Emilija Pociūtė tried to quickly find the results on her phone.
After her 50 backstroke swim in the European Championship qualifiers, the 17-year-old swimmer already knew that her swim was fast.
Read more Vilnius «Rytas» retained the team captain
E.Pociūtė swam in 28.21 seconds, shaving 0.15 seconds off the record she set this summer in Munich.
It was even more important for her to reach the semifinals, which she did – the young Lithuanian’s result in the qualifiers was 15th among 42 swimmers, and applying the one-country swimmer quota rule (for example, out of four French swimmers in the top 16, only two advanced to the semifinals), our swimmer moved up to twelfth position before the evening semifinal start.
“I am happy, the dream was to reach the semifinals at such a level of competition, and now in the evening I will try to do my best,” said E.Pociūtė.
She said that she could swim even faster in the semifinal on Wednesday evening.
“There were mistakes, I will try not to repeat them in the evening – now I blocked the lane, so in the evening I will need to avoid that, I will also need to turn my arms faster and make a better start off the blocks, because in a short distance that means a lot,” strategized the swimmer from Šiauliai.
As a child, she told herself she would be like Rūta Meilutytė
Her path to swimming in Šiauliai was almost programmed, as her mother Dovilė Pocienė works as a swimming coach.
“When I was little, my mother took me to training. I followed Rūta Meilutytė and said I would be like her. My mother was a swimmer and now she is also my coach,” said the girl from Šiauliai, the only one from the Sun City on the national team. “I attended dance and singing classes, but I wasn’t very good at those, so I stayed with swimming.”
On Wednesday, she was happy that her result would please a close person.
“My mother will be proud of me for being in the European Championship semifinals. She always appreciates positively, always congratulates and supports me,” said the swimmer.
Lithuania has not had girls swimming backstroke at this level for many years, but having already announced her talent in youth competitions, the girl from Šiauliai is getting faster. Like Formula 1, which she likes to watch and admires the Italian driver Kimi Antonelli from the Mercedes team the most.
Read more At the age of 94, the businessman considered the «father» of the Prius passed away
The small-built and short swimmer carves her path to success simply – with hard work.
E.Pociūtė usually trains nine times a week, three of which are early in the morning before school. Then her alarm goes off at 5:10 a.m.
“The work done in training. You have to put in a lot of work,” described E.Pociūtė her key to fast swimming.
This year she associates her improving results with a training camp in Sierra Nevada, where part of the Lithuanian national team trained intensively in the Spanish highlands before the European Championship.
“I feel very good after the high-altitude camp. It’s a suitable place for me, after returning from there I feel the water even better, I feel stronger. Everything is just much better,” confirmed E.Pociūtė.
She is participating for the first time in a competition of such rank as the European Championship, but the environment in Paris does not disturb her.
“You can see that the people around are older than in youth competitions, but I try not to break down and not to underestimate myself. We are all equal, we all work and try,” said the girl from Šiauliai. “Everything is good, I sleep very well. The conditions are much better than in Sierra Nevada, you can really feel it. Much better rest, especially the food.”
Now on Wednesday from 8:26 p.m. Lithuanian time, the semifinal battles await, where she can swim fast again. E.Pociūtė knows well why.
“Hard work pays off in competitions like this,” the swimmer is convinced.
