Britain’s 15-year-old Amalie Smith brought the wow factor to the European Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships on day one as she won women’s 400m individual medley gold in a Championship record of 4:37.02.

Elsewhere on the first night of finals there was 4x100m freestyle gold for the Spanish women’s team, while Italy successfully defended their men’s 4x100m freestyle title.

In her debut at these Championships the rapidly rising Smith left in her wake the 16-year-old Hungarian who was seeking to win this title for a third consecutive time, Vivien Jackl, who set the previous Championship record of 4:39.28 in taking gold at Vilnius last year.

The result set British flags waving around the sunshot outdoor pool within the Slovakian Olympic Training Centre venue.

Jackl, who qualified earlier in the day for tomorrow’s 1500m freestyle final – the event she won at last year’s senior European Aquatics Championships – had to settle for bronze in 4:40.40 behind Germany’s Noelle Benkler, whose time of 4:39.01 was also inside her 2024 mark.

“It’s incredible really,” Smith told European Aquatics. “It’s my first European juniors so to be able to achieve that is – wow!

 “One of my goals was to get here so to get a medal is just incredible.

“It was quite crazy, I got a four second PB which is really good especially as I’ve been struggling to get near that time so I’m really impressed with that. I just kept pushing through the tough times.

“I was hoping just to get a medal but when I saw that scoreboard I was so happy and all the hard training has been worth it. This will give me a lot of confidence as I never thought I could do this, so it’s a real confidence booster.”

Jackl clocked 2:12.01 at the 200m mark, with Benkler on 2:15.61 and Smith more than five seconds adrift of the lead on 2:17.05.

But by the time the breaststroke phase was over Smith had a lead she never relinquished, coming through in 3:34.14, with Benkler in close contention on 3:34.41 but with Jackl slipping back to 3:36.05.

Smith’s return freestyle to the finish was furious as she opened up a two-second lead over her German pursuer.

In the women’s 4x100m freestyle final Spain established a lead through first leg swimmer Maria Daza Garcia – who came home in 54.87 – which they never lost, despite coming under huge pressure from the nation defending the title, Italy, for whom Caterina Santambrogio produced a huge effort of 54.84 on the last leg.

Spain claimed gold amid huge celebration in 3:41.29, with Italy taking silver in 3:41.69 and bronze going to Germany on 3:42.36, 0.20 ahead of Great Britain.

“This is our first medal & it makes us so happy and very proud for what we achieved together and for our country,” said Spain’s Sara Costa de Vicente. “We’ve worked very hard for this moment. The medal is very big and very beautiful.”

Italy were unassailable in the men’s 4x100m freestyle final, however, taking control through the second leg swim of Daniele del Signore, who clocked 49.36, and closing in 3:19.26 after a 49.07 leg from Daniel D’Agostino.

France, early leaders, took silver in 3:19.26, with bronze going to Great Britain in 3:20.00.

Del Signore said: “It’s my first time with this relay, they are all very happy guys right now, so I’m happy to take this medal with all of them. I want to say congratulations to all of the teams who won medals with us in the relay.

Team-mate Francesco Ceolin added:“Since I was a kid I dreamed about this and in fact I have to say I was pretty nervous but the key in our team was the ability to stay connected with one another and this is what helped me a lot. Also I tried my best to make them feel confident. I’m grateful for what we did.”

Turkey’s defending men’s 50m breaststroke champion Nusrat Allahverdi laid down a marker for his intentions in tomorrow’s final with a time of 27.38 – just 0.15 off the Championship record set by Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi in 2017. Next fastest were Germany’s Jan Malte Grafe on 27.59 and Britain’s Filip Nowacki on 27.63.

Lithuania’s Tajus Juska, who will start the defence of his 100m freestyle title on Saturday, was fastest semi-final qualifier for tomorrow’s men’s 200m freestyle final in 1:47.35 from Austria’s Christian Giefing on 1:47.58 and Sander Sorensen of Norway on 1:47.99.

Britain’s Blythe Kinsman was fastest qualifier for tomorrow’s women’s 50m backstroke final in 28.17 from Varvara Hlushchenko of Poland on 28.49, with Daria-Mariuca Silisteanu of Romania and France’s Jeanne Lechevalier joint third on 28.50.

Italy’s Bianca Nannucci headed the qualifiers for the women’s 200m freestyle final in 1:59.14 from Spain’s Maria Daza Garcia on 1:59.46 and neutral athlete Sofia Niakova.

Estonia’s Egle Salu was fastest in the women’s 50m breaststroke semi-finals in 31.31, with Italy’s Irene Burato on 31.61 and Ukraine’s Iryna Miliutina on 31.92.

Neutral athlete Georgii Iakovlev topped the list in the men’s 50m backstroke semi-finals on 24.98, with Italy’s Daniele del Signore second fastest on 25.17 ahead of a second neutral athlete Mikhail Shcherbakov on 25.36.

In an Opening Ceremony attended by Ivan Šulek, President of the Slovak Swimming Federation, and Sweden’s European Aquatics Vice President Christer Magnusson,  the Slovak Minister of Youth and Sport, Rudolf Huliak, commented:

“It is with great joy that I welcome you to the Slovak Republic, especially in Samorin, a city that is becoming a centre of sport not only in Slovakia but in recent days across all Europe.

“It is an honour for us to host the Junior European Swimming Championships. We are proud to showcase to the world Slovak hospitality, organisation excellence and the sporting infrastructure we are continuously building and improving.”

Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics