Valentin Bayer (27.19 seconds running time) missed the podium yesterday in the 50-meter breaststroke final of the European Championships in Rome by eight hundredths of a second. A feeling that the Lower Austrian is unfortunately already familiar with: only on Friday did he also finish fourth over the double distance – he missed his first major medal by just four hundredths.
“Of course it’s a shame, four hundredths is just a snap of the fingers. But it was great times, great placements, my best competition so far,” said the 22-year-old, who no expert had expected to be so far up the field.
Again, Bernhard Reitshammer, a second Austrian, contested the final. The ASV Linz athlete, who finished eighth in the 100m breaststroke, finished sixth in the 50m in 27.29 seconds yesterday. Nicolo Martinenghi (26.33) won the title ahead of his Italian compatriot Simone Cerasuolo (26.95).
The 18-year-old European Championship debutant Anastasia Tichy (2:14.59 minutes) was 14th in the 200 meters dolphin.
Aubock against the shooting star
Inspired by bronze over 200 meters crawl, Felix Auböck tackles twice the distance today. The Lower Austrian won silver on his special route in 2021. However, the competition is fierce – and with David Popovici, the freestyle shooting star over 400 is also climbing onto the starting plinth today. The 17-year-old Romanian has already won the 100 and 200 meter freestyle titles. On the latter, he distanced himself from the competition by 2.63 seconds. If Auböck has his way, Popovici could even swim to the world record of Paul Biedermann (D/3:40.07 minutes): “With 1:43 over 200 meters, 3:44 shouldn’t be a problem for him.” However, Popovici has no entry time over 400 meters, which is why he has to try to bring a time worthy of the final in the very first heat with a Luxembourger and an Albanian. There are no semi-finals over 400 meters.
Source: Nachrichten
