.
Proud moved past Caeleb Dressel’s winning time from last year’s World Championships (21.15) as the fastest ever in textile. He also broke Florent Manaudou’s championship record of 21.32 from 2014. And Proud might have more in the tank for the final, especially after a long finish which could have cost him a couple hundredths.
Italy’s Andrea Vergani qualified second behind Proud in 21.37, and Russia’s Vladimir Morozov qualified third in 21.44. The duo improved to third and fourth, respectively, in the world this year.
Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev qualified fourth in 21.52, followed by Poland’s Pawel Juraszek (21.67), Finland’s Ari-Pekka Liukkonen (21.96) and the Netherlands’ Jesse Puts (22.02). There will be a swim-off for the last spot in the final between Lithuania’s Simonas Bilis and Ukraine’s Andriy Govorov, the 50 fly European champion. Both swam times of 22.04 in semis.
In the swim-off, Govorov got off to the better start, only for Bilis to battle back and touch him out, 21.70 to 21.74, and claim the finals spot.
Women’s 50 Fly Semi-Finals
Sarah Sjostrom didn’t have to come close to her 50 fly world or championship records to take the top seed into Thursday’s final. Sjostrom, about 40 minutes after winning the 100 free, swam a time of 25.51 — compared to her world record of 24.43 from 2014 and her championship record of 24.87.
France’s Melanie Henique qualified second in 25.68, and Belgium’s Kimberly Buys was third in 25.76. Also breaking 26 were Denmark’s Emilie Beckmann (25.86) and the Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo (25.95).
The other three finalists will be Germany’s Aleina Schmidtke (26.09), Poland’s Anna Dowgiert (26.14) and Greece’s Anna Ntountounaki (26.22).
Men’s 100 Fly Semi-Finals
Laszlo Cseh will be almost four years older than any other man in the 100 fly final Thursday evening, but he will also enter with the fastest qualifying time. Cseh swam a time of 51.65 to top a relatively sluggish semi-final. He finished two-hundredths ahead of Russia’s Aleksandr Sadovnikov (51.67).
Poland’s Konrad Czerniak qualified third in 51.74, ahead of two men who claimed medals in the event at last year’s World Champs: Hungary’s Kristof Milak (51.76) and Great Britain’s James Guy (51.78).
The final will also include Russia’s Egor Kuimov (51.95), France’s Mehdy Metella (51.97) and Italy’s Piero Codia (52.02).
Women’s 50 Breast Semi-Finals
Russia’s Yulia Efimova will be favored for a European Championships breaststroke sweep come Thursday evening when she enters the 50 breast final as heavy favorite. After winning gold already in the 100 and 200 breast, Efimova swam a time of 29.66 in the semis, breaking Ruta Meilutyte’s championship record (29.88) from 2014.
Efimova is the third-fastest swimmer in history at 29.52, and she has an outside shot at challenging Lilly King’s world record (29.40) or Meilutyte’s European record (29.48) in the final.
Great Britain’s Imogen Clark, just 19 years old, qualified second in 30.04, and Lithuania’s Meilutyte was third in 30.38. Meilutyte finished just two-hundredths ahead of Italy’s Arianna Castiglioni (30.40).
Also qualifying for the final were Finland’s Ida Hulkko (30.53), Russia’s Natalia Ivaneeva (30.56), Italy’s Martina Carraro (30.70) and Sweden’s Sophie Hansson (30.72).
Men’s 200 Back FINAL
There was never any doubt that Russia’s Evgeny Rylov would win the European title in the men’s 200 back, and he did not disappoint. The World Champion in the event last year, Rylov put up a time of 1:53.36, improving upon his own European record of 1:53.61 from 2017.
Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki picked up a silver medal as he touched in 1:56.07. Kawecki had won the previous three European titles in the event. The bronze medal went to Italy’s Matteo Restivo in 1:56.29.
Germany’s Christian Diener took fourth in 1:57.05, just ahead of Greece’s Apostolos Christou (1:57.09). The other finalists included Russia’s Grigory Tarasevich (1:57.37), Italy’s Luca Mencarini (1:57.71) and Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez (1:59.09).
Notably, the final was missing Kliment Kolesnikov, who owns the world junior record at 1:55.14. That time would have been good enough for silver, but Kolesnikov was the third-fastest Russian in prelims, behind Rylov and Tarasevich, locking him out of the semi-finals.
Women’s 200 IM FINAL
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu will leave the European Championships in Glasgow with just one medal, but it will be a gold. Hosszu fought off a surprising finish from Italy’s Ilaria Cusinato for her fifth-straight continental title in the 200 IM.
Hosszu touched in 2:10.17, a full four seconds off her world record (2:06.12) but plenty fast enough for gold. Cusinato swam a sterling time of 2:10.25 to take silver, and Switzerland’s Maria Ugolkova claimed bronze in 2:10.83.
The most surprising story of the race was Great Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor taking fourth in 2:10.85. O’Connor just missed bronze by two-hundredths, but she swam a full second slower than her semi-final time of 2:09.80. If she had merely repeated that mark in the final, she would have easily claimed gold.
France’s Fantine Lasaffre, the European champion in the 400 IM, took fifth in 2:11.71, followed by Turkey’s Viktoria Zeynep Gunes (2:12.17), Great Britain’s Aimee Willmott (2:13.13) and Hungary’s Zsuzsanna Jakobos (2:13.37).
Mixed 4×100 Free Relay FINAL
To close out the second-to-last night of the European Championships, France took gold in the mixed 4×100 free relay. The team of Jeremy Stravius (48.81), Mehdy Metella (47.45), Marie Wattel (53.47) and Charlotte Bonnet (52.34) combined to record a time of 3:22.07, smashing the championship record of 3:23.64 set by the Netherlands in 2016.
Bonnet recorded the fastest split by any female swimmer, while Metella’s split was the second-quickest among men, behind Italy’s Alessandro Miressi (47.38).
The Netherlands’ Nyls Jan Korstanje, Stan Johannes Pinjenburg, Femke Heemskerk and Ranomi Kromowidjojo took second in 3:24.50. Heemskerk paced the team with a 52.62 split. The Russian quarter of Kliment Kolesnikov, Vladislav Grinev, Mariia Kameneva and Arina Openysheva earned the bronze in 3:24.50, with Grinev splitting 47.69.
Italy (3:24.94), Germany (3:26.59), Hungary (3:29.30), Poland (3:29.62) and Israel (3:29.73) completed the final.
