Both Lithuanian swimmers met in the second semifinal swim.
Rūta Meilutytė this time completed her favorite distance in 30.05 seconds, took 3rd place in the swim, and made it among the top 8 athletes who will compete in the final on Sunday (scheduled start – 19:35).
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Meanwhile, K. Teterevkova, who improved her personal record, swam 50 m in 30.55 seconds and finished sixth in the swim, just one or two places short of the final participants. The same result was achieved by Ralina Giliazova, who swam in the first semifinal, so after all the evening swims, K. Teterevkova will compete with this athlete in an additional swim for a reserve spot before the final.
The fastest in the second semifinal swim were Italian Benedetta Pilato (29.84 seconds) and Estonian Eneli Jefimova (29.93 seconds).
The winner of the first semifinal, Finnish Veera Kivirinta, this time completed the distance in 30.26 seconds.
On Saturday morning in the qualifying heats, R. Meilutytė finished in 30.21 seconds, and K. Teterevkova in 30.95 seconds.
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29-year-old world record holder R. Meilutytė, after winning her fourth consecutive gold at the World Championships in Singapore last summer and silver at the European Championships in the 25m pool in Lublin in December, had stepped away from swimming and missed the Lithuanian Championships and important competitions in Rome.
For the past few years, R. Meilutytė’s coach was Tadas Duškinas, but for this European Championship, the swimmer prepared without him according to a personal plan.
Today at the European Championships, we will see one more Lithuanian swimmer’s performance – Danas Rapšys, Tomas Navikonis, Sylvia Statkevičius, and Ieva Jurkūnaitė will compete in the mixed relay final (scheduled start – 21:47).
