Kuzey Tuncelli Sets Championship & Turkish Records In 800 Free; Receives Presidential Acclaim In Samorin
Kuzey Tuncelli posted championship and national records of 7:46.01 en-route to the 800 free title before returning less than 15 minutes later to anchor the Turkish 4×2 relay to bronze on the penultimate day of the European Junior Championships in Samorin.
The 17-year-old was never seriously challenged over 16 lengths and came home to eclipse the Championship record of 7:47.45 held by Bulgaria’s Petar Mitsin. Silver went to neutral athlete Grigorii Vekovishchev in 7:51.49, with Johannes Liebmann replicating his 2024 bronze in 7:54.09.
Kuzey Tuncelli: Photo Courtesy: Istvan Derencsenyi/European Aquatics
It was also a national record for the Turkiye swimmer as he made his first trip to 7:46 to lower his 7:47.29 standard from the Paris Olympics.
The Olympic 1500 finalist returned less than 15 minutes later to split 1:51.03 as he brought Turkiye home to bronze in the relay. The quartet – who were led off by Ahmet Mete Boylu in 1:48.90 – posted 7:20.67 to finish third behind winners France – with Neo Dutriaux on a 1:47.22 anchor – and Italy where all four swimmers posted sub 1:50 to come home in 7:16.51.
Tuncelli secured a third straight 1500 title on Thursday, going 14:45.05 despite being unrested and untapered with the Singapore worlds to come and having bruised his foot during training.
“Actually I wanted to swim much better, but that’s still a great time and I’m happy with it,” Tuncelli said through European Aquatics. “I am still feeling my foot a little bit, but that’s OK. As for the relay – we train for this and we worked hard for it. Tomorrow I have a goal for the 400m freestyle. I hope it’s going to be great. But now I need to rest after a long day!”
He was personally congratulated on his latest achievement by the visiting President of the Slovak Republic, Peter Pellegrini, and added: “It was so great. I was so thankful to him, I felt so happy when he shook my hand. It was an honour.”
l-r; Maria Daza Garcia, Albane Cachot, Grace Davison: Photo Courtesy: Istvan Derencsenyi/European Aquatics
Albane Cachot squeaked into the women’s 100 free final in lane one but the 17-year-old French swimmer went out hard from the start, turning with a lead of 0.27 over her Spanish rival and hanging on to claim gold in 54.17, with Maria Daza Garcia taking silver in 54.39 and Grace Davison adding another bronze to her collection in 54.80.
Belgium’s Sarah Dumont made her move over the final 50 metres of the 200 fly, taking over the lead from neutral athlete Serafima Fokina to claim gold in 2:09.75. Fokina ended up with bronze in 2:11.56 as Britain’s Edith Price finished strongly to claim silver in 2:10.42.
The women’s 800m title went to neutral athlete Sofia Diakova, who led throughout to clock 8:27.78, with silver going to Italy’s 2024 bronze medallist Emma Gianelli in 8:29.65 and bronze to Britain’s defending champion, 16-year-old Amelie Blocksidge, who clocked 8:33.78.
In selected semifinal action, Filip Nowacki posted 59.96 for top seed in the 100m breaststroke, 0.04 off Adam Peaty’s British junior record of 59.92 from 2013.
Lithuania’s Tajus Juska, double gold medallist of the previous evening, will defend his men’s 100m freestyle title as fastest qualifier in 49.06 with neutral athlete Georgii Iakovlev topped qualifying for the men’s 100m backstroke final in 54.26
Fellow Lithuanian Smilte Plytnykaite was fastest into the women’s 100m breaststroke final on 1:07.40 and Spain’s Sara Costa de Vicente was top qualifier in the women’s 100m backstroke in 1:00.90.
