Great Britain Medals-Fest Flows With Gold For Peaty & Mixed Relay, Silvers For Greenbank & Wood, Gold & Bronze For Hopkin
Day 6 at the European Championships produced another medals-fest for Great Britain when gold for Adam Peaty in the 50m breaststroke, bronze for Anna Hopkin in the 100m freestyle and silver for their Loughborough training partner Luke Greenbank a whisker behind World Champion Evgeny Rylov in the 200m backstroke were followed by silver for Abbie Wood in the 200m medley and victory for the 4x100m Mixed medley quartet of Duncan Scott, Tom Dean, Hopkin and Freya Anderson.
The session also witnessed a world record: Benedetta Pilato, of Italy, took for the global 50m breaststroke standard down to 29.30. That shaved 0.1sec off the record set by Lilly King, of the USA, at World Championships in the same Budapest pool in 2017. King will race at U.S. Olympic Trials next month and is in a strong position to go on to defend the 100m title she won at Rio 2016. The 50m is not an Olympic event.
Semis also saw Kristof Milak set a Championship record of 50.62 in the 100m butterfly for a ticket to lane 4 for the final tomorrow. Next to him was Britain’s James Guy, on 50.96.
The closing relay, which is another non-Olympic event, took Britain’s medal tally to 9 golds atop 20 (9, 7, 4) for top of the table ahead of 8 golds atop 17 medals (8, 2 , 7) for Russia. There is much yet in play but the meet may well come down to the closing men’s and women’s medley relays, both Britain and Russia with chances of winning.
In the Mixed 4x100m free this evening , Britain capped another stirring session with gold in a race that looked like Italy’s for the taking after Alessandro Miressi fired a 47.63 (to Scott’s 48.20) and Thomas Ceccon followed up with a 47.59 split (to Dean’s 48.11) to leave the team with an advantage of more than a second over Britain, Netherlands ever close.
Federica Pellegrini handed over to Silvia Di Pietro with the Italians still ahead but with a significant;y reduced lead, courtesy of a 52.88 split from Anna Hopkin, compared to 53.58 from the 200m queen of medal counts. Di Pietro was chased down from go, Freya Anderson to one side, Femke Heemskerk, the 100m champion earlier in the session, to the other.
Anderson’s 52.88 match of Hopkin’s split granted the Brits gold as Heemskerk roar home in a sizzling 51.73 that claimed silver for The Netherlands 0.19sec shy of the champions, Italy taking the bronze 0.38sec further adrift.
Mixed 4x100m free Podium with splits
| P | L | TEAM | R.T. | 100m | TIME | GAP | ||||||||||
| 1 | 6 | GREAT BRITAIN SCOTT Duncan W – 06 MAY 1997 DEAN Thomas – 02 MAY 2000 HOPKIN Anna – 24 APR 1996 ANDERSON Freya – 04 MAR 2001 | 48.20 48.11 52.88 52.88 | 3:22.07 =CR | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 3 | NETHERLANDS PIJNENBURG Stan – 04 NOV 1996 PUTS Jesse – 01 AUG 1994 KROMOWIDJOJO Ranomi – 20 AUG 1990 HEEMSKERK Femke – 21 SEP 1987 | 48.55 48.39 53.59 51.73 | 3:22.26 | 0.19 | |||||||||||
| 3 | 4 | ITALY MIRESSI Alessandro – 02 OCT 1998 CECCON Thomas – 27 JAN 2001 PELLEGRINI Federica – 05 AUG 1988 DI PIETRO Silvia – 06 APR 1993 | 47.63 47.59 53.58 53.84 | 3:22.64 | 0.57 |
Final in full:
| RK | LN | Team | R.T. | FINISH | GAP | ||
| 1 | 6 | GREAT BRITAIN | 0.67 | 3:22.07 | =CR | ||
| 2 | 3 | NETHERLANDS | 0.65 | 3:22.26 | 0.19 | ||
| 3 | 4 | ITALY | 0.68 | 3:22.64 | 0.57 | ||
| 4 | 5 | POLAND | 0.66 | 3:25.59 | 3.52 | ||
| 5 | 2 | HUNGARY | 0.66 | 3:26.27 | 4.20 | ||
| 6 | 8 | SWEDEN | 0.66 | 3:27.30 | 5.23 | ||
| 7 | 7 | SERBIA | 0.64 | 3:28.35 | 6.28 | ||
| DSQ | 1 | DENMARK | 0.58 | DSQ |
Men’s 200m backstroke – Rylov Outreaches Greenbank In Thriller
Luke Greenbank will take the memory of racing World champion Evgeny Rylov to the wire with him all the way to the Olympic Games in Tokyo after a thrilling tussle that led to Russian gold in 1:54.46 and British silver in 1:54.62, just shy of the 1:54.43 British record he set in semis, a time that would have won it but that’s not how it works. The race was where it was at.
Greenbank set the pace for three lengths, Rylov 0.56sec adrift at 50m, 0.92sec back at 100m and still 0.63sec shy of his quarry at the last turn. Greenbank then felt the pressure of his pace and Rylov’s momentum: 28.88 to 29.67 down the last lap and the race was swum.
The bronze went to Switzerland’s Roman Mityukov in 1:56.33, just 0.04sec ahead of France;’s Yohann Ndoye Brouard. A much closer call, then that the 2019 World Championships, when Rylov clocked 1:53.40 to defeat Olympic champion Ryan Murphy, of the USA, on 1:54.12, Greenbank third on 1:55.85. Peaty’s training partner has come a long way – with more to come if he’s to make the medals in Tokyo, in all likelihood.
| P | L | Nation | Swimmer / DoB | R.T. | 50m | 100m | 150m | Time/last 50 split | Gap | |||||||
| 1 | 5 |  RUS | RYLOV Evgeny (23 SEP 1996) | 0.53 | 27.40 | 56.41 (3) 29.01 | 1:25.58 (3) 29.17 | 1:54.46 28.88 | ||||||||
| 2 | 4 |  GBR | GREENBANK Luke (17 SEP 1997) | 0.58 | 26.84 | 55.49 (1) 28.65 | 1:24.95 (1) 29.46 | 1:54.62 29.67 | 0.16 | |||||||
| 3 | 6 |  SUI | MITYUKOV Roman (30 JUL 2000) | 0.52 | 27.23 | 56.74 (4) 29.51 | 1:26.48 (4) 29.74 | 1:56.33 29.85 | 1.87 | |||||||
| 4 | 7 |  FRA | NDOYE BROUARD Yohann (29 NOV 2000) | 0.61 | 26.56 | 55.72 (2) 29.16 | 1:25.28 (2) 29.56 | 1:56.37 31.09 | 1.91 | |||||||
| 5 | 3 |  HUN | TELEGDY Adam (01 NOV 1995) | 0.67 | 27.45 | 56.98 (5) 29.53 | 1:26.81 (5) 29.83 | 1:56.67 29.86 | 2.21 | |||||||
| 6 | 8 |  POL | KAWECKI Radoslaw (16 AUG 1991) | 0.66 | 27.81 | 57.01 (6) 29.20 | 1:26.83 (6) 29.82 | 1:57.05 30.22 | 2.59 | |||||||
| 7 | 1 | POL | SKIERKA Jakub (04 OCT 1998) | 0.62 | 28.62 | 58.86 (8) 30.24 | 1:28.97 (8) 30.11 | 1:58.56 29.59 | 4.10 | |||||||
| 8 | 2 | FRA | HERLEM Antoine (19 MAY 1999) | 0.59 | 28.20 | 57.74 (7) 29.54 | 1:28.05 (7) 30.31 | 1:58.64 30.59 | 4.18 |
Women’s 200m medley: Teenager Gorbenko Delivers First, In Battle & History, For Israel As Wood Confines Hosszu To Bronze
Anastasia Gorbenko, 17, made history for Israel with a maiden sub-2:10 blast in the 200m medley to grant her country its first European-Championship gold in women’s racing in a final that produced one of the big upsets of the meet.
At just about any other time in the past 8 years, Katinka Hosszu would have been looking at all-but certain victory in the company she kept this evening. Unrested to race at peak on the way to the defence of her Olympic medley titles, Hosszu iOS less than sharp and that cost her not only gold today but silver too.
The Hungarian Olympic champion did not lead the race on any single length, Britain’s Abbie Wood at the helm after ‘fly, fourth after backstroke as Gorbenko took charge, before the brit bit back on breaststroke and turn for home with a 0.31sec lead over the Israeli challenger.
Hosszu, in fourth, was close enough to do damage yet – but not close enough this day: her 31.07 freestyle split was the fastest in the final but Gorbenko put in a 31.88 for gold in 2:09.99, 0.045sec ahead of Wood.
| P | L | Nation | Swimmer / DoB | R.T. | 50m | 100m | 150m | Time/ last 50m | Gap | |||||||
| 1 | 4 |  ISR | GORBENKO Anastasia (07 AUG 2003) | 0.71 | 28.26 | 1:00.88 (1) 32.62 | 1:38.66 (2) 37.78 | 2:09.99 31.33 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | GBR | WOOD Abbie (02 MAR 1999) | 0.68 | 27.57 | 1:01.09 (4) 33.52 | 1:38.35 (1) 37.26 | 2:10.03 31.68 | 0.04 | |||||||
| 3 | 5 | HUN | HOSSZU Katinka (03 MAY 1989) | 0.68 | 28.10 | 1:00.91 (2) 32.81 | 1:39.05 (4) 38.14 | 2:10.12 31.07 | 0.13 | |||||||
| 4 | 7 |  ITA | FRANCESCHI Sara (01 FEB 1999) | 0.72 | 28.52 | 1:01.87 (6) 33.35 | 1:39.43 (5) 37.56 | 2:10.65 31.22 | 0.66 | |||||||
| 5 | 6 | SUI | UGOLKOVA Maria (18 JUL 1989) | 0.63 | 27.85 | 1:00.92 (3) 33.07 | 1:38.80 (3) 37.88 | 2:10.76 31.96 | 0.77 | |||||||
| 6 | 3 | ITA | CUSINATO Ilaria (05 OCT 1999) | 0.71 | 28.06 | 1:01.40 (5) 33.34 | 1:39.71 (6) 38.31 | 2:11.70 31.99 | 1.71 | |||||||
| 7 | 8 | HUN | SEBESTYEN Dalma (23 JAN 1997) | 0.72 | 28.40 | 1:02.50 (8) 34.10 | 1:40.60 (7) 38.10 | 2:12.42 31.82 | 2.43 | |||||||
| 8 | 1 | FRA | DUHAMEL Cyrielle (06 JAN 2000) | 0.68 | 28.20 | 1:01.95 (7) 33.75 | 1:40.65 (8) 38.70 | 2:13.22 32.57 | 3.23 |