Kira Toussaint “feels like she’s robbed of a silver medal” but vowed to come back stronger after she finished fourth in the 100 back re-swim at the European Championships.
Kathleen Dawson had won the initial final in a championship record of 58.18 – just 0.06 off Gemma Spofforth‘s European record – ahead of Toussaint and Maria Kameneva.
Following the race, Toussaint spoke of the starter system, saying she wasn’t even sure if they were meant to go.
The first sign something was amiss was when the medal ceremony didn’t go ahead and then it emerged that Sweden had lodged an official protest over the starter signal in lane eight in which Louise Hansson’s start was severely delayed, leaving her metres adrift as she came in eighth.
Governing body LEN accepted there was a “partial malfunction of the starting system” in lane eight and a re-swim was ordered following the session.
Dawson won once more but Margherita Panziera of Italy claimed silver with Kameneva again third leaving Toussaint locked out of the podium by 0.10 and one place.
It was cruel on Toussaint and Panziera said:
“I’m sort of feeling I haven’t deserved this. In the first race I made a mistake, it just happens. And then I got this new chance and I’m really happy.
“But I feel like Kira (Toussaint) should have won this medal but sometimes the luck changes and I took my chance.”
On Saturday – Toussaint’s 27th birthday – the 50 back champion – posted to social media, saying:
“First of all, I want to give a huge congratulation to the amazing swimming of @dawson_kathleen, @margheritapanziera and @marykamushek !
“But after that I’m at a loss for words.. In the ‘first final’ I heard the problem with the starting device. I doubted while swimming under water whether I had to race or not, but I saw everybody else going so I went as well. It wasn’t a perfect race but in the end I was very happy with a silver medal. I was upset after the race, because these things should not happen at this level of competition, right?
“While I was waiting for the victory ceremony, I received the news 2 minutes before that it was canceled. 30 sec later I saw my coach who told me: we are going to swim again and it’s going to happen right now.
“It was stressful for about 30 min. Someone had to pick up a dry competition suit from the hotel. At that point it was still unclear what time we would race. At first I was upset about it, but I let that go really quick. I thought: ‘with the ISL I broke the world record in the 50 back an hour after I swam the 200 back. And now I only did a 100, I can do this.’ I’m proud of how calm and positive I remained, but in the end of the ‘second final’ my tank was empty. 4th… it feels unfair, it feels like I’m robbed of a silver medal, it is painful. BUT, it’s only a bump in the road. I will be back stronger ?? #TeamNL #elkedagbeter #ArenaWaterInstinct 1st & 2nd ?: @derencsenyiistvan 3rd ?: @orangepicturesnl
Ps: I’m just gonna pretend my birthday is tomorrow okay ???
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