This start was exceptional due to a harsh rule in swimming: no more than two swimmers from one country can advance from the heats to the semifinals.
For many years, Lithuanians did not care about this, and sometimes it even helped some to reach the semifinals due to the abundance of strong swimmers from other countries in some events.
However, Lithuanian swimming has grown, and now in the 200 m freestyle competition, we have as many as five top-level athletes.
One of them, Tomas Lukminas, was eliminated – last year, the Panevėžys native who swam in the final of this event at the European Championships in a 25 m pool fell ill at the start of the championship, was quarantined in Paris away from others in the hotel, and missed another start.
A Lithuanian battle was expected between the ace of this event Danas Rapšys, Tomas Navikonis who twice improved the Lithuanian record in the 100 m at this championship, young talent Tajus Juška, and reliable relay swimmer Kristupas Trepočka.
The fratricidal battle was pressured by strong competition.
“This event at this European Championship is the strongest in the entire history of swimming. We see it from the results. 1 min. 46 sec. was barely enough to get into the semifinals, although earlier it was possible to swim in 1 min. 48 sec. Now the guys are seriously determined.
Moreover, among us Lithuanians, there was a dogfight in the morning. We knew we had to outrun each other, so there was strange pressure. It didn’t matter how fast you swam, but if two Lithuanians outran you, you wouldn’t advance further,” noted D. Rapšys after the finish. “When I finished, I thought: hmm, I don’t know how it will be. But then I saw that Juška swam slower – at least that was some consolation.
This time I was watching not so much others as Lithuanians. First, I looked at Navikonis, thinking, hmm, good (faster). Now – Tajus.
But Tajus had even more pressure. He already knew our results, knew he had to swim even faster. And this is not the European Youth Championship, here you have to swim at maximum in the morning heats because there might be no other chance.”
D. Rapšys and K. Trepočka swam in the sixth heat, T. Navikonis in the seventh, T. Juška in the eighth of nine heats.
They all awaited the final results, after which it became clear:
T. Navikonis, who swam 1 min. 46.22 in the heats, was seventh, D. Rapšys, who swam 1 min. 46.94 sec., was 15th, K. Trepočka, who completed the distance in 1 min. 47.98 sec., was 33rd, and T. Juška was 39th, swimming in 1 min. 48.24.
For another young swimmer, this would be a solid result, but T. Juška, a decorated collector of youth championship medals, was very disappointed.
The 17-year-old from Kaunas also swam faster in the relay at this European Championship, but on Thursday at the Paris Olympic Aquatic Center, he could no longer develop the same speed with which he would definitely have qualified for the semifinals.
“I neither started well nor finished well. I don’t know. I don’t have many comments because I don’t even know what happened. I used to swim better even when I was out of shape or at competitions I didn’t prepare much for.
Now I met with the coach, I said: “I don’t know what happened.” He doesn’t know either. Nonsense. Complete nonsense. But I don’t blame anyone. These are my own mistakes, maybe in preparation or somewhere else, but it didn’t work out,” lamented T. Juška. “I didn’t seem to lack strength, but I missed the feeling of water, the efficiency of strength. In the warm-up, I seemed to catch the feeling, everything looked normal, but during the heats it became clear that I had already used too much strength in the first half of the distance, although I still didn’t swim fast.”
T. Juška and the coach will further analyze the preparation and competition stages, but he understands that the transition from youth to men’s swimming is not easy.
“Of course, the path is not easy. It is very difficult to break into the semifinals and finals of adult championships. But I think the main reason is that I try to compete in both youth and adult competitions, I want to perform well everywhere. This can trip me up because usually we prepare not for one main competition, but for two or three,” said T. Juška, who earlier this year competed in the European Youth Championships and won silver and bronze.
Slept peacefully after the final
The other two swimmers felt more natural.
“Everything is normal, but the first half of the distance was very sad. It seemed like there was no strength, so in the second half I had to step out of the comfort zone a bit. But I managed,” rejoiced T. Navikonis, who pressed hard at the finish.
How did he feel about the final in the 100 m freestyle the day before, when he was eighth but improved the Lithuanian record?
“I think I managed to rest. I don’t do much, I come back, spend some time on the phone, and go to sleep. Not many events happen: I eat and go to rest,” said the 23-year-old from Panevėžys. “In the room, I try to forget what happened before to rest better. Today I will need to take a nap, eat, and there is still a massage waiting.”
K. Trepočka evaluated the semifinal swim well. “I felt the best of all swims at this championship, I stayed cool-headed, in my own body. I always want a better result, but I count this swim,” said the 20-year-old from Panevėžys. “Just because I didn’t get overheated, didn’t swim according to opponents – technically everything was good, only the time was a bit slow.”
Pains were twisting D. Rapšys
The most experienced and decorated swimmer of this event, 31-year-old D. Rapšys, was happy to reach the semifinals, saying that this championship might not have happened for him at all.
A few months ago, he was treating serious back problems.
“In May, I stayed in bed, didn’t swim for more than a month. In swimming, that’s scary. If it had been in January or February – that would be okay. But when you drop out in the middle of the season… Others probably wouldn’t go to the championship,” said D. Rapšys. “So, I’m still swimming quite well.
I can’t do it without jokes anymore. It’s unclear how it would be if I swam the whole season from A to Z. But this year, medication was given, it was very scary, it has never happened in my life that I couldn’t get out of bed for two weeks. And it happened at camp, I flew home with a paralyzed back. It was brutal.”
At the end of the conversation, D. Rapšys put on a mini show when reminded that soon, in an hour, the 4×100 m freestyle relay awaited.
“Oh, yeah, the relay!? I was dreaming about how I’ll recover and go to sleep, and there’s still the relay… okay, let’s go try,” laughed D. Rapšys.
However, it soon became clear that Lithuanians would not swim in the relay.
Coaches canceled participation there, deciding to save the team leaders for the semifinal battles awaiting on Thursday evening.
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