Amalie Smith made it back-to-back European junior 400IM titles after she made up a deficit of 4.76secs at halfway and wiped out her championship record in the process in Munich.
The Briton was ahead at the first turn before Vivien Jackl took a 0.04 lead at the 100m mark with the Hungarian extending her advantage at halfway.
Smith’s second half is a strong tool in her armoury and she ate relentlessly into the lead, reducing it by 3.40secs down the first 50 of the breaststroke. By the time the 16-year-old had reached the 300m mark, she held a 2.18secs advantage and she came home for victory in 4:35.32.
It erased her previous championship mark of 4:37.02 from last year’s edition in Samorin and was the second-fastest of her career, 0.14 off her 4:35.18 PB from the AP International in May.
Jackl was second in 4:37.47 as she claimed her fifth straight medal in the event, four years after her bronze on her European juniors debut aged 13 at Otopeni 2022.
Viktoriia Blinova, of the Individual Neutral Athletes team, took bronze in 4:45.78.
more to follow…
