29 athletes participated in the qualifying competitions, and the top 6 participants from each of the two qualifying heats advanced to the final on Sunday.
Read more Poland celebrates Armed Forces Day with the largest military parade in history
G. Galvydytė completed the distance in the first heat in 4 min. 10.87 sec. and took 7th place among 15 participants.
It seemed that the Lithuanian athlete would finish in the top six, where she stayed throughout the distance. However, in the final sprint, she was instantly overtaken by Czech Kristiina Sasinek Maki (4 min. 10.84 sec.).
The best time of the 26-year-old Lithuanian’s career and this season – 3 min. 59.74 sec. – was fourth among the participants of this heat.
Read more Why didn’t it work? Our fastest swimming sprinters were looking for answers in the Paris pool
The fastest in the first qualifying heat was British Georgia Hunter Bell (4 min. 8.97 sec.), second was Polish Klaudia Kazimierska (4 min. 9.61 sec.), third – Portuguese Salome Afonso (4 min. 10.07 sec.). All better season results than G. Galvydytė’s belonged to this trio.
The athletes in the second qualifying heat performed significantly faster, among whom the fastest was another Portuguese, Patricia Silva, who completed 1500 m in 4 min. 8.10 sec.
The 1500 m final would have been G. Galvydytė’s second event in this European Championship. On Friday, the Lithuanian athlete took 4th place in the 800 m final, finishing behind only Swiss Audrey Werro, British Keely Hodgkinson, and Femke Broeders-Bol from the Netherlands.
Read more Abandoned quartz sand quarry in Anykščiai will become a park and commercial zone
