Europe’s elite scrabbled for lanes in Sunday morning’s heats ahead of a grandstand final night, promising ten back-to-back finals and non-stop drama.
With Freya Anderson going for gold once again and Duncan Scott set to race in three finals, it’s set to be a memorable evening with limited tickets still available for the session.
Here are three things we learned at Tollcross this morning.
Hopkin skips through
It’s been a topsy-turvy week for British freestyle starlet Anna Hopkin.
The 23-year-old missed out on a medal in the 100m by two-hundredths of a second as team-mate Freya Anderson won gold.
But the Chorley-born ace bounced back to bag bronze with a superb leg in last night’s frantic mixed 4x40m freestyle and will hope her maiden individual international medal follows over 50m tonight.
Hopkin, studying at the University of Arkansas, swum 21.19 over 50 yards last month – the seventh-fastest effort of all-time.
She clocked 23.81 in the heats to qualify second quickest and with Maria Kameneva, Femke Heemskerk and Beryl Gastaldello in hot pursuit, it should make for one of the final night’s highlights.
Irish eyes a-smiling
Mona McSharry’s bronze medal in the 50m breaststroke means Ireland have already bettered their efforts at the 2017 edition of EuroSwim, underlining a positive week for the nation.
Star turn Shane Ryan, who won long-course bronze in Glasgow last summer, leads the charge and won his 50m backstroke heat, as well as playing a part in progress in the 4x50m medley relay.
Also on Sunday morning, Niamh Coyne reeled off a 200m breaststroke personal best and Danielle Hill became the first Irish female swimmer to break 25 secs in the 50m freestyle.
The Irish will hope to add to their haul of seven medals at EuroSwim on a final night where it’s all up for grabs.
Foregone conclusion?
With Kliment Kolesnikov and Daria Chikunova swimming impressively in Sunday morning’s heats, it seems implausible Russia can be overhauled at the top of the medal table.
Only Italy can stand in the way of Russia finishing top of the tree, a position they’ve occupied at three of the last four editions of the LEN European Short Course Championships.
There has been a shift in the balance of power, though. Hungary have finished in the top three at the last four events but chiefly thanks to Kira Toussaint and Arno Kamminga, Netherlands sit third.
Despite the heroics of Katinka Hosszu, who is responsible for 93 of Hungary’s 1000 international medals, her country have work to do on Sunday night.
Get tickets for the final session of EuroSwim HERE or from the Tollcross box office!