Chartres (pps) As expected, the French hosts and Hungary are topping the medal table with three gold each after the first day of the EDF European Short Course Swimming Championships in Chartres.
The newly crowned Hungarian overall World Cup Champion Katinka Hosszu achieved an amazing feat, winning the women’s 200m individual medley and the 200m butterfly within 15 minutes – clocking exactly the same time of 2:05.78 minutes in both races. Laszlo Cseh added Hungary’s third gold medal in the 200m IM with 1:52.74min collecting his altogether 14th European Short Course title.
France could fully rely on its Olympic champions: Florent Manaudou won the men’s 50m freestyle (20.70sec) as in London; Yannick Agnel the 400m free quasi in a solo attempt in 3:37.54min – exactly one week after his World record (3:32.25). Agnel had gained Olympic gold in the 200m free. Manaudou later helped the French relay team to gold in the 4x50m free (1:32.35min).
Czech Petra Chocova surprised herself most when she became the new 50m breaststroke European champion (30.02sec) achieving the first ever women’s breaststroke medal for the Czech Republic on short course.
Cseh in the 200m IM and Poland’s Radoslaw Kawecki in the 200m backstroke (1:48.51min) were the only successful title defenders in Chartres on the first day. Runners-up last year, Denmark’s female 4x50m freestyle relay team won their first ever European short course gold medal in that event in 1:38.10min.
Uschi Vogel
SID Sportmarketing & Communication Services GmbH