Samorin 2025: Two golds for France on day 5 of European Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships as Kuncelli gets Presidential acclaim for record win
France waited until the penultimate day of the European Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships to win a gold medal – and finished with two thanks to Albane Cachot in the women’s 100m freestyle and their quartet in the men’s 4x200m freestyle final.
It was a memorable day too for Turkiye’s Kuzey Tuncelli, who retained his men’s 800m freestyle title in a Championship record of 7:46.01 before swimming the final leg of the freestyle relay to bring his country home in bronze-medal position.
The 17-year-old Turkish phenomenon, who had secured a third consecutive 1500m title the day before, was personally congratulated on his latest achievement by the visiting President of the Slovak Republic, Peter Pellegrini.
The President was also on hand, along with European Aquatics President Antonio Silva, during the first medal ceremony for the women’s 200m butterfly, in which Belgium’s Sarah Dumont won her country’s first medal here as she retained the title she earned in Vilnius last year.
Cachot was swimming in lane one after registering the second slowest semi-final time and the expectation was that the title was destined for either Spain’s Maria Daza Garcia, who had already won silver in the 200m freestyle and qualified fastest in 54.40, or Ireland’s Grace Davison, the 2024 bronze medallist, who had also qualified in under 55 seconds.
But the 17-year-old French swimmer took the task from the start, turning with a lead of 0.27 over her Spanish rival and hanging on to claim gold in 54.17, with Daza Garcia taking silver in 54.39 and Davison adding another bronze to her collection in 54.80.
“I just focused on my race and the result felt like a real surprise,” Cachot told European Aquatics. “I am so happy to get this first gold for France, it’s really a great feeling.”
Tuncelli, despite suffering the effects of bashing his right foot against the pool wall during pre-Championship training, was similarly focused from the start of his race, never being seriously challenged as he 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, bronze medallist in 2024, repeating that achievement with a time of 7:54.09.
Tuncelli had less than 15 minutes to prepare for the relay concluding the session, where he maintained Turkiye’s third place over the final leg, bringing them home in 7:20.67 behind the winners France, for whom Raphael-Sauveur Cristofini, Gabriel Crassard, Simon Meubry and Neo Dutriaux clocked 7:15.99, and silver medallists Italy, who recorded 7:16.51.
Asked if he Championship record had been on his radar beforehand, Kuzey responded: “Yes. Actually I wanted to swim much better, but that’s still a great time and I’m happy with it.
“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!”
Reflecting on his impromptu meeting with the Slovak President, he added: “It was so great. I was so thankful to him, I felt so happy when he shook my hand. It was an honour.”
Dumont felt similarly honoured after her presentation ceremony.
“It was very nice to receive my medal from two such important people and it will be a memory for me,” she said.
Having finished fifth and eighth in her two other finals here, she added: “I was waiting for the end of the competition and I was confident coming into this race, as from last year I was already European junior champion so I felt I could do it again.”
Dumont made her move over the final 50 metres, taking over the lead from neutral athlete Serafima Fokina to finish 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.
Lithuania’s Tajus Juska, double gold medallist of the previous evening, will defend his men’s 100m freestyle title tomorrow as fastest qualifier in 49.06, from neutral athlete Mikhail Shcherbakov on 49.27 and Spain’s Luca Hoek le Guenedal on 49.29.
Neutral athlete Georgii Iakovlev topped qualifying for the men’s 100m backstroke final in 54.26 from Ireland’s John Shorttt on 54.97 and Daniele del Signore on 55.02.
Lithuania’s 50m breaststroke champion Smilte Plytnykaite was fastest into the women’s 100m breaststroke final on 1:07.40 from Britain’s Theodora Taylor on 1:08.87, Italy’s Irene Burato on 1:09.01 and Germany’s 200m breaststroke champion Lena Ludwig on 1:09.02.
Filip Nowacki, who had lowered his own European junior record in winning the previous night’s men’s 200m breaststroke title, was fastest finalist in the men’s 100m breaststroke on 59.96 – just 0.04 off the British junior record set in 2013 by the man who now holds the world record of 56.88 – Adam Peaty.
Neutral athlete Mariia Osetrova topped women’s 50m butterfly semi-finals qualifying on 26.46 from France’s Cachot on 26.57.
Britain’s Dean Fearn was fastest into the men’s 50m butterfly final in 23.45, with Czechia’s Jan Foltyn clocking 23.77.
Britain’s women’s 400m individual medley champion Amalie Smith had the best semi-final time of 2:13.15 in the women’s 200m individual medley, with Germany’s Noelle Benkler on 2:13.78.
Spain’s Sara Costa de Vicente was top qualifier in the women’s 100m backstroke in 1:00.90 from Jeanne Lechevalier of France on 1:01.25 and Britain’s 50m backstroke champion Blythe Kinsman on 1:01.37.
Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
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