The 2015 Romanian Nationals continued today with three head-turning swims that are worth reading about.
Sharon van Rouwendaal added another Dutch record to her stellar 1500m freestyle performance earlier in the meet, clocking a new mark of 8:26.18 in the women’s 800m freestyle. That hacks over two seconds off of the 8:28.28 mark she registered at last year’s European Championships that garnered the 22-year old 5th place overall.
Another name familiar with eye-catching swims is Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu. Whenever she enters the water, you can almost be sure to see a scorching swim, as was the case in the 200m IM at this meet. After coasting her way to just a 2:17.11 in prelims, Hosszu flipped on her “Iron Lady” switch and blasted her way to a monster time of 2:08.77. That mark is now her second-fastest of 2015 and sits just behind her #1 time in the world of 2:08.66 from the Arena Pro Swim Series in Charlotte.
Scording 11th in the prelims of the men’s 50m freestyle was youngster George Ratiu (Romania), who, at just 15 years old set a new Romanian Junior National Record in a time of 24.27, knocking three tenths of a second off of his previous personal best of 24.51 from this past May. Ratiu followed up that smoking performance with another time drop in finals, registering another new record of 24.14 for 10th place overall.
Wonder how much faster KH can go on taper. 2.07mid to low maybe. She’ll be invincible in the IMs