The Week That Was: Szabo, Shymanovich Tie World Records During Busy European Short Course Championships

Gold Medal SZABO Szebasztian HUN Hungary 50m Freestyle Men Podium Kazan - Russia 04/11/2021 Aquatics Palace LEN European Short Course Swimming Championships Photo Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Szebastian Szabo -- Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

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This week in swimming was highlighted by six days of racing at the European Short Course Championships in Kazan, Russia, where Szebastian Szabo tied the world record in the men’s 50 fly and Ilya Shymanovich pulled the same feat in the men’s 50 breast, among other swift performances. In the United States, Virginia and Texas met in a dual meet, and Virginia’s stacked women’s team of Olympians was highly impressive, as was Texas sophomore Carson Foster as he recorded some of the fastest dual meet times ever. And after a long wait, the home and date of this year’s ISL final is confirmed.

Read the five biggest stories of the week in The Week That Was sponsored by Suitmate.

The Week That Was #1: Szebastian Szabo and Ilya Shymanovich Match World Records; Six Days of Action at European Short Course Championships

Ilya Shymanovich — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

By Liz Byrnes

Szebastian Szabo matched the 50 fly world record and Kira Toussaint and Sarah Sjostrom each secured a golden treble at the European Short-Course Championships in Kazan, Russia.

Szabo flew to 21.75 to equal Nicholas Santos‘ mark from October 2018 as the Hungarian claimed his third title of the week at the Aquatics Palace.

Szabo has been on golden form this week with victories in the 50 free and 100 fly and booked lane four with a championship record of 22.00

He had a fantastic start and was first to turn, coming home to equal the world record set by Brazil’s Nicholas Santos in October 2018.

Matteo Rivolta set an Italian record of 22.14 for second with teammate Thomas Ceccon third in 22.24.

Szabo said:

“Oh man, that one hundredth… Ok, I’m also a world record holder now and the European mark is mine too so it’s great, really great.

“It was the plan, to have a swim like this.

“The start was terrific and then I gave all I had. In fact, I did a lot of racing which helped me a lot to excel here but at the same time I also start feeling the fatigue nowadays – but it’s more while I’m on dryland, once I jump to the pool I feel I could go as fast as I want.

“Obviously, it’s better this way than the opposite.”

With a nod to modesty, he added:

“No, I still don’t feel I’m a great star of this sport, the three golds are fine, the record too but I’m not the kind of person who will run around celebrating.

“It’s great to claim all these medals, happy to be able to achieve these results but I just wish to go back to the training pool and get ready for the World Championships too.”

One day later, Ilya Shymanovich equalled Cameron van der Burgh‘s 50 breaststroke world record when he went 25.25 at the European Short-Course Championships in Kazan.

Nicolo Martinenghi had gone within 0.12 of Van der Burgh’s global standard in the semis in 25.37.

It was the Belarus swimmer who stopped the clock first to tie the South African’s WR set in November 2009.

It was his second gold medal of the meet following the 200 title on Saturday (By 0.01 over Arno Kamminga) and meant he left the Aquatics Palace with three after also taking silver over 100m.

Shymanovich then went on to split 24.72 as Belarus came fifth in the mixed 4×50 medley relay.

Emre Sakci was second in 25.39 and Martinenghi third in 25.54.

Shymanovich said:

“This is incredible, I wanted to improve my personal best and I kind of did it.

“I think everything went well, I didn’t commit any mistake. All what I could do, I did, so I’m really happy now.”

Meanwhile, David Popovici claimed his first senior title in the 200 free, and Anastasia Gorbenko added the 200IM short-course title to her long-course gold and the Netherlands won the mixed 4×50 free.

On the final day, Ilya Borodin made history when he went 3:58.83 for gold in the 400IM to slice 0.32 from Daiya Seto‘s WJR of 3:59.15 which had stood to the Japanese swimmer since December 2012.

The last two races of the six-day meet then brought a European mark of 7:27.94 for Gregorio Paltrinieri in the 800 free as he lowered Yannick Agnel’s 2012 record.

In the final race, Thom de Boer propelled the Netherlands to gold and a world record of 1:36.18 in the mixed 4×50 medley relay after diving in at 150 in sixth.

Russia headed the standings with 11 gold, five silver and eight bronze medals ahead of the Netherlands (8, 5, 5) with Italy third with seven golds.

More from the European Short Course Championships:

#2: Defending NCAA Champions Virginia Women and Texas Men Shine in Dual Meet

Carson Foster — Photo Courtesy: Angela Wang / Texas Athletics

By David Rieder

Friday recap | Saturday recap

The highly-anticipated two-day dual meet between the Virginia Cavaliers and the Texas Longhorns in Charlottesville lived up to the hype as the two defending national championship teams, the Virginia women and Texas men, each put up some incredible performances against top-notch competition from their counterparts. The Texas men ended up winning every event on the schedule on the way to a 223-122 triumph, while Virginia’s women had to overcome Texas’ strong start (fueled in part by diving) before pulling away by sweeping every event on Saturday in a 201-152 win.

On the women’s side, 400 IM Olympic silver medalist Emma Weyant posted three individual wins. First, she won the 400 IM in 4:05.68, and fellow Cavalier Ella Nelson placed second in 4:08.10. Later in the day, Weyant out-dueled 1500 free Olympic silver medalist Erica Sullivan to win the 1000 free, 9:42.71 to 9:47.39. On Saturday, she won the 500 free, swimming a 4:46.11 to beat out the Texas duo of Evie Pfeifer (4:47.82) and Sullivan (4:48.49).

The men’s standout was Texas sophomore Carson Foster, the third-place finisher in the 400-meter IM at last year’s Olympic Trials but the fastest swimmer in the world in the event this year. Against Virginia, Foster delivered a 400-yard IM performance that was, at least by in-season standards, special. Foster swam a 3:40.48, beating the field by five seconds. Finishing second was his older brother, Jake, in 3:45.94, and Texas’ David Johnston took third to complete the 1-2-3 sweep. Later on, Carson Foster won the 200 fly, typically not one of his primary events, in 1:44.29. Once again, Texas finished 1-2, this time with Ethan Harder grabbing that second spot.

Then, on Saturday, Foster swam a 1:42.14 in the 200 back to win by two seconds and break a 16-year-old pool record previously held by swimming legend Ryan Lochte.

Foster’s older brother, Jake, also pulled off some impressive performances. First, he won the 200 breast in 1:55.91, barely holding off Virginia’s Noah Nichols (1:56.05) while fellow Longhorn Caspar Corbeau (1:56.60) was close as well. Then, Jake won the 200 IM in a tight finish over UVA’s Sean Conway. The Longhorn junior trailed by eight tenths at the halfway point but pulled ahead on the back half to come in at 1:45.66, compared to Conway’s 1:45.80.

In the first men’s race of Saturday, Texas won the 400 medley relay but only after Danny Krueger unleashed a sizzling 41.85 anchor leg to run down Virginia’s Matt Brownstead. Kruger entered the pool three tenths down but ended up pulling ahead and winning 3:09.47 to 3:09.96 (despite Brownstead’s more-than-respectable 42.67 on the way home). Anthony Grimm, Caspar Corbeau and Alvin Jiang also swam on that relay.

Texas’ David Johnston, the winner of the 1000 free Friday, added a victory in the 500 free in 4:22.41, and he led a Texas 1-2-3-4 finish with Coby Carroza, Alex Zettle and Luke Hobson. Krueger won the 100 free in 43.05 with Kibler taking second (43.74), and Jiang edged out UVA’s Konnar Klinksiek to win the 100 fly, 47.71 to 47.89.

The men’s competition wrapped up with another super tight relay finish as the Texas foursome of Krueger, Corbeau, Cameron Auchinachie and Kibler held off Virginia’s Matt King, August Lamb, Justin Grender and Brownstead, 1:18.61 to 1:18.83. Kibler had enough on the anchor leg with his 19.51 split, while Brownstead had the fastest overall split at 19.43.

In the women’s meet, Saturday’s top performer was Virginia junior Ella Nelson, the runnerup in the 200 breaststroke at last year’s NCAA Championships. Against Texas, Nelson won the 200 breast (2:08.79) and 200 IM (1:57.33). She had to overtake early leader Kelly Pash of Texas in the IM, but Nelson ended up touching 0.13 ahead.

Each of Virginia’s Olympians posted one win Saturday. In addition to Weyant’s 500 free win, Alex Walsh took first in the 200 back in a quick 1:53.37, and Kate Douglass won the 100 fly in 51.99.

Gretchen Walsh, younger sister of Alex, cruised to a 1.69-second win in the 100 free as she touched in 48.00.

In the women’s 400 medley relay, the Virginia quartet of Gretchen Walsh (50.89), Alexis Wenger (58.17), Douglass (50.93) and Alex Walsh (49.08) recorded an elite time of 3:29.07 to win by almost four seconds. To conclude the meet, the Cavaliers‘ Gretchen Walsh (21.88), Douglass (21.56), Alex Walsh (22.07) and Lexi Cuomo (22.60) dominated the 200 free relay with their final time of 1:28.11.

Results for the meet are available here.

More NCAA dual meets:

The Week That Was #3: ISL Sets New Date For Season 3 Final in Eindhoven

ISL ISL International Swimming League 2021 Match 8 day 2 Piscina Felice Scandone Napoli, Naples Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

The International Swimming League is pleased to announce that the ISL Season 3 Final will take place on 3-4 December 2021 at the Pieter van den Hoogenband Zwemstadion, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Following the ISL Season 3 Play-offs, to be held from 11 to 28 November, the four best ISL teams will compete in the Season 3 Final match on Friday, 3 December and Saturday, 4 December, when the ISL Season 3 Champions will be crowned.

The competitions will be held at the legendary Pieter van den Hoogenband Zwemstadion, Antoon Coolenlaan 1, Eindhoven, from 19:00 to 21:00 CET on both days.

Alderman Stijn Steenbakkers: “The swimming capital of the Netherlands lives up to its name. In addition to the Play-offs, which will already provide a lot of excitement, fans will also be able to attend the International Swimming League Season 3 Final. It will most definitely be a beautiful swimming show which will delight swimming fans of all generations – a truly unique opportunity to see their favorite champions in action. We are really proud to host the ISL Final. We would also like to thank our local swimming clubs for their help and collaboration, without which this event would not be possible.”

Harold Matla: “On behalf of PSV Zwemsporten and the swimming clubs in Eindhoven we want to welcome the ISL Season 3 Final to our city. We are happy that, in the spirit of good cooperation among all stakeholders, the clubs were able to assist the City of Eindhoven in finding creative solutions and making this event possible. We are looking forward to seeing all swimmers competing in the coming weeks.”

#4: Kyle Chalmers and Holly Barratt the Lone Australian Dolphins for World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi

Kyle Chalmers — Photo Courtesy: FINA

By Ian Hansson

Latest world-record holder Kyle Chalmers and defending two-time medalist Holly Barratt will be Australia’s lone representatives in next month’s US $2.8 million FINA Short Course World Championships, in Abu Dhabi (December 15-20).

Australian Head Coach Rohan Taylor confirmed to Swimming World that both Chalmers and Barratt would be the only two Dolphins lining up in the six-day event post the ISL final in Eindhoven.

And it could well net a record catch for Chalmers – the man they call “the Big Tuna” – with Fina putting up a $US50,000 bonus for any world records at the meet.

The WR bonuses will come on top of record individual medal prize money in international swimming’s richest ever meet.

Chalmers earned a $US10, 000 WR bonus from Fina for his 44.84 WR time in the final World Cup meet in Kazan last week.

Chalmers and Barratt will now prepare to spearhead the London Roar and Aqua Centurians respectively in the rich International Swimming League (ISL) when the play-offs start in Eindhoven this week.

Barratt, who turns 34 on January 1, has been a valued member of the Aqua Centurians during the ISL season and has also been one of the most consistent swimmers in the World Cups – with eight podium finishes, including gold in the 50m butterfly in Kazan.

At the last Fina World Short Course Championships in Hangzhou in 2018, Barratt won silver and bronze in the 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke respectively.

Her successes in the World Cups earned her $US32, 400 while Chalmers remained unbeaten in the 100m freestyle with his 10 medals – five of them gold earning the Tokyo Olympic 100m silver medalist $US47, 900.

For Chalmers, who admits he has only just got serious about short course swimming, has never swum at a Fina World Short Course Championships.

Chalmers and Barratt will represent Australia’s smallest ever contingent at a World Championship meet since Long Course Championships were first swum in Belgrade in 1973 and the inaugural Short Course Championships in Palma de Majorca in 1993.

The Week That Was #5: JoJo Ramey, Erin Gemmell Announce College Commitments

JoJo Ramey

By Chandler Brandes:

JoJo Ramey: The University of Florida has landed another big verbal commitment for the fall of 2023 from Olympic Trials finalist and U.S. National Junior Teamer JoJo Ramey of Fishers, Indiana.

She will join in-stater Michaela Mattes in Gainesville as a member of the Gators’ Class of 2027.

Regarding her commitment, she said:

“I am beyond excited to announce that I will be continuing my athletic and academic career at the University of Florida! I am so thankful for my family, friends, and coaches at FAST for guiding me along the way. Also, thank you to all of the UF coaches for giving me this amazing opportunity. I cannot wait to be a part of Gator Nation!! GO GATORS”

A versatile swimmer, Ramey does her club swimming with Fishers Area Swimming Tigers and is a member of the USA Swimming National Junior Team. She most recently competed at the FINA World Cup stops in Berlin and Budapest, placing fourth in the 200 back and seventh in the 100 back in Budapest after earning a runner-up showing in the 200 back in Berlin.

At Wave II of Olympic Trials in June, Ramey finished seventh overall in the 200m back after finishing fifth during semifinals. She also raced to 15th in semis of the 100 back in Omaha, concluding her stellar summer with a gold medal in the 200 back at the Speedo Summer East Championships.

Erin Gemmell: U.S. National Junior Team member and Olympic Trials qualifier Erin Gemmell of Potomac, Maryland, has announced her college choice beginning in the fall of 2023: The University of Texas.

She will join Berit Berglund of Carmel, Indiana, as a member of the Longhorns’ Class of 2027.

Regarding her commitment, she said:

“What do you know about immortality?” #HOOKEM Thanks to everyone who has helped me through this process, I’m excited to announce my commitment to University of Texas! Here’s to more orange in my closet and many more amazing people in my life; I can’t wait to be a longhorn!”

Gemmell trains year-round with Nation’s Capital Swim Club where her father, Bruce Gemmell, is the head coach. She most recently earned bronze in the 200 free at the FINA World Cup stop in Budapest after taking third in the 400 free in Berlin. She also placed sixth in the 200 free in Berlin before going on to take seventh in the 800m free in Budapest.

Gemmell advanced to semifinals of the 200 free at Wave II of Olympic Trials in June, finishing ninth overall. She also collected three gold medals at Richmond Futures in July and won the 400 free at the TYR 18&U Spring Cup – Richmond in April.

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