2019 LEN EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, December 4th – Sunday, December 8th
- Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Glasgow, Scotland
- SCM
- Entry List
- Competition Schedule
- Results
- Live Video – LEN TV
Day 1 of the 2019 European Short Course Championships already brought us numerous new national and meet records to give us a hint at what the entire 5-day affair may bring in Glasgow.
We saw Italy’s Benedetta Pilato blast a new World Junior Record in the women’s 50m breast en route to gold, Briton Luke Greenbank break a decade-old national record for bronze in the 200m back, and Danas Rapsys lower his own Lithuanian national record in the men’s 400m free to top the podium, just to name a few.
In addition to the individual record posts already published on our site today, let’s circle the wagons and do a record round-up on the rest of the record-breaking swims before we set our eyes on day 2.
Tomoe Hvas (NOR) 100 Fly
- 19-year-old Hvas is on his way to a potential medal in the men’s 100m fly, having established himself as the top seed after both the prelims and semi-finals of the event. This morning, Hvas rocked the fastest time of his career, putting up an AM swim of 49.88. That registered as a new Norwegian national record, beating the 50.49 he produced at the 2018 Short Course World Championships.
- Splits for Hvas’ swim this morning included 23.15/26.73. He and German Marius Kusch were the only sub-50 second swimmers of the prelim, while Hvas accomplished the same feat in the evening in 49.91. That holds just a .01 advantage over Russian Mikhail Vikovishchev headed into tomorrow night’s final.
- Of note, Hvas was originally expected to join the 2018-19 class at UNC, but will be deferring his student-athlete career until after the 2020 season.
Mona McSharry (IRL) 50 Breast
- Taking bronze in the women’s 50m breast this evening was Irish standout Mona McSharry. The 19-year-old stopped the clock in a time of 29.87, marking the first time the teen has ever been under the 30-second threshold in the SCM edition of the event.
- McSharry produced a semi-final time of 30.31 to land lane 8 before blasting through her previous Irish national record of 30.19 to take 3rd.
- Of her race, the teen stated, ‘I’m just over the moon, there’s no better way to start a competition than getting a medal especially when it’s not something you intended to get going into the race. It really sets me up well for this week mentally, I’m really positive and just happy’
- McSharry was a semi-finalist in this event at the 2017 edition of these European Short Course Championships.
Danielle Hill (IRL) 100 Back
- Speedster Danielle Hill got it done for Ireland in the women’s 100m backstroke semi-final, posting a mark of 58.62.
- Earlier in the morning heats, the Larne swimmer dipped under the 1:00 threshold for the first time ever, earning a heats swim of 59.38 to crush her previous PB of 1:00.65.
- Tonight, although she finished in 13th and out of tomorrow’s final, 20-year-old Hill entered new territory with a monster PB and things look good for her 50m back and 50m free.
Bruno Ortiz (ESP) 50 Breast
- Former University of Michigan Wolverine Bruno Ortiz of Spain made his mark on thees European Short Course Championships. rocking a new Spanish national record in the men’s 50m breast.
- Ortiz first notched a time of 26.78 to earn the 12th seed after this morning’s heats before dropping that mark down to a lifetime best of 26.61 after the semi-finals. He ultimately wound up 13th overall, but his time overtook the 26.74 Spanish national record that’s been on the books from way back from the 2009 edition of these championships.
Anton McKee (ISL) 50 Breast
- Icelandic Olympian Anton McKee notched a prelim time of 26.43 in the 50m breaststroke, followed by 26.28 semi-final time to check-in with a new national record.
- The 25-year-old wound up with a final time of 26.14 to lower his newly-minted record even further, placing 7th in tonight’s final when all was said and done.
Great Britain Men’s 4×50 Free Relay
- Finishing in 4th place in the men’s 4x50m freestyle relay was the nation of Great Britain, who saw Scott McLay, Joe Litchfield, James Guy and Duncan Scott race their way to a new national record.
- The final time of 1:24.82 was comprised of the following splits: 21.61 for McLay, 21.42 for Litchfield, 21.27 for Guy and 20.52 for Scott.
- Of note, Scott had already nailed a new Scottish national record in the 50m free with his 21.25 lead-off in the heats. As for Guy, the Bath athlete was less than a half an hour removed from his 100m fly semi-final.
- Scott said of the race, “I think we all swam quicker than this morning and finishing fourth I think we surprised ourselves, so we’ve got to be happy with that. To get on the podium would have been a massive bonus but if you look around, none of us are 50m freestylers, so it was just good to work on executing our skills under pressure and practicing our relay takeovers. We gave it a good shot.”
Hungary Men’s 4×50 Free Relay
- Finishing in 5th place was the nation of Hungary, with the foursome of Maksim Lobanovskij (21.12), Bence Gyarfas (21.56), Krisztian Takacs (21.45) and Szebasztian Szabo (21.01) producing a time of 1:25.14.
- That outing registered as a new national record, overtaking the 1:25.55 Hungary put up 2 years ago in Copenhagen.