European Championships, Day 3 Finals: Kliment Kolesnikov Wins 100 Free In CR 47.37; Gold For Romanchuk & Hansson
Kliment Kolesnikov claimed his third gold of the meet in the 100 free in a championship record of 47.37 and Sophie Hansson won the 100 breaststroke as defending champion Yulia Efimova was locked out of the podium at the European Championships in Budapest.
Kristof Milak thundered to the second-fastest 200 fly in history in 1:51.10 to claim gold ahead of Federico Burdisso and Tamas Kenderesi of which more here.
Kolesnikov took 0.13 off Alain Bernard’s championship mark 0f 47.50 from Eindhoven in 2008 with defending champion Alessandro Miressi also inside the Frenchman’s old mark in an Italian record of 47.45 as Andrei Minakov made it a Russian one-three.
However, there was a huge shock when Kolesnikov returned less than 15 minutes later for the 100 back semis and failed to make the final.
Hansson matched the Swedish record of 1:05.69 she set in the semis for gold ahead of Italian pair Arianna Castiglioni – who came from eighth at halfway – and Martina Carraro with Efimova fourth.
Mykhaylo Romanchuk won the 1500 free to snap a streak of second-place finishes in the longest event in the pool, his joy evident as he sat on the lane ropes and beat the water.
Behind him, Olympic champion Gregorio Paltrinieri and Domenico Acerenza claimed an Italian two-three.
Russia won the men’s 4×200 free relay in a championship record 7:03.48 ahead of Britain and Italy.
European record-holder Kira Toussaint won the 50 back in 27.36 ahead of Britain’s Kathleen Dawson (27.46) with Maaike de Waard making it a Netherlands one-three in 27.74.
Kliment Kolesnikov Claims Third Gold
Miressi had booked lane four in a semi-final swim and Italian record of 47.53 – matching Kolesnikov’s heat time – with Minakov and Kolesnikov on either side.
Alain Bernard’s European record of 47.12 has stood since the 2009 World Championships at the height of the super-suit era and the Frenchman’s championship record of 47.50 was set in Eindhoven in March 2008.
Photo Courtesy: MIKE LEWIS / ISL
Kolesnikov went out in 22.50 – 0.2 ahead of Miressi in second – and a second 50 of 24.87 propelled him to victory despite the Italian coming back at him on the second 50.
Miressi’s time of 47.45 was another Italian record and also inside Bernard’s championship mark with Minakov making it a Russian one-three in 47.74.
Kolesnikov had to dash off to prepare for the 100 back semi – in which he came 16th despite looking on course for a go at the European record.
He returned to say of the 100 free:
“After the semi-finals I was trying to understand my mistakes since my time was worse then I had in the prelims.
“I decided to start faster like I had done at our Russian nationals, I haven’t seen my 50m split yet but I think I made that goal because I saw the other swimmers were behind me.”
Of his backstroke semi, the 20-year-old said:
“As for the problems with the 100m back, I was just tired. It’s something that can happen to you. It was our common decision with my coach to swim the back as we hoped I could do it.
“It turned out that I could not at this moment. Anyway, we are not giving up the idea for the Olympics but we will work more on it.”
Alessandro Miressi; Photo Courtesy: eepbluemedia/Giorgio Scala
Miressi said:
“I tried to give my best, I decided to swim my race and not to look at the others.
“I’m really content with the progress I’ve been making along the way and I’m very happy with this silver medal.”
It was a second medal of the meet for Minakov who was part of the Russian 4×100 free that took gold and he said:
“I did not prepare for this championships particularly, we have a busy schedule here.
“I’m really happy with this medal, I think my speed is promising at this stage.”
Milak Writes Another Entry In The Record Books
Milak won his first senior title at the 2018 Europeans in Glasgow and a year later claimed gold at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju with a world record of 1:50.73 that obliterated the mark of 1:51.51 held by Michael Phelps since the 2009 worlds.
The 21-year-old qualified second for the final behind fellow Hungarian Tamas Kenderesi, who won silver in Glasgow.
He had a lead of 0.07 at halfway over Burdisso before accelerating with a 28.64 third 50 and was 0.19 outside his world record at the final turn.
In Gwangju, he powered to a 29.16 final 50 and in Budapest he turned in 29.34 to touch in 1:51.10, his face initially showing little expression before a wag of the finger and a smile spread over his face.
Kristof Milak: Photo Courtesy: Hungarian Swimming Federation
Burdisso turned Glasgow bronze into silver in 1:54.28 with Kenderesi moving from fourth at 150 to overhaul Antani Ivanov and take bronze in 1:54.43.
Ivanov’s time of 1:54.50 was a Bulgarian record.
Milak was almost sick through nerves in the call room – something he attributed to not feeling on top form.
He added:
“Throughout the race I just wanted to control the technical part, I saw the Italian guy turning behind me before the last 50m so I thought my finish will be OK though I didn’t have any idea where we stood with the times.
“Well, at the end it turned out to be 1.51.1, so I cannot complain.”
Gold At Last For Romanchuk
Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
Paltrinieri found himself in the unaccustomed position of swimming from lane one after qualifying seventh with Romanchuk and Damien Joly occupying the centre lanes.
It was the first 1500 final at an international meet of this kind since the 2019 worlds when Florian Wellbrock took gold ahead of Romanchuk and Paltrinieri.
In the German’s absence from the pool, as he instead competed in just the open water, a new champion was to be crowned.
Paltrinieri, the Olympic champion, went out in 55.88 and was more than two seconds ahead of Henrik Christiansen and Romanchuk at 200.
Romanchuk closed the gap to 0.47 at 300 with clear water between the pair and the rest of the field with the Ukrainian taking a 0.12 lead at 400 with Christiansen a further 3.55 adrift.
Romanchuk went to his legs, attempting to put some light between himself and the Italian, and at halfway he was 0.79 ahead.
That was extended to 0.84 at the 1000m mark, 0.97 at 1200 and with four lengths to go, he was 1.63 ahead.
Romanchuk turned at 1400 in 13:43.01, 2:08secs ahead, and came home to finally take gold ahead of Paltrinieri (14:
The Ukrainian claimed silver at the last two World Championships as well as the previous Europeans in Glasgow in 2018 but today was all about gold.
Gregorio Paltrinieri: Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant
Paltrinieri was second in 14:42.91 with Acerenza taking bronze in 14:54.36.
Romanchuk said:
“I’m very happy with this result, especially because I didn’t swim the 1500m for two years.
“I’m so happy with this, we did a lot of work but there is still more work to do in order to be the best there.”
Paltrinieri had switched to the pool from the open water where he won three golds, a programme he plans to undertake at the Olympics where the pool programme comes first.
He acknowledged the open water may have taken its toll, saying:
“I tried start off strong and see how it goes. Somewhere halfway I started feeling tiredness, probably because of the open water races last week.
“For now, 14:42 is a very good time, I’m really satisfied. Looking at the summer, this is a great starting point.”
Dream Come True For Hansson
Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
Hansson had led the way into the final with a national mark in Tuesday’s semis but it was Britain’s Sarah Vasey out in lane eight who touched first at halfway in 30.79, 0.11 ahead of the Swede.
A second 50 of 34.79 guided Hansson to the wall in first as a battle unfolded behind her.
Castiglioni, third in Glasgow, was in last place at the turn in 31.45 before she produced the fastest second 50 of 34.68 to overhaul six swimmers before stopping the clock in 1:06.13.
Carraro, the Italian record holder, won bronze in 1:06.21 with Efimova – who will only compete over two lengths in Tokyo having missed out in the 200 – was fourth in 1:06.33.
Estonian 14-year-old Eneli Jefimova was eighth in 1:06.83, a day after setting a national record of 1:06.47.
Hansson had to pinch herself, saying:
“I feel amazing, this is a dream come true.
“Honestly, I’m speechless… But I feel very grateful for all those around me – only a few weeks ago I tried to get my time under 1:07 and now I’m under 1:06 so all my hard training paid off. I’m really excited for the future.”
Russia Dominate 4×200 Free Relay
The Russian quartet led throughout the race following Martin Malyutin‘s opening leg of 1:45.15 although Britain’s Duncan Scott ate into the deficit on the final leg.
Aleksandr Shchegolev (1:45.39), Alexander Krasnykh (1:46.52) and Mikhail Vekovishchev (1:46.42) set a new championship record that sliced 1.84 from the time set by the British quartet in Glasgow in 2018.
An anchor leg of 1:45.29 by Scott saw him cut the deficit in half, taking over 2.26 adrift but guiding Britain home for silver 1.13 behind Russia in 7:04.61.
Italy were third in 7:06.05.
Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
Krasnykh said:
“We are very happy because this is our first gold medal in this event since 2016.
“Of course, we wanted that because the Olympics are coming. I have to say that there we need to swim a lot faster than today.”
James Guy, who led off the GB quartet, added:
“Tonight was a really interesting race, we swam it very differently than this morning.
“We could see that some of the guys were quite tired but there are no excuses.
“Tonight was my third 200m of the meet and I clocked 1:45 so I’m quite satisfied with that. It was overall a good performance and come Tokyo I know we will swim a lot faster.”
Marco de Tullio said:
“It was really good, I did my personal best.
“I have the individual race tomorrow, I don’t know what I can do. We are in training and try to have fun and see how it goes. I’m really happy for the team now.”
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