(All photos courtesy of Peter Sukenik/www.petersukenik.com)
The Slovak Championships in swimming in the short course pool for juniors and seniors took place in the photogenic Elements Resort in Samorin-Cilistov during the weekend 18th-20th of December 2015. In all, 297 swimmers from 41 swimming clubs raced 1413 times.
Photo courtesy of Peter Sukenik/www.petersukenik.com
It was clear from the first half a day of competition that these Championships would be full of great achievements and national records.
The most significant achievements were of course senior records.
One hundredth of a second away from swimming 100m freestyle under 48 seconds was 17-year-old swimmer Vladimir Stefanik from the club KPS Nereus Zilina. With the time of 48.00 he set not just a new junior but also a new senior record. 820 power points from this new record got him into the first place on the European junior swimming charts. Stefanik, who trains under the coach Juraj Skopal, is ahead of Italian swimmer Alessandro Miressi who is ranked second by 72 hundredths. He managed to improve the previous record he had set in the time of 49.42 at the Autumn Championships of the Central Slovak region by 1.42 in a month! Currently besides 100m freestyle he is also a record holder in the 50m freestyle (22.15) and 50m butterfly (24.31) in junior category in short course meters.
Race Video:
At this time the best Slovak female breaststroke swimmer Andrea Podmanikova from the club Pirana Topolcany beat her own record on 50m breaststroke again. Podmanikova, training under the coach Vladimir Zeleznik, cut the national record which she had swum at the European Championships in Netanya in December by 3 hundredths to the time of 31.08. She is currently holding national records in 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke in short course meters and 100m and 200m in long course.
Another five Slovak senior records were broken in relay races. Men’s teams from the club VSK UK Bratislava and women’s teams from the club VSC Dukla Banska Bystrica were the most successful ones.
| 4x50m freestyle men | VSK UK Bratislava | Juraj Hlavek, Lukas Lederer, Juraj Klatik, Miroslav Cmel | 1:31.30 |
| 4x50m freestyle women | VSC Dukla Banská Bystrica | Barbora Misendova, Katarina Listopadova, Jovana Gojakovicova, Miroslava Syllabova | 1:41.66 |
| 4x50m medley men | VSK UK Bratislava | Juraj Klatik, Marek Botik, Juraj Hlavek, Miroslav Cmel | 1:39.68 |
| 4x50m medley women | VSC Dukla Banská Bystrica | Katarina Listopadova, Rebeka Polomcakova, Barbora Misendova, Miroslava Syllabova | 1:53.94 |
| 4x100m freestyle | VSK UK Bratislava | Miroslav Cmel, Henrich Krc, Juraj Klatik, Juraj Hlavek | 3:23.07 |
Team VSK UK Bratislava (from the left side – Miroslav Cmel, Juraj Hlavek, Marek Botík and Juraj Klatik)
The list of Slovak junior records was rewritten 8 times in 6 disciplines. National records were swum in morning heats and also afternoon finals in 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke.
| 50m freestyle men | morning heats | Vladimir Stefanik | KPS Nereus Žilina | 22,31 |
| 50m freestyle men | finals | Vladimir Stefanik | KPS Nereus Žilina | 22.15 |
| 100m freestyle men | finals | Vladimir Stefanik | KPS Nereus Žilina | 48.00 |
| 50m breastroke men | finals | Peter Durisin | VŠK UK Bratislava | 27.71 |
| 50m butterfly men | morning heats | Vladimir Stefanik | KPS Nereus Žilina | 24.31 |
| 200m individual medley | finals | Adam Halas | PK STU Trnava | 2:00.87 |
| 50m backstroke women | morning heats | Barbora Tomanova | PK STU Trnava | 28.78 |
| 50m backstroke women | finals | Barbora Tomanova | PK STU Trnava | 28.76 |
Excellent times were achieved by younger swimmers during the three days of competing, too. Records were broken in the categories of 14-, 13- and 12-year-olds.
| 14 years old | ||||
| 100m breastroke men | morning heats | Samuel Kazimir | SPK Bratislava | 1:07.03 |
| 200m breastroke men | morning heats | Samuel Kazimir | SPK Bratislava | 2:26.11 |
| 400m individual medley men | morning heats | Juraj Hrasko | Orca Bratislava | 4:40.78 |
| 50m backstroke women | morning heats | Barbora Tomanova | PK STU Trnava | 28.78 |
| 50m backstroke women | finals | Barbora Tomanova | PK STU Trnava | 28.76 |
| 100m backstroke women | morning heats | Barbora Tomanova | PK STU Trnava | 1:02.36 |
| 200m backstroke women | morning heats | Barbora Tomanova | PK STU Trnava | 2:18.04 |
| 200m backstroke women | finals | Barbora Tomanova | PK STU Trnava | 2:16.72 |
| 200m breastroke women | finals | Miroslava Zaborska | PK Martin | 2:33.25 |
| 13 years old | ||||
| 50m butterfly women | morning heats | Zora Ripkova | Orca Bratislava | 28.80 |
| 50m butterfly women | finals | Zora Ripkova | Orca Bratislava | 28.32 |
| 12 years old | ||||
| 50m freestyle women | morning heats | Sabina Kupcova | SK AQUASPORT Levice | 27.16 |
| 200m freestyle women | morning heats | Sabina Kupcova | SK AQUASPORT Levice | 2:10.04 |
| 200m backstroke women | morning heats | Sabina Kupcova | SK AQUASPORT Levice | 2:22.82 |
| 200m backstroke women | finals | Sabina Kupcova | SK AQUASPORT Levice | 2:22.13 |
| 50m butterfly women | morning heats | Sabina Kupcova | SK AQUASPORT Levice | 29.52 |
In all, the number of national records was 7 in the senior category, 8 in the junior category, 9 in the category of 14-year-olds, 2 in the category of 13-year-olds and 5 new records were set in the category of 12-year-olds.
Olympians Tomas Klobucnik and Katarina Listopadova both from club VSC Dukla Banska Bystrica managed to swim the best performances in the number of power points. Tomas received 867 points for the time of 58.30 in 100m breaststroke and Katarina 846 points for the time of 27.17 in first lap of the medley relay (backstroke). They both train under the coach Dirk Lange.
These Championships earned two attributes. They were the last Slovak swimming meeting in 2015 and at the end they were named ‘fantastic’ in the light of the achievements.