2016 Euro Meet Day 2 Finals Live Recap

2016 Euro Meet

• January 29th-31st
• D’Coque Aquatic Center in Luxembourg
• Friday timed finals at 4pm local (10am EST)
• Saturday prelims at 8am local (2am EST); finals at 5pm local (11am EST)
• Sunday prelims at 8:30am local (2:30am EST); finals at 4pm local (10am EST)
• Meet Site
• Start Lists/Results
• Live Streaming

Women’s 200 Free

Katinka Hosszu claimed her third meet record of the day to kick things off tonight, taking the win in 1:56.81. Although she won the event by about two and a half seconds, her time was well off her season best of 1:55.41. Her swim tonight broke the old meet mark formerly held by Annika Lurz of Germany.

The Iron Lady jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, hitting the halfway mark in a blazing 56.56. Spanish national Melani Costa hit the wall second in 1:59.20, just holding off a charging Annika Bruhn. Bruhn took bronze in 1:59.29.

Men’s 200 Free

Velimir Stjepanovic of Serbia swam a race that looked very similar to Hosszu’s. Stjepanovic took charge quickly, turning at the 50 nearly 1.2 seconds ahead of the nearest competitor. By the 100, he had extended that lead to almost two seconds, flipping in a blazing 50.88.

Stjepanovic put in a strong back half and touched in 1:46.10, a time that broke Paul Biedermann’s former meet record of 1:47.13 by just over a second. His swim also jumps him from fifth to second in the world this season. He now sits behind distance ace Sun Yang, trailing by a mere three tenths.

Malaysian national Welson Sim looked strong in his own right, breaking away from the rest of the field to touch in 1:48.46. Victor Martin of Spain earned himself bronze with his time of 1:49.61.

Women’s 50 Breast

Martina Carraro of Italy looked strong and smooth, pulling out ahead early and continuing to put distance on her competitors the entire length of the pool. Carraro touched first in 31.28, just shy of her world seventh-ranked 31.06.

Moniek Nijhuis also cracked 32 seconds en route to silver, touching in 31.70. Another four tenths back was Jinq En Phee, taking bronze in 32.10.

Men’s 50 Breast

Alex Murphy of Ireland picked up the third meet record of the night session, racing home the last 20 meters to take charge and touch first in 27.61. His time takes down the former mark of 27.91, which had been co-owned by Johannes Neumann and Giedrius Titenis.

Italy’s Andrea Toniato picked up silver in 28.06. Toniato landed his finish to just touch out Hendrik Feldwehr, who claimed bronze in 28.12.

Women’s 50 Fly

She’s done it again. Another win and meet record for the seemingly unstoppable Katinka Hosszu, who made a late charge in the last 15 meters to pass Dorothea Brandt for the gold. Hosszu’s time of 26.62, swum from lane seven, took down Inge Dekker’s former record of 26.80. Brandtt settled for silver in 26.82. Finland’s Emilia Pikkarainen also squeezed under the 27 second barrier, touching third in 26.89.

Men’s 50 Fly

Another A final, another meet record. That seems to be the theme of the night, which continued with Ben Proud‘s winning time of 23.26. Proud took down the former mark of 23.66 by four full tenths of a second. His time also moves him up to second worldwide, only behind Brazil’s Nicholas Santos.

Both Laszlo Cseh and Konrad Czerniak also touched under the former meet record. The pair chased after Proud to clock in at 23.50 and 23.60, respectively.

Women’s 100 Back

After breaking the meet record this morning, Katinka Hosszu lowered her mark with her win tonight. Hosszu touched in exactly 1:00.00 ahead of Daryna Zevina‘s 1:00.65. Hosszu’s time from tonight sits nearly a second behind her world third-ranked season best.

Zevina put some pressure on Hosszu the first 50, touching less than three tenths back, but Hosszu carried her momentum into the finish well as she broke away with a back half split of 30.68. Spain’s Duane Da Rocha took bronze in 1:02.33.

Men’s 100 Back

Despite Jan-Philip Glania‘s record-breaking performance this morning, Shane Ryan took initiative in the finals race, flipping in 26.48 ahead of Glania’s 26.81. With about forty meters to go, Glania dug deep to pull dead even with Ryan.

The pair continued into the wall with Ryan holding a slight lead. At the touch, Ryan triumphed over Glania by a single hundredth of a second, breaking Glania’s meet record with a time of 54.70. Glania’s 54.71 granted him the silver well ahead of Conor Ferguson‘s third-place effort of 56.40.

Women’s 200 IM

Katinka Hosszu won her fourth event in her fourth meet record of the night by taking the 200 IM by nearly four full seconds. Hosszu raced home in 2:10.70, a mere five hundredths under the standard she set this morning.

Hosszu jumped out to a two body length lead on the field at the halfway mark, turning in 1:01.16 to Zsuzsanna Jakabos‘s 1:03.97. Jakabos made it a one-two punch for Hungary, touching in 2:14.71 ahead of Great Britain’s Hannah Miley (2:15.41).

Men’s 200 IM

Laszlo Cseh broke away from the field quickly, making the men’s 200 IM a race for second place. Cseh picked up the gold medal, Euro Meet record, and the only sub-2:00 race of the field with a time of 1:59.01.

Raphael Stacchiotti of Luxembourg and Germany’s Philip Heintz raced dead even over the last 20 meters with Stacchiotti just edging ahead for the touch. Stacchiotti won the face off, picking up silver in 2:00.35 to Heintz’s 2:00.50. With his time, Stacchiotti just barely missed out on an opportunity to break his national record of 2:00.22 on home soil.

Women’s 200 Breast

The women’s 200 breast featured a three woman race between Jessica Vall, Jessica Steiger, and Vanessa Grimberg. The trio turned within two tenths of each other at the 100, Steiger leading the way. Steiger extender her lead through the 150, touching a few tenths over her competitors.

However, Vall threw down a 37.85 last 50 split to rocket ahead of Steiger and Grimberg. Vall took the gold in 2:27.50, while Steiger picked up silver in 2:28.32. Grimberg touched eight hundredths back, claiming third in 2:28.40.

Men’s 200 Breast

Marco Koch made a statement to the world in his race tonight, taking it out under 29 seconds and turning at the 100 in 1:01.78. Koch continued to build steam throughout the back half to touch in a new Euro Meet Record and world-leading time of 2:07.69. In addition to usurping Nic Fink’s former world leader mark by over a second, Koch narrowly missed the top 10 performances of all time, registering the 11th fastest time ever.

Luxembourg National Record holder Laurent Carnot touched four seconds back for silver in 2:11.61, clocking in under the Olympic A standard. Arkadii Grigorev earned bronze with a time of 2:14.79.

Women’s 200 Fly

Judith Ignacio, in an effort to improve on her new meet record, took control of the 200 fly from the get go. Ignacio turned at the halfway mark in 1:01.97 ahead of Franziska Hentke‘s 1:02.84. The duo turned with a similar margin at the 150 mark with Ignacio still holding a strong lead.

However, Hentke used the momentum from a fantastic turn to close the gap and overtake Ignacio, breaking her meet record with a new standard of 2:08.64. Ignacio touched just behind in 2:08.82. Hungary’s Jakabos claimed bronze with a time of 2:10.32.

After having raced in every event save the 50 breast this evening, Katinka Hosszu is finally showing signs of fatigue, fading to 10th in 2:20.39.

Men’s 200 Fly

Laszlo Cseh narrowly led Ireland’s Brendan Hyland at the 100 mark before throwing down a sub-1:00 back half to take the title. Cseh’s time of 1:56.58 officially takes down Viktor Bromer’s former mark of 1:56.89 and bumps him from fourteenth to eleventh in the world this season.

Hyland faded to third, with Greece’s Ioannis Drymonakos reeling him in the last 50 to touch him out 1:59.71 to 1:59.77.

Women’s 50 Free

Dorothea Brandt charged out strong and then worked to hold off Julie Meynen in the last five meters. Brandt managed to hold on for the win in 25.22 ahead of Meynen’s 25.31. Meynen’s time breaks her own Luxembourg National Record of 25.55 by over three tenths of a second. Cecelie Johannessen claimed the bronze with a time of 25.58. Katinka Hosszu closed out her busy night with a seventh place finish.

Men’s 50 Free

Despite some pressure from Finland’s Ari-Pekka Liukkonen, Ben Proud picked up his second victory and Euro Record of the night, clocking in at 21.95. Liukkonen fell back the last ten meters but managed to snag silver in 22.24. Hungarian sprinter Krisztian Takacs raced in third with a time of 22.56. Proud is now just one of six people worldwide to crack the 22 second barrier this season:

Mixed 4×100 Free Relay

The Badischer Schwimm-Verband team of Simon Hengel, Nina Kost, Philip Heintz, and Lil Zyprian took the mixed 4×100 relay title with a time of 3:34.44, propelled by a sub-50 split from Heintz. The Danish Swimming Federation’s A team touched second in 3:35.36 while Energy Standard’s A team placed third.