Seven Gold Medals In One Day Handed To Great Britain Women As Molly Renshaw Ends Efimova* Bull Run & 4×200 Quartet Dominate
Molly Renshaw delivered a second gold for Britain of the fifth evening of finals at the European Championships in Budapest with a 2:21.34 triumph in the 200m breaststroke before four of her teammates struck a third gold for the Brits ion the day in the 4x200m freestyle.
After Kathleen Dawson claimed the 100m backstroke title only to be told she would have to re-swim it because lane 8 couldn’t hear the starting signal properly, Renshaw produced the first defeat of Yuliya Efimova* since the Russian claimed Olympic silver at Rio 2016.
Then, Lucy Hope, Tamsin Van Selm, Holly Hibbott and Freya Anderson, with Emma Russell cheering them on after helping to get the team to the final, roared to a dominant 7:53.15 victory in the 4x200m relay ahead of quartets from Hungary and Italy.
With Dawson’s first-final win, that made three golds in total and seven gold medals handed out to Great Britain women today. And then there was silver and bronze for Duncan Scott and Tom Dean in other 200m freestyle for a five-medal haul that included podium prizes for nine members of the Great Britain squad.
Back to the women’s 200m breaststroke and, on the way to Tokyo 2020, we recall that In 2017, Efimova took the World title, in 2018 the European crown and then in 2019 she retained the global crown, and all of it after a 2013 positive test for a banned substance and much ill-feeling in the sport when her penalty was set at 16 months, just in time for her to return for Russian trials she had to race at to qualify for a home World Championships at a time when FINA gave it highest honour to … Vladimir Putin.
No politics here, move along…
Today, it wasn’t only Renshaw who got the better of the tainted Russian, who was a poster girl for July on the FINA calendar in 2015 in the midst of her suspension for doping.
Lisa Mamie, of Switzerland came home in a national record of 2:22.04 for silver, 0.11 ahead of the defeated 2018 champion, whose 2:22.16 locked her teammate Evgeniia Chikunova out of the medals by 0.01sec. Mamie led by a fingernail down the first length before Renshaw took the helm and never relinquished it.
| P | L | Nation | Swimmer/ DoB | R.T. | 50m | 100m | 150m | Time/ last 50 | Gap | |||||||
| 1 | 4 |  GBR | RENSHAW Molly (06 MAY 1996) | 0.70 | 32.41 | 1:07.86 (1) 35.45 | 1:44.14 (1) 36.28 | 2:21.34 37.20 | ||||||||
| 2 | 3 |  SUI | MAMIE Lisa (27 OCT 1998) | 0.78 | 32.36 | 1:08.71 (3) 36.35 | 1:45.28 (3) 36.57 | 2:22.05 36.77 | 0.71 | |||||||
| 3 | 2 |  RUS | EFIMOVA Yuliya (03 APR 1992) | 0.77 | 33.07 | 1:08.98 (4) 35.91 | 1:45.09 (2) 36.11 | 2:22.16 37.07 | 0.82 | |||||||
| 4 | 6 | RUS | CHIKUNOVA Evgeniia (17 NOV 2004) | 0.69 | 32.83 | 1:09.09 (5) 36.26 | 1:45.89 (5) 36.80 | 2:22.17 36.28 | 0.83 | |||||||
| 5 | 5 | GBR | WOOD Abbie (02 MAR 1999) | 0.66 | 32.72 | 1:08.68 (2) 35.96 | 1:45.49 (4) 36.81 | 2:22.78 37.29 | 1.44 | |||||||
| 6 | 8 |  ITA | FANGIO Francesca (17 AUG 1995) | 0.69 | 32.83 | 1:09.74 (7) 36.91 | 1:46.59 (6) 36.85 | 2:24.26 37.67 | 2.92 | |||||||
| 7 | 7 |  ESP | GARCIA URZAINQUI Marina (06 JUN 1994) | 0.73 | 32.94 | 1:09.38 (6) 36.44 | 1:46.90 (7) 37.52 | 2:25.76 38.86 | 4.42 | |||||||
| 8 | 1 | ESP | VALL MONTERO Jessica (22 NOV 1988) | 0.72 | 33.29 | 1:10.37 (8) 37.08 | 1:47.90 (8) 37.53 | 2:25.84 37.94 | 4.50 |
Women’s 4x200m freestyle: Gold For Britain
The title was retained by Britain by a margin of 3.11sec – and even in a race in which Federica Pellegrini chased down Boglarka Kapas but couldn’t quite get there with a 1:56.54 split, Freya Anderson produced the swiftest split of the final without any need to do so barring the pride of winning with pride, on 1:56.40.
| P | L | Team/ swimmer/ DoB | 200m | TIME | GAP | |||||||||||||
| 1 | 6 | GREAT BRITAIN HOPE Lucy – 30 JAN 1997 VAN SELM Tamryn – 27 JAN 2004 HIBBOTT Holly – 13 DEC 1999 ANDERSON Freya – 04 MAR 2001 | . | 1:58.45 1:58.59 1:59.71 1:56.40 | 7:53.15 | |||||||||||||
| 2 | 7 | HUNGARY JAKABOS Zsuzsanna – 03 APR 1989 FABIAN Fanni – 30 OCT 2002 VERES Laura – 21 AUG 2005 KAPAS Boglarka – 22 APR 1993 | 1:59.34 2:00.19 1:59.23 1:57.50 | 7:56.26 | 3.11 | |||||||||||||
| 3 | 4 | ITALY PIROZZI Stefania – 16 DEC 1993 GAILLI Sara – 23 DEC 2001 QUADARELLA Simona – 18 DEC 1998 PELLEGRINI Federica – 05 AUG 1988 | 1:59.63 1:59.94 2:00.61 1:56.54 | 7:56.72 | 3.57 | |||||||||||||
| 4 | 8 | FRANCE BONNET Charlotte – 14 FEB 1995 CARNEZ Oceane – 03 APR 2002 TESSARIOL Lucile – 06 JAN 2004 TOUATI Assia – 23 APR 1995 | 1:57.31 2:01.47 2:00.61 2:00.06 | 7:59.45 | 6.30 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | 3 | DENMARK HANSEN Marina Heller – 28 FEB 1994 BACH Helena Rosendahl – 12 JUN 2000 MORTENSEN Amalie Soeby – 11 OCT 2001 HOWARDSEN Maj – 12 JAN 1997 | 2:01.63 1:58.50 2:00.20 2:01.00 | 8:01.33 | 8.18 | |||||||||||||
| 6 | 1 | POLAND KNOP Aleksandra – 09 SEP 2003 POLANSKA Aleksandra – 24 SEP 2000 NOGAJ Paulina – 27 OCT 1998 KOSSAKOWSKA Dominika – 30 JAN 2001 | 2:01.67 1:59.10 2:02.62 2:00.46 | 8:03.85 | 10.70 | |||||||||||||
| 7 | 2 | BELGIUM DUMONT Valentine – 02 JUL 2000BUYS Kimberly – 23 APR 1989 RAVELINGIEN Lana – 25 MAR 2003 GORIS Lotte – 20 MAR 2000 | 1:58.61 2:02.69 2:03.48 2:00.11 | 8:04.89 | 11.74 | |||||||||||||
| 8 | 5 | ISRAEL GOLOVATY Daria – 30 AUG 2005 MUREZ Andrea – 29 JAN 1992 POLONSKY Lea – 25 MAY 2002 GORBENKO Anastasia – 07 AUG 2003 | 2:01.71 1:59.26 2:02.47 2:04.25 | 8:07.69 | 14.54 |
Men’s 200m freestyle: Russia Last-Length Rattler
Never nice to lose a title but Martin Malyutin‘s 1:44.79 victory, inside the 19-year-old record of Pieter van den Hoogenband (1:44.89 any Berlin 2002) and delivered with a last length turn of speed the rest could not cope with today, may serve as good hunger for the Brits he beat on the way to the Tokyo Olympics.
The silver went to defending champion Duncan Scott in 1:45.19, bronze to his Britain teammate Tom Dean, in 1:45.34. The Brits had topped the 200m at British Olympic trials last month in 1:44.47 and 1:44.58, respectively, in what was the fastest domestic 200m line-up ever in textile suits (and even counting shiny the second swiftest). The final in Budapest today was slower than 1-2 for the win and just 0.1sec faster than 8th place at Britain trials in London last month when eight men from one nation put on a terrific spectacle of speed.
This day belonged to Malyutin, however, and this is how his swim compares to the Great Britain challengers today and a month ago as he sped to a time that still leaves him almost a second shy of the 1:43.90 Russian record that survives to Danila Izotov from a time of shiny suits in 2009:
- 24.87; 51.28; 1:18.52; 1:44.79 (26.27) Martin Malyutin today
- 24.88; 51.38; 1:18.36; 1:45.19 (26.83) Duncan Scott today
- 24.40; 51.43; 1:18.49; 1:45.34 (26.85) Tom Dean today
- 24.45; 50.25; 1:16.88; 1:44.47 (27.47) Duncan Scott April 2021
- 23.98; 50.57; 1:17.36; 1:44.58 (27.22) Tom Dean April 2021
Which goes to show that, while Mayutin’s last length was mighty, it was the slower first three lengths of the two men besides him that won him the race. The splits are stacked with food for coaches.
| P | L | N | Swimmer / DoB | R. | 50m | 100m | 150m | Time last 50m | Gap | |||||||
| 1 | 4 | RUS | MALYUTIN Martin (05 JUL 1999) | 0.70 | 24.87 | 51.28 (2) 26.41 | 1:18.52 (3) 27.24 | 1:44.79CR 26.27 | ||||||||
| 2 | 5 | GBR | SCOTT Duncan W (06 MAY 1997) | 0.68 | 24.88 | 51.38 (3) 26.50 | 1:18.36 (1) 26.98 | 1:45.19 26.83 | 0.40 | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | GBR | DEAN Thomas (02 MAY 2000) | 0.68 | 24.40 | 51.43 (5) 27.03 | 1:18.49 (2) 27.06 | 1:45.34 26.85 | 0.55 | |||||||
| 4 | 6 |  LTU | RAPSYS Danas (29 MAY 1995) | 0.66 | 24.97 | 52.23 (6) 27.26 | 1:19.66 (6) 27.43 | 1:45.72 26.06 | 0.93 | |||||||
| 5 | 1 |  HUN | MILAK Kristof (20 FEB 2000) | 0.67 | 23.96 | 51.03 (1) 27.07 | 1:18.58 (4) 27.55 | 1:45.74 27.16 | 0.95 | |||||||
| 6 | 2 | SUI | DJAKOVIC Antonio (08 OCT 2002) | 0.73 | 24.60 | 51.40 (4) 26.80 | 1:18.87 (5) 27.47 | 1:46.10 27.23 | 1.31 | |||||||
| 7 | 7 |  SWE | HANSON Robin (02 APR 2001) | 0.66 | 24.93 | 52.38 (7) 27.45 | 1:20.11 (7) 27.73 | 1:47.34 27.23 | 2.55 | |||||||
| 8 | 8 |  SRB | STJEPANOVIC Velimir (07 AUG 1993) | 0.64 | 24.94 | 52.50 (8) 27.56 | 1:20.25 (8) 27.75 | 1:47.66 27.41 | 2.87 |
Women’s 1500m freestyle: Quadarella At The Double
Simona Quadarella, of Italy, added the 1500m crown to her 800m title and now boasts a double-double, having claimed both the distance titles at Glasgow 2018. She was never in danger:
- QUADARELLA Simona Quadarella ITA – 4:11.33 – 5:14.86 – 8:25.67 – 10:33.46 – 14:51.00 – 15:53.59 (30.77)
- Anastasia Kirpichnikova RUS – 16:01.06
- Martina Rita Martina Caramignoli ITA – 16:05.81
Men’s 50m butterfly:
Gold went to Szebasztian Szabo for the hosts in 23.00, 0.01sec ahead of defending champion and World-record holder Andriy Govorov, of Ukraine, the bronze to Russian Andrey Zhilkin in 23.08, in turn just 0.01sec ahead of Poland’s Konrad Czerniak.
| P | L | Nation | Swimmer / DoB | R | Time | Gap | |||||||
| 1 | 6 | HUN | SZABO Szebasztian (11 MAR 1996) | 0.61 | 23.00 | ||||||||
| 2 | 4 |  UKR | GOVOROV Andriy (10 APR 1992) | 0.60 | 23.01 | 0.01 | |||||||
| 3 | 5 | RUS | ZHILKIN Andrey (09 MAR 1995) | 0.66 | 23.08 | 0.08 | |||||||
| 4 | 8 |  POL | CZERNIAK Konrad (11 JUN 1989) | 0.73 | 23.09 | 0.09 | |||||||
| 5 | 7 |  NED | KORSTANJE Nyls (05 FEB 1999) | 0.63 | 23.14 | 0.14 | |||||||
| 6 | 3 | RUS | MINAKOV Andrei (17 MAR 2002) | 0.63 | 23.18 | 0.18 | |||||||
| 7 | 1 | ITA | CODIA Piero (22 OCT 1989) | 0.62 | 23.54 | 0.54 | |||||||
| 8 | 2 | ITA | CECCON Thomas (27 JAN 2001) | 0.68 | 23.56 | 0.56 |