U23 European Championship limit

No Christmas blues for the goldfish

Luka Mladenovic once again showed his class.

(Bild: Tröster Andreas/ANDREAS TROESTER)

Salzburg's swimmers showed off once again before the Christmas holidays. In Györ (Hungary), Luka Mladenovic and his colleagues set numerous new records and broke limits for the U23 European Championships.

No sign of the Christmas blues for Salzburg's goldfish! Shortly before the Christmas holidays, the swimming aces gave it their all once again, delivering numerous best performances in Györ (Hungary). Above all Luka Mladenovic. The 20-year-old, who will be studying in the USA from August, broke several limits for the U23 European Championships in Samorin, Slovakia, in June: 50 meters, 100 meters and 200 meters breaststroke, setting a new Salzburg national record of 27.73 seconds in the 50 meters.

"Luka has once again shown his skills, now it's time to ramp up the training for the planned World Championship qualification," says national coach Plamen Ryaskov, who was also able to celebrate the successes of the other athletes.

Luca Karl swam a new national record in the 400 meter freestyle (3:57.97 minutes), but did not make the U23 limit in this discipline. As is well known, the student already made it over 1500 meters on Wednesday. Karl is also aiming to qualify for the World Championships, but not in the pool, but over 10 kilometers open water.

Moritz Markitz, who is only 17 years old, achieved the Junior European Championships limit in the 1500 meter freestyle. "Moritz is benefiting from Karl's training, another talent is quietly growing to the top here. The jump in the last few months has been very pleasing," says Ryaskov. Laurin Korber Perner and Kato Daiki just missed their target limits.

 "The focus in recent weeks has been on the short course," says federation president Clemens Weis, explaining that the transition to the long course in Hungary was relatively difficult for all five Salzburg starters.