Golden final day for Great Britain at European Junior Swimming Championships

Great Britain rounded off the European Junior Swimming Championships with their biggest medal haul of the competition.

The sixth and final day proved to be the most successful for the British squad, starting and ending with gold medals.

City of Leeds swimmer Leah Schlosshan clinched GB’s first gold after her success in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley final.

The 17-year-old was the fastest qualifier going into the final and Schlosshan didn’t disappoint as she powered home in a time of 2:13.49 to take the victory.

She picked up the first of four British medals, with one gold, one silver and one bronze later being added to the tally.

Schlosshan finished 0.79 ahead of her nearest rival and eventual silver medallist, Lilla Minna Abraham of Hungary, who finished in 2:14.28.

Spain’s Emma Carrasco Cadens (2:14.39) took bronze and Schlosshan’s teammate, Phoebe Cooper, lowered her qualifying time by 0.17 to clock in at 2:15.92 and finish in fifth place.

Golden relay glory

Britain’s only other gold medal came in the Men’s 4x100m Medley final.

The quartet of Jonathon Marshall, Elliot Woodburn, Evan Jones and Jacob Whittle teamed up to continue GB’s success in the relay events.

Earlier in the competition, Britain secured silver in both the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle and the 4x100m Mixed Medley, as well as bronze in the Women’s 4x200m Freestyle.

The team went one better this time around as they were crowned European Junior champions in a time of 3:37.44.

Ukraine finished in the silver medal position in 3:38.02, followed by Poland (3:38.89) in third.

In the Women’s event, the team of Evie Dilley, Sienna Robinson, Hollie Widdows and Erin Little smashed their qualifying time by more than six seconds from out in lane one.

They touched the wall in fifth place after recording a time of 4:07.68.

Second silver for Whittle

Jacob Whittle added another silver medal to his collection in the Men’s 100m Freestyle final.

He was part of the silver medal-winning Men’s 4x100m Freestyle team on the opening day of competition and has gone on to win a total of four medals in Bucharest.

This was his best individual result, following bronze in the 200m Freestyle final on day two.

Whittle’s time of 48.65 saw him finish less than a second behind the gold medal winner, Romania’s David Popovici (47.69).

Nikolas Antoniou of Cyprus prevented another medal for Great Britain, beating Alexander Painter to the touch to take bronze.

Painter was just outside of his qualifying time with 50.38 to take fourth place.

Backstroke bronze for Marshall

Jonathon Marshall went almost half a second quicker than his qualifying time in the Men’s 100m Backstroke final.

Marshall finished third to earn his second individual medal of the competition. He added to his silver medal from the Men’s 50m Backstroke final.

The 17-year-old’s bronze medal-winning time was 54.42.

Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk (52.91) won gold ahead of Ukraine’s Oleksandr Zheltyakov (54.26).

Britain’s Matthew Ward was also competing in the 100m Backstroke event. He managed to beat his qualifying time by 0.02 and landed a sixth place finish.

Dilley and Robinson just outside of podium places

In the Women’s 100m Backstroke final, Dilley achieved a fifth place finish.

Her time of 1:01.87 saw her lower her qualifying time by 0.38.

Dilley’s relay teammate, Robinson, was in action in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke final.

A time of 1:09.90 resulted in her missing out on a place on the podium by 0.61 as Robinson touched the wall in sixth place.

Photo – LEN European Aquatics.