Great Britain’s Filip Nowacki tonight added the world junior 200m breaststroke title to the 100m version he had claimed two days earlier – and European swimmers added further lustre to their reputation as Ukraine’s Nikita Sheremet and Smilte Plytnykaite of Lithuania also earned gold.
The session’s concluding event of the men’s 4x200m freestyle went to the team of neutral athletes, with bronze going to Italy.
As he had in the Wednesday’s 100m breaststroke at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships, the 17-year-old Nowacki won a personal duel with Japan’s 16-year-old world junior record holder Shin Ohashi to replicate the European junior double he won last month.
While the first final saw just 0.30 separating the rivals, today it was even closer as Nowacki set a Championship record of 2:07.32, with Ohashi just 0.24 behind.
Sheremet, European junior silver medallist in the men’s 50m freestyle, went one better in the global contest as he clocked 21.99 to head home a clean sweep for Europe.
Jacob Mills of Great Britain took silver in 22.02, with bronze going to Italy’s Carlos D’Ambrosio, who set a Championship record in the men’s 200m freestyle, claiming bronze in 22.14.
Plytnykaite, who took silver in the 50m breaststroke, went one better in the 100m event, clocking 1:06.86 to hold off the challenge of Germany’s European junior 200m breaststroke champion Lena Ludwig, 1:06.86 to 1:07.60.s
Ireland’s John Shortt, who took the men’s 100m backstroke title earlier this week ahead of neutral athlete Georgii Iakovlev, added bronze in the 50m backstroke with a time of 25.06 as the latter swimmer shared gold with Italy’s Daniele Del Signore in 24.91.
Britain’s 15-year-old Amalie Smith, European junior champion in the women’s 200m and 400m individual medley, added 200m silver to the 400m bronze she won earlier this week as she finished second in 2:11.07 behind 16-year-old Audrey Derivaux of the United States, who clocked 2:10.58.
Denmark’s Martine Damborg, double European junior champion, took bronze in the women’s 50m butterfly behind New Zealand’s winner Zoe Pedersen and Japan’s Mizuki Hirai.
Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
