European Championships 2018 - Day 5 Review

Duncan Scott produced an absolutely stunning swim to win gold for Great Britain on the fifth night of action at the 2018 European Swimming Championships.

The Scotsman had only crept into the 200m freestyle final as the eighth fastest qualifier yesterday, but he unleashed an incredible performance from lane eight to claim his second gold of the championships in front of his home crowd.

The 21-year-old was part of the victorious British 4x200m freestyle team, but it was tonight's display that really made the swimming world take notice.

Scott gradually closed in on leader and pre-race favourite Danas Rapsys, to the point where they were both level as they turned for the third and final time.

Incredibly, it was Scott out wide who had the drive and power to push on, blasting a closing split of 26.87 over the final 50m to win in 1:45.34.

That time makes Scott the second fastest 200m free swimmer this year, and follows on from his silver medal in the 100m free.

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."

Another gold medal came Britain's way in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay, where the team of Ellie Faulkner, Kathryn Greenslade, Holly Hibbott and Freya Anderson triumphed in a time of 7:51.65.

Faulkner said: "I was just shouting like crazy, you do it for each other and you know you are one team. We managed to be one team tonight and came out on top!

"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."

Ben Proud and Georgia Davies both claimed silver medals as day five's afternoon session got off to a strong start for the British team.

Proud had to contend with the might of world record holder Andriy Govorov in the men's 50m butterfly, and it was the Ukraine swimmer who took gold in a new championship record time of 22.48.

In the next race, Davies took the silver medal in the 100m backstroke after finishing second to Russian Anastasiia Fesikova.

Meanwhile, Molly Renshaw bagged a bronze medal with a tremendous display in the 200m breaststroke final, where she swam a time of 2:23.43.

European Swimming Championships 2018 Results - Day 5 - Afternoon Session

RESULTS

Women's 1500m Freestyle - Final

Italian Simona Quadarella claimed the first swimming gold medal of day five as she stormed to victory in the women's 1500m freestyle final.

Quadarella finished in a time of 15:51.61, leaving Germany's Sarah Koehler to take silver in 15:57.85 and Hungarian Ajna Kesely to collect bronze in 16:03.22.

MEDALS
GOLD: Simona Quadarella (italy) 15:51.61
SILVER: Sarah Koehler (Germany) 15:57.85
BRONZE: Ajna Kesely (Hungary) 16:03.22.

RESULTS

Men's 50m Butterfly - Final

The power of world record holder Andriy Govorov was just too much for Britain's Ben Proud in the 50m butterfly final.

Govorov claimed the gold medal in 22.48, leaving Proud to take the silver and go one better than the bronze he picked up in 2014 and 2016 Europeans.

MEDALS
GOLD: Andriy Govorov (Ukraine) 22.48
SILVER: Ben Proud (Britain) 22.78
BRONZE: Oleg Kostin (Russia) 22.97.

RESULTS

Women's 100m Backstroke - Final

Georgia Davies has added a silver medal to her 50m gold after finishing second in the 100m backstroke final.

Russian Anastasiia Fesikova lived up to her billing as pre-race favourite, winning gold in 59.19. Davies was just behind in 59.36.

MEDALS
GOLD: Anastasiia Fesikova (Russia) 59.19
SILVER: Georgia Davies (Britain) 59.36
BRONZE: Carlotta Zofkova (Italy) 59.61

RESULTS

Men's 200m Backstroke - Semi-Finals

Russian duo Evgeny Rylov and Grigory Tarasevich claimed two of the top three qualifying positions in tomorrow's 200m backstroke final.

Rylov won semi-final one in 1:55.50 to go through as fastest qualifier, while Tarasevich was third fastest when he won the second semi in 1:57.62. Sandwiched in between them was Poland's Radoslaw Kawecki.

Brodie Williams just missed out on qualification after clocking 1:58.66, but he has been given a reserve slot. Luke Greenbank was right behind him, touching in 1:58.84.

RESULTS

Women's 100m Freestyle - Semi-Finals

A month after winning the European junior championship in the 100m freestyle, Freya Anderson will compete in the senior final.

Teenager Anderson finished third in the first semi-final with a time of 53.90, behind Sarah Sjöström and Femke Heemskerk.

Anna Hopkins finished eighth in the first semi-final, and will not advance.

RESULTS

Men's 50m Breaststroke - Semi-Finals

Adam Peaty set a new championship record of 26.50 in this morning's preliminary heat of the 50m breaststroke. In this afternoon's semi-final, he set another one.

Peaty won the second semi-final in a new championship best time of 26.23. His nearest challengers were Italian Fabio Scozzoli (26.80) and Serbian Caba Siladji (26.99).

Ross Murdoch finished in a time of 27.39, and will be one of three reserves for tomorrow's final.

RESULTS

Women's 200m Breaststroke - Final

Molly Renshaw landed a bronze medal for Great Britain in the 200m breaststroke final, finishing third in 2:23.43.

Russian Yuliya Efimova won gold in a dominant time of 2:21.31, while Spain's Jessica Vall Montero took silver in 2:23.02. Britain's Chloe Tutton was disqualified.

MEDALS
GOLD: Yuliya Efimova (Russia) 2:21.31
SILVER: Jessica Vall Montero (Spain) 2:23.02
BRONZE: Molly Renshaw (Britain) 2:23.43

RESULTS

Men's 200m Freestyle - Final

Duncan Scott produced a stunning performance to win European gold in the men's 200m freestyle final tonight.

Scott had to chase down Lithuanian Danas Rapsys, and the pair were level as they turned for the third and final time.

But it was Scott who had the power over the final 50m to edge out in front and touch first in 1:45.34. Rapsys followed in 1:46.07.

There was disappointment for James Guy, who missed out to Russian Mikhail Dovgalyuk by 0.05 seconds for the bronze.

MEDALS
GOLD: Duncan Scott (Britain) 1:45.34
SILVER: Danas Rapsys (Lithuania) 1:46.07
BRONZE: Mikhail Dovgalyuk (Russia) 1:46.15

RESULTS

Women's 200m IM - Semi-Finals

Siobhan-Marie O'Connor set the pace in the women's 200m individual medley semi-finals, clocking the fastest time of 2:09.80 to win heat one.

She will be joined in the final by Aimee Willmott, who qualified seventh fastest in 2:13.09.

Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay - Final

Britain claimed another relay gold medal, this time with the women's 4x200m freestyle team of Ellie Faulkner, Kathryn Greenslade, Holly Hibbott and Freya Anderson.

Having played a key role in last night's mixed relay success, teenager Anderson again came up with the goods as she powered past France and held off challenges from Russia and Germany.

MEDALS
GOLD: Great Britain 7:51.65
SILVER: Russia 7:52.87
BRONZE: Germany 7:53.76

European Swimming Championships 2018 Results - Day 5 - Morning Session

RESULTS

Women's 100m Freestyle - Heats

Pernille Blume was the only swimmer to go under 53 seconds in six qualifying heats for the women's 100m freestyle.

The Danish swimmer won heat five in 52.97. Sarah Sjöström won heat six in the next fastest time of 53.45, while Charlotte Bonnet and Femke Heemskerk also went inside 54 seconds.

Reigning European junior champion Freya Anderson was an impressive sixth fastest in 54.27, and she will be joined in the semi-finals later today by Anna Hopkin (55.17).

RESULTS

Men's 50m Breaststroke - Heats

Adam Peaty isn't done when it comes to breaking records. After his world record in the 100m, he's now set a new championship best of 26.50 in the 50m breaststroke.

Peaty was the fastest of this morning's qualifiers by half-a-second from Italian Fabio Scozzoli.

He will be joined in this afternoon's semi-finals by Ross Murdoch, who qualified in 27.27. That meant there was no place for James Wilby, who just missed out on the second British spot after clocking a time of 27.44.

RESULTS

Women's 200m IM - Heats

Reigning European, World and Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu was the fastest qualifier for the 200m individual medley semi-finals, with a time of 2:11.09.

Siobhan-Marie O'Connor looked impressive in her qualifying heat, setting the second fastest time of the morning in 2:11.39.

Fellow Brit Aimee Willmott was fourth fastest in 2:12.64, having won heat two, and will join O'Connor in the semi-finals. That means there are no places for Hannah Miley or Abbie Wood, who both finished within the qualifying positions in 2:13.60 and 2:13.65 respectively.

RESULTS

Men's 200m Backstroke - Heats

Brodie Williams and Luke Greenbank have both reached the semi-finals of the men's 200m backstroke.

Williams was fifth fastest of the qualifiers, winning heat three in 1:58.62, while Greenbank finished the same heat in 1:59.21. Craig McNally's time of 1:59.58 was also good enough to qualify, but he misses out with the two British spots already taken.

Russia dominated the top three positions, with Evgeny Rylov (1:56.67) and Grigory Tarasevich (1:57.07) advancing. Kliment Kolesnikov was the one to miss out.

RESULTS

Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay - Heats

Great Britain's team of Kathryn Greenslade, Ellie Faulkner, Lucy Hope and Holly Hibbott won their heat in 8:00.78 to reach tonight's final.

Russia won the second heat, setting the fastest time of 7:57.90 in the progress.

RESULTS

Men's 800m Freestyle - Heats

Mykhaylo Romanchuk set the fastest qualifying time from this morning's heats in the men's 800m freestyle.

The Ukraine swimmer won heat two in 7:49.96 from Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri, who was second fastest in 7:50.08.

Tom Derbyshire and Jay Lelliott will advance no further after swimming times of 7:58.26 and 7:58.67 respectively. They were 16th and 17th fastest.

European Swimming Championships 2018 Schedule - Day 5

TUESDAY, AUGUST 7 - AFTERNOON SESSION

4.30pm - Women's 1500m Freestyle - Final
Look out for: Simona Quadarella (Italy)
Brits to watch: None
Watch live on: BBC1 (BBC Red Button, BBC Online)

4.50pm - Men's 50m Butterfly - Final
Look out for: Andriy Govorov (Ukraine)
Brits to watch: Ben Proud
Watch live on: BBC1 (BBC Red Button, BBC Online)

4.55pm - Women's 100m Backstroke - Final
Look out for: Anastasiia Fesikova (Russia)
Brits to watch: Georgia Davies
Watch live on: BBC1 (BBC Red Button, BBC Online)

5.01pm - Men's 200m Backstroke - Semi-finals
Look out for: Evgeny Rylov (Russia)
Brits to watch: Brodie Williams, Luke Greenbank
Watch live on: BBC1 (BBC Red Button, BBC Online)

5.11pm - Women's 100m Freestyle - Semi-finals
Look out for: Sarah Sjöström (Sweden) 
Brits to watch: Freya Anderson, Anna Hopkin
Watch live on: BBC1 (BBC Red Button, BBC Online)

5.18pm - Men's 50m Breaststroke - Semi-finals
Look out for: Adam Peaty (Britain)
Brits to watch: Adam Peaty, Ross Murdoch
Watch live on: BBC1 (BBC Red Button, BBC Online)

5.25pm - Women's 200m Breaststroke - Final
Look out for: Yuliya Efimova (Russia)
Brits to watch: Molly Renshaw, Chloe Tutton
Watch live on: BBC1 (BBC Red Button, BBC Online)

5.32pm - Men's 200m Freestyle - Final
Look out for: Danas Rapsys (Lithuania)
Brits to watch: James Guy, Duncan Scott
Watch live on: BBC1 (BBC Red Button, BBC Online)

5.39pm - Women's 200m IM - Semi-finals
Look out for: Katinka Hosszu (Hungary)
Brits to watch: Siobhan-Marie O'Connor, Aimee Willmott
Watch live on: BBC1 (BBC Red Button, BBC Online)

5.49pm - Women's 4x200m Freestyle Relay - Final
Look out for: Russia
Brits to watch: Great Britain
Watch live on: BBC1 (BBC Red Button, BBC Online)