Russia’s swimmers come good again

Kliment Kolesnikov collected his fourth and fifth gold medals of the Games in the men’s 50m backstroke and men’s 4x100m medley relay, while Anastasia Makarova prevailed in the women’s 100m breaststroke.

In the first of the day’s seven finals, Italy’s Thomas Ceccon touched home first in the men’s 50m freestyle to add a gold to his already impressive Games haul of a silver and two bronzes. The Italian’s time of 22.33 gave him victory by 0.04 seconds from Russia’s Daniil Markov, with Egypt’s AbdelRahman Sameh taking third.

“It means a lot. I was hoping I could get the gold for Egypt but I’m so happy for the bronze,” said Sameh after collecting his country’s first swimming medal of Buenos Aires 2018. “I’m so thankful for the guys from Egypt who came here to support me. I’m so thankful for these great spectators here. I love you, Buenos Aires.”

Next up was the men’s 200m breaststroke, which saw Yu Hanaguruma of Japan claim gold in a time of 2:11.63, with Savvas Thomoglou of Greece taking silver and Jan Kalusowski the bronze.

Sara Junevik of Sweden, who started swimming at the age of seven thanks to a childhood friend, then won gold in the women’s 50m butterfly, stopping the clock in 26.40 seconds. Anastasiya Shkurdai of Belarus finished 0.22 seconds adrift in silver, with Polina Egorova of Russia and Germany’s Angelina Koehler both touching home a further 0.06 seconds back to share the bronze.

“I was hoping for a medal,” Junevik said. “I came second at the junior world championships last year, so I had a kind of expectation about getting a medal here too. I’m really happy.”  

The first of Kolesnikov’s two golds of the day came in the men’s 50m backstroke, with the Russian setting a new junior world record of 24.40 to win from Ceccon – the Italian’s fifth medal of the Games – with Norway’s Tomoe Hvas taking the bronze.

The Russian flag was flying again when Anastasia Makarova won the women’s 100m breaststroke in the evening’s next final. Her time of 1:07.88 gave her victory by over a second from Ireland’s Niamh Coyne, with Lithuania’s Kotryna Teterevkova coming in just 0.05 seconds behind in third.

Hungary’s Ajna Kesely collected her second freestyle gold of Buenos Aires 2018 in the women’s 200m. Victorious in the 800m the day before, she posted a winning time of 1:57.88, with China’s Junxuan Yang and Barbora Seemanova of Czech Republic landing the silver and bronze respectively.

The final event of the evening saw Kolesnikov make another return to the top of the podium, after he set Russia on the way to victory in the men’s 4x100m medley relay. Partnered by Vladislav Gerasimenko, Andrei Minakov and Daniil Markov, Kolesnikov helped set a junior world record of 3:35.17, a time that gave the Russian quartet a comfortable win over China and Poland. Russia’s swimmers have won three of the four relays so far, with two remaining.