Kotryna Teterevkova focused on the 200 m breaststroke event in this championship, but afterwards she said that not everything went according to plan.
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The 24-year-old from Vilnius swam in 2 min. 23.92 sec. and finished sixth in the final, just over a second behind her own Lithuanian record set in 2022, and one and a half seconds from a podium place on Friday at the Paris 50 m pool.
Happy about Tomas Navikonis winning the silver medal in the 200 m freestyle final ahead of her, the first catch for the Lithuanian swimming team in this championship, K. Teterevkova analyzed her swim and promised to splash in the 50 m breaststroke sprint, whose heats will start on Saturday.
“I think I probably exhausted myself more in the semifinal than now. Now maybe my head and worries got in the way. It’s hard to figure out and understand. But it’s a good opportunity to learn for other championships,” she said after the finish.
– Kotryna, what was bothering you before the start?
– I always have a partial fear of the 200 meters event, it’s more of a psychological fear. I’m still fighting and learning with it.
– Sixth place is still a solid result.
– I don’t evaluate the place and result exclusively. I tried to be in the process, maintain a consistent state to fight. To represent our small country.
– How did you distribute your strength in the 200 m?
– One turn was so-so. I keep trying to hit better, but it doesn’t work, I need to work on it. But I feel more that I didn’t exhaust myself 100%, as I could have. It’s hard to explain why it happened that way.
– Would you repeat the strategy of not swimming 100 m in the championship for better preparation for 200 m?
– The result doesn’t reflect it, but maybe now I didn’t feel much fatigue going into the final compared to before. It’s hard to guess, not everything you plan works out. But we will get some lesson. In other championships, we will try to swim all events, there will be no experiments or games.
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Now I need to recover and prepare for the new season with new motivation and expectations, because the Olympic qualification awaits, then the Olympic year.
This year was harder because of studies, as I finished my bachelor’s degree (at Vytautas Magnus University) combined with the European championship. So there is no reason to be sad. Sometimes you need to take a step back, and then two steps forward.
– On Saturday the 50 m breaststroke event will start, in which both you and Rūta Meilutytė will compete. What can be expected there?
– I always like that event, excitement on one hand, on the other – now I want to test myself 100%.
Usually in competitions I swim the sprint already tired from the 100 and 200 m events, but now there will be an opportunity to exhaust myself and show my inner beast.
– Did you see compatriot Tomas Navikonis’s silver swim?
– Yes, my start was after his, so I came to watch. I was jumping with joy and for a second forgot that I had to swim. Then I tried to come back, but the joy for the team remained, because for Tomukas, it seems, this is the first such medal. I’m extremely happy.
– Didn’t such emotions distract you?
– It was a distraction of joy, and sometimes you need to rejoice for others, not just yourself.
