Marrit Steenbergen of The Netherlands, winner of the previous night’s 100m freestyle gold, qualified comfortably from the 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke heats in the day three morning session as she pursues her manifold ambitions at the European Aquatics Championships Paris 2026.
Elsewhere there was a perky performance in the men’s 100m butterfly heats from Switzerland’s world silver medallist Noe Ponti, who had finished last in the men’s 50m butterfly final after his goggles had become displaced, and another impressive showing from Italy’s 19-year-old Sara Curtis, who topped the women’s 50m backstroke qualifying.
Maxime Grousset, for whom these Championships were the first competition he was able to take part in after breaking a bone in his foot in early June, has already had some heady experiences in the Olympic Aquatic Centre.
After being narrowly beaten to 50m butterfly gold by NAB’s Egor Kornev on day one he helped France earn its first gold on day 2 in the mixed 4×100 medley.
This morning the 50m and 100m butterfly world champion was engaged in heats for the latter event and gave the packed home crowd an early focus for extra noise as he won his heat in 51.03.
Ponti, disappointed the previous evening, managed an impressive re-set as he won his heat in 50.47, the fastest time of the morning, with Hungary’s Olympic champion Kristof Milak second fastest on 50.81.
Also progressing, on 51.49, was Hungary’s world and Olympic 200m backstroke champion Hubert Kos, who will seek to win a first European title in that discipline tonight.
Steenbergen, who already has women’s 100m freestyle gold and mixed 4x100m medley silver at these Championships, started in the third of her five scheduled events, the women’s 200m freestyle and qualified fourth fastest for tonight’s semi-finals in 1:58.00.
The field was headed by Czechia’s defending champion Barbora Seemanova, who clocked 1:57.10.
Steenbergen next turned to the women’s 50m backstroke, where she moved on from the heats as equal third fastest in 27.61, a time shared by France’s Analia Pigree and Alina Gaifutdinova of NAB.
Curtis, who had won her first European medal the previous night by finishing third in the 100m freestyle, topped the qualifiers on 27.31 from France’s Mary-Ambre Moluh on 27.39.
NAB’s Kirill Prigoda, fourth in the men’s 200m breaststroke at last year’s World Aquatics Championships, topped qualifying for tonight’s semi-finals in 2:09.33, from Great Britain’s 18-year-old Filip Nowacki on 2:09.47 and world bronze medallist Caspar Corbeau of The Netherlands on 2: 09.66.
Poland’s Justina Kozan topped qualifiers for tonight’s women’s 400m individual medley final in 4:40.47 from Great Britain’s 16-year-old European junior champion Amalie Smith on 4:40.56 and Hungary’s 17-year-old Vivien Jackl, the 2024 silver medallist, on 4:40.71.
Defending champion Anastasia Gorbenko of Israel qualified in seventh place on 4:42.23.
The session ended on a high for home fans as Beryl Gastaldello anchored their women’s 4x100m freestyle team to victory in the second heat in 3:37.05, third fastest behind the NAB’s 3:36.61 and The Netherlands on 3:36.84.
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Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
