Kristian Gkolomeev took down his own Greek national record in the 50m freestyle during prelims Friday morning with a time of 21.87.
Gkolomeev broke the national record that he set at the 2014 European Championships in Berlin last season. There, he was a 21.96 in the semifinals to take the top seed before finishing seventh in finals.
Gkolomeev’s time from this morning puts him third overall heading into tonight’s semifinals ahead of some of the top competitors in this race. Vlad Morozov of Russia, Bruno Fratus of Brazil, Marco Orsi of Italy, and Ben Proud of Great Britain were all over 22-seconds this morning with the exception of Morozov, however he was also slower than Gkolomeev.
The only two swimmers to put up times faster than Gkolomeev’s were defending 50m freestyle Olympic champion Florent Manaudou of France and defending 100m freestyle Olympic champion Nathan Adrian from the United States.
The swim marks Gkolomeev’s best international showing to date. He has never made a semifinal swim at either an Olympic Games or World Championships, and he’s poised to go even further this week if he can stay in the 21-high range.
With plenty of potential to make the final, the former NCAA Champion from Alabama will have to beat some top international competitors if he wants to secure that spot tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApK4QfFETog