European Juniors: Kuzey Tuncelli, 16, Demolishes 1500 Free WJR In 14:41.89
Kuzey Tuncelli of Türkiye served notice of his Paris intentions as he went third in the 1500 free rankings with a World Junior Record of 14:41.89 at the European Junior Championships in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The 16-year-old went through the first 100m in 55.39 and was metronomic in his splits thereafter, ranging from 29.33 to 30.09, before unleashing a 27.43 final 50.
With that he took 4.2secs off the previous standard of 14:46.09 held by Croatian Franko Grgic since 2019 for a world and European junior record, a Championship mark and new Turkish standard.
He will now travel to the French capital for his Olympic debut behind only Daniel Wiffen (14:34.07) and Bobby Finke (14:40.28) in the rankings.
Tuncelli retained the title he won at the 2023 European Juniors, little more than a fortnight after taking the crown at the European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade.
Top 5 Rankings
14:34.07: Daniel Wiffen, World Championships, February 2024
14:40.28: Bobby Finke, US trials, June 2024
14:41.89: Kuzey Tuncelli, European Junior Championships, July 2024
14:42.28: Florian Wellbrock, German Championships, April 2024
14:44.85: David Aubry, World Championships, February 2024
Sara Curtis won the 50 free title to claim her fourth gold of the meet in Lithuania, a day after she set a championship record of 24.67, 0.11 outside her Italian and European junior standard of 24.56 in March.
Come Thursday and the Italian took the title in 24.68 for her third successive trip to the European Junior podium following gold at Belgrade 2023 and bronze in Otopeni the previous year.
The 17-year-old, who will make her Olympic debut at Paris 2024 later this month, added the 50 free crown to the golds she has collected in the 50m backstroke and the women’s and mixed 4x100m freestyle relays.
Croatian Jana Pavalin – who was fifth at the European Aquatics Championships in Belgrade – clocked 24.92 for silver.
Great Britain’s Skye Carter replicated her bronze from Belgrade 2023 in 25.24, a day after her sister Jasmine was third in the 50m breaststroke.
Robert-Andrei Badea won the men’s 200IM in 2:00.05, 0.10secs inside his Romanian record of 2:00.15 from the national championships in April.
It was Romania’s second gold in as many days following teammate Vlad-Stefan Mihalache‘s victory in the 200m butterfly on Wednesday.
Martine Damborg powered away on the second 50 to upgrade her 2023 silver to gold in the women’s 100m butterfly.
The Danish swimmer took the title in 58.75 ahead of Italy’s Caterina Santambrogio, who came from sixth at the turn for silver in 59.11, with Great Britain’s Hollie Widdows third in 59.16.
Minna Abraham anchored the Hungary women’s 4×2 quartet to victory with a 1:57.05 final leg for a winning time of 8:01.11.
Italy were second in 8:01.71 with Germany third in 8:04.60.
After three days of competition, Italy lead the standings with five golds and four silvers ahead of Hungary (three golds, three bronzes) and Lithuania with three golds.
- Link to results
- Day 1 report
- Day 2 report
- Link to EuroAquaticsTV.com (subscription)
Absolutely Phenomenal from the teenager Tuncelli !!
I now have a new favourite.
So either Wiffen or Tuncelli for Gold and Short for Bronze.