DUNKERQUE, France. July 30. ROMANIA's Diana Mocanu won her third and fourth individual gold medal on this, the final night of competition at the European Junior Championships, and emerged as a dazzling star-to-be in international swimming.
Mocanu, 15, began the evening by winning the women's 200 meter individual medley by four seconds, her 2:14.42 setting a new EJR. An hour later, she pulled off a major upset by beating Israel's Vered Borchovsky to the wall in the 100 fly, 1:00.19 to 1:00.92. Yesterday, Borchovsky set a stunning EJR of 59.79 in winning her semi-final heat.
Finland's Hanna Seppala notched her second win, taking the women's 50 free in 26.07, a new EJR, and just edging Holland's Hinkelien Schreuder, 26.14.
Russia's Irina Oufimtseva finally got past Hungary's Eva Risztow, winning the 200 free in 2:02.00 to Risztow's 2:02.96. Earlier the Hungarian had notched three golds.
Another Russian, Irina Raevskaia, had no difficulty in taking the 200 back, clocking 2:13.25. Russia also emerged the winner in the 4 x 100 meter medley relay, lighting up the scoreboard at 4:15.72.
Germany's Desiree Mahle became a triple winner, completing her sweep of the breaststroke events by taking the 100 in 1:10.78. Britain's Kristy Balfour was second, 1:11.35.
In men's competition, Ukraine's Andriy Serdinov became a double winner when he took the 50 fly in 24.75, after setting a EJR of 24.55 in the semis. Serdinov also won the 100 fly.
Croatia's Duje Draganja also completed a 50-100 meter double, his coming in the freestyle, when he took the 100 in 51.16.
A third 50-100 meter winner was Germany's Toni Helbig, who added the 100 back to his earlier win in the 50, clocking 56.45. Second went to Hungary's Viktor Bodrogi (56.77), the 200 backstroke champion, while Holland's Sander Ganzevles was third (57.00).
Another Dutchman, Thijs Van Valkengoed, stood atop the victory stand after winning the 200 breast in 2:17.25.
Austria's Hannes Kalteis out-dueled France's Guy Noel Schmitt in the 1500 meter freestyle, finishing in 15:21.41 to the local favorite's 15;25.33.
Germany's Dirk Mennicke cruised to victory in the 200 IM, his 2:04.74 two seconds faster than Britain's James Goddard. Germany also won the 4 x 100 meter medley relay in 3:45.82.
Three EJ records were set tonight, bringing the total over the four days of competition to 15.