A rare case in swimming – Tomas Navikonis was faster than Danas Rapšys.
Another rare case – D. Rapšys was at a loss for words after the finish.
“It’s hard to say anything. It doesn’t even seem like I was as tired as after the relays. I started too slowly. The swim was kind of normal. Just ran out of steam, that’s all. I don’t know what to say,” said the usually talkative 31-year-old from Panevėžys after the finish. “The worst part is that I don’t know why. Why could I swim half a second faster in the relay in the evening, but not now? Maybe the coaches will advise something later.”
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In the 200 m freestyle semifinal, D. Rapšys completed the distance in 1 min. 46.28 sec. and finished seventh. Overall, he placed 12th and did not qualify for the final.
However, T. Navikonis broke into the final eight.
This 23-year-old from Panevėžys swam in 1 min. 45.63 sec., improved his personal career record, and touched the finish wall second – securing his ticket to the final.
After 150 meters of the distance, T. Navikonis was still last eighth, but finished impressively – in the last 50 meters, the Lithuanian overtook six opponents.
“The time is good, but the first 100 meters were too slow – that bothered me. I don’t know why it happens that I swim the last 50 m so fast, but that wasn’t the plan,” admitted T. Navikonis, who showed the seventh-best result in the semifinal.
The Panevėžys native, who has been training at Ohio University in recent years, said he was inspired to push at the finish by opponents flashing before his eyes.
“Usually I breathe towards the opponents then, and the mode switches on that I don’t want to lose. I usually think I have to catch them all now. Usually, I manage to,” said T. Navikonis.
The final will take place on Friday evening, when T. Navikonis, competing in the most successful European Championship of his career, will appear among the eight strongest in the event for the second time. He was eighth with a Lithuanian record in the prestigious 100 m freestyle event.
“There is still a lot to improve from the first part,” T. Navikonis thought about the final. “But I will still swim my race.”
Four strong Lithuanian swimmers competed in this event, but Tajus Juška and Kristupas Trepočka did not make it to the semifinals.
After the tensions in the qualifiers, D. Rapšys called the race among Lithuanians a “dogfight.”
“Maybe there has to be a fight,” T. Navikonis evaluated the mutual competition more calmly, having proven in this championship that he is the fastest among his compatriots. “Among the Brits, their Olympic champion didn’t even make it to the semifinals because two other team members overtook him. The fight is also happening among Lithuanians.”
He himself grew up in the city, looking up to D. Rapšys, who is eight years older.
“When we have one Olympian, then many kids around him, all want to be just as tough. Then they want to surpass the Olympians,” T. Navikonis tried to explain the vicious circle about strong swimmers in Panevėžys, one of five Panevėžys natives among the 19 swimmers in the Lithuanian national team.
Now he is a little more than a second short of the Lithuanian record held by D. Rapšys – 1 min. 44.38 sec.
“There is still room,” T. Navikonis cautiously assessed his chances. “Those hundredths of a second are the hardest.”
Meanwhile, D. Rapšys said that T. Navikonis’s good performances were helped by a successful start to the championship.
“Tomas, since he started from the first heat, has been doing well. In sports, it happens that if everything goes well from day one, then it goes successfully, but if you stumble at the start, you stumble later,” said D. Rapšys.
The swimmer who struggles with heat admitted that it is difficult for him to endure the rising air temperature in Paris.
On Thursday, the thermometer in the French capital rose to 38 degrees, and it was hot even in the swimming warm-up areas.
“It can’t be that everyone sits wet before the start. It’s unbearably hot everywhere. In the zones where we are, it’s hot, we do warm-ups – hot.
But, you know, what difference does it make,” waved his hand D. Rapšys. “The main thing is that you have to swim fast.”
