World bronze medallist Luke Greenbank destroyed his British 200 back record in 1:54.67 on day five of heats at the European Championships.
It was a fine morning in the pool for the British squad with Adam Peaty swimming the 10th-fastest 50 breaststroke all-time in 26.34, a time only he and Felipe Lima have eclipsed, the Brazilian having gone 26.33 at the Mare Nostrum in June 2019.
The Olympic 100m champion now has nine of the top 10 times in history.
Abbie Wood – who already has two relay golds to her name – headed the 200IM with the tightest of schedules to come this evening with the 200 breaststroke final, 200IM semi and the 4×200 free all taking place in the space of 30 minutes.
Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands led the way in the 100 free, Mykhaylo Romanchuk headed the 800 free and Federica Pellegrini propelled Italy to top spot in the 4×200 free.
Women’s 100 Free
There will be a be a new champion in the absence of Sarah Sjostrom with Heemskerk ready to upgrade her Glasgow 2018 silver to gold.
The Netherlands swimmer led the way in 53.84 with Anna Hopkin, fresh from anchoring the British 4×100 mixed medley relay to gold in European record time, next swiftest in 53.94.
The pair were the only women to go sub-54 with 50 free champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo (54.04) and Marie Wattel (54.07) also through.
Katarzyna Wasick – second in the 50 – was 0.09 outside her Polish record in 54.31 but 200 free silver medallist Pellegrini didn’t start.
Qualifiers:
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Men’s 50 Breaststroke
Peaty, who has two gold medals to his name so far in Budapest in the 100br and the mixed 4×100 medley relay, went in the final heat.
The Briton set the world record of 25.95 in the same pool at the 2017 World Championships and there was clear water and 0.59 between him and Kirill Prigoda.
Nicolo Martinenghi was second through in 26.54 with Ilya Shymanovich next in 26.72.
Qualifiers:
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Women’s 200 IM
Duna Arena has been the scene of extreme highs and lows for Wood.
At 2017 worlds, she experienced the worst moments of her career to that point as she struggled to make the transition to senior waters following success as a junior.
She contemplated quitting but words from coach Dave Hemmings saw her resolve to continue and now the Briton has emerged as an exciting young talent on the international stage, one for the present as well as the future.
Behind Wood came Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu in 2:11.57 and Sara Franceschi of Italy in 2:11.78.
Photo Courtesy: len.eu
Men’s 200 Backstroke
World bronze medallist Greenbank was just 0.25 outside Evgeny Rylov’s European record of 1:53.23 at halfway.
There was a beaming smile after he touched, turned and saw his new national record which obliterated his previous mark of 1:55.34, slicing 0.67 from his time at the British Swimming Invitational Meet in March.
Greenbank, who is coached by Mel Marshall at the National Training Centre Loughborough, knew he had a good time in him but was surprised by his performance, telling British Swimming:
“Probably not that quick, no. I knew I was capable of going 1:55 like I did in Manchester so to beat that by 0.67, I am absolutely over the moon with that.
“I went in to try and put down a good marker, set the standard high, and I’ll try to build on that in the semi and the final.”
Looking ahead, the world medley relay champion said:.
“There is definitely some more in there, that felt really good, really controlled.
“It’s always going to be hard but there’s definitely more in there.”
Rylov was next through in 1:55.74 with Antoine Herlem 0.32 off Yohann Ndoye Brouard‘s French record of 1:56.10 in 1: 56.42.
Qualifiers:
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Women’s 4×200 Free Relay
An anchor leg of 1:57.74 by Pellegrini propelled Italy to the top of the qualifiers in 7:59.83.
Israel sliced a mighty 6.4secs from the national record of 8:06.91 they set last month to post the second-swiftest time to book lane five in 8:00.51.
Denmark (8:01.65) and defending champions Great Britain (8:01.68) also booked their spots.
Also through were Belgium, Hungary and Poland with France taking the eighth slot.
Men’s 800 Free
Romanchuk looks in the sort of form to add the 800 title to his 1500 free gold, stopping the clock at 7:48.31.
The Ukrainian won the title in Glasgow ahead of Gregorio Paltrinieri and Florian Wellbrock, the German only contesting the open water in Budapest.
Second through was Henrik Christiansen (7:50.11) with Gabriele Detti leading home fellow Italian Paltrinieri in 7:50.61 to 7:51.33.
There was an enormous Portuguese record by Jose Lopes who cut a mighty 9.65secs from his 2019 mark of 8:02.16 to go through seventh in 7:52.81.
Qualifiers:
Photo Courtesy: len.eu
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