The 2017 edition of the European Youth Olympic Festival concluded on July 28th in Gyor, Hungary. Athletes aged 14-18, representing 50 European countries, converged on the Hungarian city to race, perform and compete across sports such as swimming, judo, basketball and athletics. There are both summer and winter versions of the EYOF, with each taking place in 2-year cycles, in odd-numbered years.
Russia was the dominant nation across all sports, collecting 30 gold medals, 19 silver and 12 bronze for a crushing total of 61 in all. The next closest nation, Italy, secured 23 less with a haul of 38, but 14 golds to give the country an edge over 3rd-ranked host nation Hungary.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Russia |
30 | 19 | 12 | 61 |
| 2 |  Italy |
14 | 11 | 13 | 38 |
| 3 |  Hungary |
13 | 14 | 14 | 41 |
| 4 |  Netherlands |
8 | 6 | 2 | 16 |
| 5 |  Spain |
7 | 4 | 4 | 15 |
| 6 |  Germany |
5 | 8 | 4 | 17 |
| 7 |  Turkey |
5 | 6 | 8 | 19 |
| 8 |  France |
5 | 6 | 5 | 16 |
| 9 |  Belgium |
5 | 0 | 2 | 7 |
| 10 |  Finland |
4 | 1 | 6 | 11 |
Russia was the overriding force within the specific sport of swimming as well, evidenced by the records notched and medals earned through the 5-day aquatic competition.
Swedish swimmer Robin Hanson may have earned the very first medal of the entire Olympic Festival with his 1:49.34 gold medal-garnering mark in the boys’ 200m freestyle, but Russia took control from that point forward, dominating the fields with a haul of 15 gold medals in swimming.
Andrei Minakov cruised to two individual victories, taking the boys’ 100m butterfly in 52.06 and the boys’ 100m freestyle in 50.23, both of which were new EYOF meet records. Minakov was also a member of Russia’s powerhouse of relays, notching new EYOF meet records while collecting golds as a member of the boys’ 4x100m freestyle and medley relays, as well as a member of the mixed 4x100m freestyle and medley relays.
The women had a pair of speed queens in Polina Nevmovenko and Daria Vaskina, both of whom snagged 2 individual victories each. Nevmovenko scored the girls’ 100m and 200m freestyle wins in respective times of 56.30 and 2:02.45, while Vaskina swept the backstroke races with a 100m time of 1:00.87 and a 200m back mark of 2:11.67, the latter of which was a new EYOF record.
Both girls also made an impact relays-wise, with Nevmovenko racing on all 4 of Russia’s winning relays of the girls’ 4x100m free, girls’ 4x100m medley and the mixed variations of each. Vaskina was a member of both the girls’ and mixed medley relays as well.
Multiple medal winners from other nations included Italy’s Federico Burdisso who took the boys’ 50m freestyle and 200m butterfly races in times of 22.79 and 1:58.65, respectively, as well as Slovenia’s Sara Racnik. Racnik put Slovenia on the board with victories in the 400m freestyle (4:15.54) and 800m freestyle (8:42.70), the latter of which was a new EYOF Record.
Hungary’s Reka Nagy channeled elite superstar from her nation, Katinka Hosszu, by taking both girls’ IM events. Nagy topped the 200m IM podium in 2:14.80 and also won the 400m distance in 4:48.11.
Nice to see I give some ideas of articles to swimswam contributors. 😉
Is Minakov the next male Russian star? He’s only 15! They already great young swimmers with Chupkov, Rylov or Kolesnikov.
Hugo Sagnes broke Agnel’s 400 free French national record for 16-year-old boys in 3.51.98.
And funny to note that globally nation’s strenghts are the same in juniors and seniors.