“Now there is,” smiled Kristupas Trepočka, one of the four Lithuanian swimmers who helped win a ticket from the qualifying heats to the final, which will take place on Saturday evening.
He, Tajus Juška, Sylvia Statkevicius, and Ieva Jurkūnaitė paved the way in the qualifying heats, swimming in 7 min. 31.97 sec.
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K. Trepočka swam in 1 min. 48.59 sec., T. Juška – in 1 min. 48.34 sec., S. Statkevicius in 1 min. 58.44 sec., and I. Jurkūnaitė in 1 min. 56.60 sec.
The young Lithuanian team, whose swimmers were aged 16-20, won the first qualifying heat, and were second overall in the qualifying ranking, just behind the British among eleven teams.
“It was very easy to swim, very nice, we’ll see how it goes in the evening,” said the youngest team member, 16-year-old I. Jurkūnaitė, who had already swum in the 200 m freestyle final in this championship, where she placed fifth.
Canadian Lithuanian S. Statkevicius also competed in the championship for the first time.
“I recovered a bit, it was very easy to swim, I didn’t die at the end,” smiled the 19-year-old swimmer. “I’m really looking forward to the evening because I can swim even better.”
17-year-old T. Juška admitted that the girls pulled the team along.
“I swam as best as I could, for the team. I definitely felt much harder than last time in individual competitions. But I’m glad we made it to the final, and this time you can really say that the girls worked for us and earned the place in the final,” said the young swimmer.
For the men who started in the relay in the qualifiers, this was their last start in this championship.
“Very good, this is my last start, I tried to show what I can do. The team needed help to get to the final, that was the plan, and it was fulfilled,” noted 20-year-old K. Trepočka.
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Coaches had already strategized in advance that the lineup for the final would change by half: instead of T. Juška and K. Trepočka, Danas Rapšys and Tomas Navikonis, who performed better in the individual 200 m freestyle events, would take their places.
The swimmers who had done half the work were not worried about the lineup changes.
“Not sad at all. They will fight for the top places, and I am happy for them that they are doing so well in this championship,” said K. Trepočka.
This non-Olympic event is new in the swimming program, and predicting the final lineup is difficult also because other teams may change their lineups. Moreover, the championship, lasting six days, increasingly affects the athletes’ strength towards the end.
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In the 4×200 m freestyle mixed relay final starting at 21:47 will be: Great Britain, Lithuania, Germany, Italy, France, the neutral athletes team, Sweden, and Spain.
So far, in the history of European championships, Lithuanians had won one medal in team events in 2024 in Belgrade, when in the 4×200 m freestyle relay D. Rapšys, T. Navikonis, K. Trepočka, and Tomas Lukminas won gold, but in those Olympic years in Serbia the strongest swimmers were missing.
Now in Paris the swimming star lineup is brighter, but the Lithuanian team also looks not only larger but more solid, already enjoying a silver medal, which T. Navikonis won in the 200 m freestyle final on Friday.
This 23-year-old swimmer and the oldest team member, 31-year-old D. Rapšys, should provide even more speed.
“I think the chances are good,” said S. Statkevicius when asked about ambitions to win medals. “Today we performed well in the morning with Ieva, and with Tomas and Danas, I think it will be even better.”
