European Championships 2018 Best Bits

World records have fallen, history has been rewritten, and 43 European champions have been crowned during an incredible week of action at Glasgow's Tollcross International Swimming Centre.

Seven sensational days of competition have now come to an end at the 2018 European Swimming Championships.

Europe's greatest swimmers have continued along the path of securing lasting legacies within the sport, while new young pretenders to their thrones have emerged.

Russia led the way in the medal table, with 10 of their 26 medals being golds. However a strong Great Britain squad pushed them all the way and picked up nine golds, seven silvers and eight bronzes.

With the Europeans done and dusted, we're taking a look back over the previous week's action and highlighting our favourite swimming moments from Glasgow 2018.

Adam Peaty's European Championship treble quadruple

Adam Peaty has often spoke of his fondness of the European Championships, dating back to winning his first major gold medal back in 2014.

That love affair has only grown since, with Glasgow 2018 marking an incredible treble quadruple of gold medals.

At all of the three previous Europeans, Peaty has won four golds in the 50m and 100m breaststroke along with the 4x100m men's and mixed medley relays.

He's won 12 gold medals in these events, and he's never been beaten at the Europeans. Oh, and there's the small matter of a new world record too... more on that later.

Kliment Kolesnikov breaks 50m backstroke world record

Kliment Kolesnikov broke every record there was to break on his way to a stunning gold medal in the men's 50m backstroke.

The Russian teenager clocked an astonishing 24.00, which smashed Liam Tancock's nine-year world record and gave him a 0.55 seconds margin of victory.

In addition to that, it was also a new world junior record, European record, European junior record and a championship record. All this despite only turning 18 years old one month ago.

The emergence of Freya Anderson

Freya Anderson has certainly made her mark among British Swimming's senior ranks over the past six months or so.

She waved farewell to the junior ranks with three gold medals at the European Junior Championships in Helsinki last month, and played a crucial role in securing two European relay gold medals for Great Britain at Glasgow 2018.

In both the 4x200m freestyle and 4x100m mixed medley relay finals, Anderson was tasked with going last — a big responsibility for a 17-year-old, and a sure sign of the confidence the British team has in her talent and potential.

After winning the 4x200m freestyle gold, Ellie Faulkner said: "Freya is one of the best relay swimmers I have seen in my life. Some of the swims she has done this week are phenomenal.

"I'm really excited for her future because what she's doing is incredible and hopefully she can keep it up."

As well as those two golds, Anderson also gained a bronze medal with the 4x200m mixed freestyle relay team. In individual action, she finished fourth in the 100m freestyle final and missed out on bronze by just 0.26 seconds.

Georgia Davies sets 50m backstroke European record on her way to gold

Georgia Davies admitted after winning 50m backstroke gold that she put more pressure on herself following her European record swim in the qualifying heats.

Well it didn't show. Davies went on to win her semi-final, before swimming an excellent race to win her first individual European gold medal in 27.23.

It was only 0.02 seconds shy of her new European record set the previous day.

The 27-year-old said: "I never would have expected the record to go in the heat and I think that meant I put a bit of extra pressure on myself and thought that people were going to expect me to go faster.

"When it comes to the final times are just so irrelevant. You just have to swim your own race and it's about who can get their hand on the wall first. I didn't mind about the time tonight but I really wanted to win."

Four European golds for Sarah Sjöström

Sarah Sjöström's dominance shows no signs of ending as the Swedish superstar won four more finals to take her Europeans gold medal tally to 14.

In fact, Glasgow 2018 was Sjöström's most successful European Championships yet. She won golds in the 50m and 100m freestyle as well as the 50m and 100m butterfly.

The 100m butterfly was her most dominant display, winning by more than one second from Svetlana Chimrova.

But they weren't all as emphatic. Just 0.01 seconds was the difference for Sjöström in her tense 50m freestyle victory over Pernille Blume of Denmark.

Sjöström seems to have been around forever, having won her first gold medal back in 2008. Incredibly, she's still only 24 years old.

European breaststroke treble for Yuliya Efimova

Russia topped the medal table at the end of the 2018 Europeans, and Yuliya Efimova was one of their standout performers.

She completed a golden triple with wins in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, while also playing a part in the winning Russian 4x100m medley relay team for her fourth gold of Glasgow 2018.

Adam Peaty's stunning 100m breaststroke world record

Adam Peaty stunned the swimming world when he swam 57.00 to smash his previous world record in the 100m backstroke.

Sadly, it was too good to be true. A configuration error in the race timing system meant that all times in the race were adjusted to account for an additional 0.10 seconds.

Such was the level of Peaty's dominance, it didn't affect his world record. Even the adjusted time of 57.10 was a new world's best, edging him ever closer to realising his 'Project 56' ambition.

The 23-year-old said: "The European Championships hold a very close place in my heart because it's where I got my first world record.

"After the heats swim yesterday I knew I was in good shape, but for me it was a weird one as I wasn't going out there to break a world record.

"I got to 50m and it felt so easy, then coming back, all the passion, emotion and let down from the Commonwealths pushed me down that last 50.

"Breaking this record puts me and Great Britain in a great place for two years time.

"As a nation we are looking very strong in the 100m breast and that's a really important thing. And if I can go into the relay even faster who knows what could happen."

The performances at Glasgow have been even more satisfying for Peaty, coming off the back of a frustrating Commonwealth Games earlier this year where he missed out on 50m breaststroke gold.

Duncan Scott wins gold in the 200m freestyle

Duncan Scott produced what was arguably the most memorable and feel-good moment of the 2018 European Swimming Championships on Tuesday afternoon.

Considered by many not to be among medal contention in the men's 200m freestyle, the Scottish swimmer had only crept into the final as eighth fastest qualifier.

But he put in a quite sensational performance from lane eight, closing on leader and pre-race favourite Danas Rapsys before blasting past him over the last 50m.

Scott said: "I didn't really know what was going on with the rest of the field. I'm just really, really happy with how it went.

"I had no idea where I was in the race I just kicked on with my race plan — I was just hacking away in the last 25m and hoping.

"I was pretty relaxed in the warm up, but the crowd has been amazing all week — when I took my headphones off it was amazing. But I just went in with no expectations."

European Swimming Championships 2018 - Medal Winners

MEN

Men's 50m Backstroke
GOLD: Kliment Kolesnikov (Russia) 24.00
SILVER: Robert-Andrei Glinta (Romania) 24.55
BRONZE: Shane Ryan (Ireland) 24.64

Men's 50m Breaststroke
GOLD: Adam Peaty (Britain) 26.09
SILVER: Fabio Scozzoli (Italy) 26.79
BRONZE: Peter John Stevens (Slovenia) 27.06

Men's 50m Butterfly
GOLD: Andriy Govorov (Ukraine) 22.48
SILVER: Ben Proud (Britain) 22.78
BRONZE: Oleg Kostin (Russia) 22.97.

Men's 50m Freestyle
GOLD: Ben Proud (Britain) 21.34
SILVER: Kristian Gkolomeev (Greece) 21.44
BRONZE: Andrea Vergani (Italy) 21.68

Men's 100m Backstroke
GOLD: Kliment Kolesnikov (Russia) 52.53
SILVER: Evgeny Rylov (Russia) 52.74
BRONZE: Apostolos Christou (Greece) 53.72

Men's 100m Breaststroke
GOLD: Adam Peaty (Britain) 57.10
SILVER: James Wilby (Britain) 58.64
BRONZE: Anton Chupkov (Russia) 59.06

Men's 100m Butterfly
GOLD: Piero Codia (Italy) 50.64
SILVER: Mehdy Metella (France) 51.24
BRONZE: James Guy (Britain) 51.42

Men's 100m Freestyle
GOLD: Alessandro Miressi (Italy) 48.01
SILVER: Duncan Scott (Britain) 48.23
BRONZE: Mehdy Metella (France) 48.24

Men's 200m Backstroke
GOLD: Evgeny Rylov (Russia) 1:53.36
SILVER: Radoslaw Kawecki (Poland) 1:56.07
BRONZE: Matteo Restivo (Italy) 1:56.29

Men's 200m Breaststroke
GOLD: Anton Chupkov (Russia) 2:06.80
SILVER: James Wilby (Britain) 2:08.39
BRONZE: Luca Pizzini (Italy) 2:08.54

Men's 200m Butterfly
GOLD: Kristof Milak (Hungary) 1:52.79
SILVER: Tamas Kenderesi (Hungary) 1:54.36
BRONZE: Federico Burdisso (Italy) 1:55.97

Men's 200m Freestyle
GOLD: Duncan Scott (Britain) 1:45.34
SILVER: Danas Rapsys (Lithuania) 1:46.07
BRONZE: Mikhail Dovgalyuk (Russia) 1:46.15

Men's 200m IM
GOLD: Jeremy Desplanches (Switzerland) 1:57.04
SILVER: Philip Heintz (Germany) 1:57.83
BRONZE: Max Litchfield (Britain) 1:57.96

Men's 400m Freestyle
GOLD: Mykhaylo Romanchuk (Ukraine) 3:45.18
SILVER: Henrik Christiansen (Norway) 3:47.07
BRONZE: Henning Muehlleitner (Germany) 3:47.18

Men's 400m IM
GOLD: David Verraszto (Hungary) 4:10.65
SILVER: Max Litchfield (Britain) 4:11.00
BRONZE: Joan Lluis Pons Roman (Spain) 4:14.26

Men's 800m Freestyle
GOLD: Mykhaylo Romanchuk (Ukraine) 7:42.96
SILVER: Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy) 7:45.12
BRONZE: Florian Wellbrock (Germany) 7:45.60

Men's 1500m Freestyle
GOLD: Florian Wellbrock (Germany) 14:36.15
SILVER: Mykhaylo Romanchuk (Ukraine) 14:36.88
BRONZE: Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy) 14:42.85

Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay
GOLD: Russia 3:12.23
SILVER: Italy 3:12.90
BRONZE: Poland 3:14.20

Men's 4x100m Medley Relay
GOLD: Great Britain 3:30.44
SILVER: Russia 3:32.03
BRONZE: Germany 3:33.52

Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay
GOLD: Great Britain 7:05.32
SILVER: Russia 7:06.66
BRONZE: Italy 7:07.58

WOMEN

Women's 50m Backstroke
GOLD: Georgia Davies (Britain) 27.23
SILVER: Anastasiia Fesikova (Russia) 27.31
BRONZE: Mimosa Jallow (Finland) 27.70

Women's 50m Breaststroke
GOLD: Yuliya Efimova (Russia) 29.81
SILVER: Imogen Clark (Britain) 30.34
BRONZE: Arianna Castiglioni (Italy) 30.41

Women's 50m Butterfly
GOLD: Sarah Sjöström (Sweden) 25.16
SILVER: Emilie Beckmann (Denmark) 25.72
BRONZE: Kimberly Buys (Belgium) 25.74

Women's 50m Freestyle
GOLD: Sarah Sjöström (Sweden) 23.74
SILVER: Pernille Blume (Denmark) 23.75
BRONZE: Ranomi Kromowidjojo (Netherlands) 24.21

Women's 100m Backstroke
GOLD: Anastasiia Fesikova (Russia) 59.19
SILVER: Georgia Davies (Britain) 59.36
BRONZE: Carlotta Zofkova (Italy) 59.61

Women's 100m Breaststroke
GOLD: Yuliya Efimova (Russia) 1:05.53
SILVER: Ruta Meilutyte (Lithuania) 1:06.26
BRONZE: Arianna Castiglioni (Italy) 1:06.54

Women's 100m Butterfly
GOLD: Sarah Sjöström (Sweden) 56.23
SILVER: Svetlana Chimrova (Russia) 57.40
BRONZE: Elena Di Liddo (Italy) 58.08

Women's 100m Freestyle
GOLD: Sarah Sjöström (Sweden) 52.93
SILVER: Femke Heemskerk (Netherlands) 53.23
BRONZE: Charlotte Bonnet (France) 53.35

Women's 200m Backstroke
GOLD: Margherita Panziera (Italy) 2:06.18
SILVER: Daria K Ustinova (Russia) 2:07.12
BRONZE: Katalin Burian (Hungary) 2:07.43

Women's 200m Breaststroke
GOLD: Yuliya Efimova (Russia) 2:21.31
SILVER: Jessica Vall Montero (Spain) 2:23.02
BRONZE: Molly Renshaw (Britain) 2:23.43

Women's 200m Butterfly
GOLD: Boglarka Kapas (Hungary) 2:07.13
SILVER: Svetlana Chimrova (Russia) 2:07.33
BRONZE: Alys Thomas (Britain) 2:07.42

Women's 200m Freestyle
GOLD: Charlotte Bonnet (France) 1:54.95
SILVER: Femke Heemskerk (Netherlands) 1:56.72
BRONZE: Anastasia Guzhenkova (Russia) 1:56.77

Women's 200m IM
GOLD: Katinka Hosszu (Hungary) 2:10.17
SILVER: Ilaria Cusinato (Italy) 2:10.25
BRONZE: Maria Ugolkova (Switzerland) 2:10.83

Women's 400m Freestyle
GOLD: Simona Quadarella (Italy) 4:03.35
SILVER: Ajna Kesely (Hungary) 4:03.57
BRONZE: Holly Hibbott (Britain) 4:05.01

Women's 400m IM
GOLD: Fantine Lesaffre (France) 4:34.17
SILVER: Ilaria Cusinato (Italy) 4:35.05
BRONZE: Hannah Miley (Great Britain) 4:35.34

Women's 800m Freestyle
GOLD: Simona Quadarella (Italy) 8:16.45
SILVER: Ajna Kesely (Hungary) 8:22.01
BRONZE: Anna Egorova (Russia) 8:24.71

Women's 1500m Freestyle
GOLD: Simona Quadarella (italy) 15:51.61
SILVER: Sarah Koehler (Germany) 15:57.85
BRONZE: Ajna Kesely (Hungary) 16:03.22.

Women's 4x100m Freestyle Relay
GOLD: France 3:34.65
SILVER: Netherlands 3:34.77
BRONZE: Denmark 3:37.03

Women's 4x100m Medley Relay
GOLD: Russia 3:43.22
SILVER: Denmark 3:56.69
BRONZE: Great Britain 3:56.91

Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay
GOLD: Great Britain 7:51.65
SILVER: Russia 7:52.87
BRONZE: Germany 7:53.76

MIXED

Mixed 4x100m Freestyle Relay
GOLD: France 3:22.07
SILVER: Netherlands 3:23.97
BRONZE: Russia 3:24.50

Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay
GOLD: Great Britain 3:40.18
SILVER: Russia 3:42.71
BRONZE: Italy 3:44.85

Mixed 4x200m Freestyle Relay
GOLD: Germany 7:28.43
SILVER: Russia 7:29.37
BRONZE: Great Britain 7:29.72

European Swimming Championships 2018 - Medal Table