European swimmers including Britain’s Filip Nowacki and Kuzey Tuncelli of Turkiye are set for podium appearances at the World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships that start in the Romanian venue of Otopeni tomorrow and run until August 24.
Otopeni successfully hosted the 2023 European Aquatics Short Course Championships, where Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen won 800m freestyle in a world record of 7:20.46.
These will be the 10th edition of Championships – involving 14 to 18-year-olds – which were first held in Rio de Janeiro in 2006.
The eighth edition, at Lima in 2022, saw the host nation’s current Olympic 200m breaststroke champion and sporting idol David Popovici win freestyle gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m, setting a Championship record of 1:46.18 in the second event.
Nowacki – who won four titles at the European Junior Championships in early July – is among a 14-strong Great Britain squad selected.
Nowacki set a European junior record of 2:08.32 in the 200m breaststroke. And having lowered Adam Peaty’s British 100m breaststroke junior mark in the prelims, the 17-year-old went on to post 59.59 en-route to gold and also helped earn golds in the men’s and mixed medley relays.
He will have his work cut out in Otopeni, however, as he is due to face Japan’s 16-year-old Shin Ohashi, who set a men’s 200m breaststroke world junior record of 2:06.91 earlier this year.
Nowacki is one of five European junior champions to be selected alongside Amelie Blocksidge, Dean Fearn, Blythe Kinsman and Amalie Smith.
Tuncelli will be defending his titles in the 800m and 1500m freestyle titles.
The 17-year-old European 1500m champion, who holds the world junior record at that distance in both short and long course, completed the 800m/1500m double at the European Juniors in Samorin last month despite carrying a foot injury.
He will also contest the men’s 400m freestyle.
Unfortunately Tuncelli’s 16-year-old compatriot Rami Rahmouni, who won the French junior 800m title in April, is out of the Championships with a sprained ankle.
One of Tuncelli’s main rivals will be Germany’s Johannes Liebmann, who took European junior silver behind him at 1500m and also finished second in the 400m freestyle in Samorin.
Italy stands fifth in the overall medals, with Hungary seventh, Spain eighth and Poland ninth.
At the last edition, held at Netanya, Israel in 2023, three European nations finished joint fourth behind the United States, Australia and Canada – with Bosnia and Hercegovina, Denmark and Ukraine each securing two golds and a silver.
Other European junior champions competing include Ireland’s John Shortt – who took 100m backstroke gold in Samorin after having to settle for bronze in his defence of the 200m backstroke title.
“This is my second time in Romania,” he told World Aquatics. “We were here for the European Short Course Championships two years ago, when Daniel Wiffen broke his first world records.”
Shortt, 18, who reached the semi-finals of the 200m backstroke at the recent World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, added: “This pool brings back some nice memories. I swam pretty well the last time I was here, so if I can do that again, I’d be very happy. I am swimming all of the backstroke events here — 50m, 100m, and 200m.”
Tomorrow will feature four finals – the men’s 400m freestyle, the women’s 400m medley, the men’s 4x100m freestyle and the women’s 4x200m freestyle.
Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
