Saturday 17 July 2010

European Junior Championships - Day 3

Start of impartiality

Today saw a potential star make a major breakthrough in world swimming. Bence Biczo, born 1993, took victory in the boys 200m Butterfly in a time of 1:55.82. That puts Biczo 6th in the world this year, just 0.12 shy of Michael Phelps' best effort in 2010. To put Biczo's swim into some perspective, at 17 Phelps' best time was a then world record of 1:54.58 set at the 2001 World Championships as a 16 year old. His best time in 2002 as a 17 year old was 1:54.86. Considering Phelps was a phenomenon at that young age and 200m Butterfly was his pet event, to be just over a second away from his times is an incredible achievement for Biczo. Marcin Cieslak took silver in a time of 1:56.76 to move to 12th in the world this year.

Yannick Agnel once again proved to be swimming at a different level to the competition with victory in the 100m Freestyle (48.80) and anchoring home the French 4 x 200m Freestyle relay (1:46.48).

End of impartiality


Britain had another strong day with Emma Saunders winning the girls 50m Backstroke in a new Championship Record of 29.01. Saunders has already finished 4th in the 100m Freestyle final (56.62) and was the lead out leg on the silver medal winning 4 x 100m Free relay. The British boys took an impressive silver in the 4 x 200m Freestyle relay with Ieuan Lloyd impressing on the anchor leg with a split of 1:49.92. Lloyd had earlier taken silver in the 200m IM with a time of 2:02.72. One of the most satisfying points to come from this meet so far from a British perspective is the strength of the relay teams. As a swimming nation we are showing our strength in depth which can only bode well for uncovering future stars in the next few years.

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Rank Club Gold Silver Bronze Total

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1France 42612

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2Great Britain 35210

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3Spain 3205

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4Germany 3104

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5Ukraine 2406

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6Russia 1135

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7Hungary 1102

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7Slovenia 1102

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9Italy 1023

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10Sweden 1012

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10Israel 1012

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12Luxembourg 1001

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13Poland 0123

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14Belgium 0112

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15Denmark 0101

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15Norway 0101

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15Finland 0101

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18Croatia 0022

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19Turkey 0011

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19Ireland 0011

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