European Short-Course, Day 1 Finals: Two Golds For Britain & Daniel Wiffen Becomes First Irish Champion
Abbie Wood and Freya Colbert claimed an historic 1-2 in the 400IM and the men’s 4×50 freestyle relay struck gold as Britain made a fine start to the European Short-Course Championships in Otopeni, Romania.
Daniel Wiffen became the first Irish swimmer to win a European short-course title when he picked apart the 400 free field.
Sweden won the women’s 4×50 free while Noe Ponti set a championship record of 48.61 in the 100 fly.
Women’s 400IM
British pair Freya Colbert – with a 4.5sec PB – and Abbie Wood were both more than 4.5secs quicker than the nearest challenger in the Otopeni prelims. Colbert led at halfway ahead of Zsuzsanna Jakabos with Wood taking charge on the breaststroke leg, a lead she extended throughout to come home in 4:27.45.
Abbie Wood: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Colbert made it a British 1-2 in 4:29.04 with Ellen Walshe of Ireland taking bronze in 4:29.64. It was a first individual title for Wood who became only the second British woman and the first since Hannah Miley in 2012 to claim 400IM gold. She said:
“I’m really happy with this gold. I really had to hold my nerve over the first 200 because I start going from the backstroke and we have five strong backstrokers here.
“I’m happy that I’ve managed to pull it off and I was near to my best so I’m really happy.”
Loughborough training partner Colbert added:
“It was good, I really enjoy racing with the girls I train with from time to time.
“We are pushing each other and it’s also interesting to know exactly what the others are doing.”
Walshe – who won silver at the 2021 World Short Course Championships – said:
“It’s a great success for Ireland, the first medal of many here we’re hoping for.
“I don’t win international medals every day so this one is definitely up there with the world short-course medal. It would have been better to swim the time I did two years ago but I’m in hard training now to get ready for Paris.”
Men’s 400m Freestyle
Dan Wiffen: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
This promised to be a thriller with Danys Rapsys in lane four as he looked to reclaim the title he won at Glasgow 2019. Alongside him were Felix Auboeck, the 2021 world short-course champion, and Daniel Wiffen, seeking his first European medal.
Rapsys led at 100m before Irishman Wiffen went ahead at 150, going away from the 200m mark to hold a bodylength lead at 250.
Wiffen came home in 3:35.47 – a three-second PB – ahead of Rapsys (3:37.80) and Lucas Henveaux of Belgium (3:37.91).
Wiffen – who will also compete in the 800m and 1500m freestyle – said:
“The 400m is usually not on my schedule so to win it is amazing and a good sign what can happen in my other events.
“The race went according to plan. I geared up for the second half as I’m a distance swimmer, so this is the approach I take in my main events and this one wasn’t different either.”
Women’s 4x50m Freestyle Relay
Britain booked lane four in 1:36.92 in the morning prelims with Italy and Sweden on either side.
But it was Sweden who enjoyed a comprehensive victory in 1:35.60 ahead of Italy (1:36.92) and Britain (1:37.19)
Men’s 4x50m Freestyle Relay
The British quartet lowered the previous national standard of 1:24.61 from 2019 in morning prelims which featured a 20.71 anchor by Lewis Burras.
Ben Proud: Photo Courtesy: British Swimming
Ben Proud replaced Duncan Scott and led off in 20.56 with Britain coming home in another national record of 1:22.52 to claim the title for the first time.
Splits: Ben Proud (20.56)/Matt Richards (20.50)/Alexander Cohoon (20.99)/Lewis Burras (20.47)
Proud said
“Britain has never really been a sprinting nation, we’ve struggled to put four 50m guys together.
“But in recent years a couple of good guys came up, all of a sudden, so today’s effort was incredible from the team.
“That was good not just for this competition and for the 4x50m but also for these guys who are going for the qualification in the 4x100m at the Olympics.
“We are happy and I’m sure the guys are also happy with themselves. It’s new for us to be here and competing with the Italians who have always been good in this event. As for the team, it’s a great start for this meet.”
Italy were second in 1:23.14 and Greece third in 1:23.27 as they claimed their first relay medal at European short-course.
Otopeni Semifinal Round-Up
Women’s 50m Freestyle Semifinals
Beryl Gastaldello led a speedy second semi in 23.77 ahead of Michelle Coleman (23.78) and Anna Hopkin (23.86). Julie Kepp Jensen – winner of the first semi – was next through in 23.96.
Men’s 50m Backstroke Semifinals
A lightning second 25 steered Frenchman Mewen Tomac into the wall in 22.91, the only man inside 23secs. Ole Braunschweig (23.04) and Thierry Bollin (23.10) were next through.
Women’s 100m Breaststroke Semifinals
Tes Schouten – the world 200 bronze medallist – led the way in 1:04.02 ahead of 16-year-old Eneli Jefimova (1:04.03), Sophie Hansson (1:04.07) and Benedetta Pilato (1:04.45).
Men’s 100m Butterfly Semifinals
Maxime Grousset took apart his French record of 49.24 from the national championships in October when he stopped the clock in 48.94 in the first semi.
However, Noe Ponti of Switzerland responded straightaway in the second semi, the Olympic bronze medallist breaking the championship record in 48.61, taking 0.32 off Evgeny Korotyshkin’s mark of 48.93 from the death throes of the supersuit era in December 2009.