With a stunning personal best: Tomer Shuster advanced to the European Championship semifinals in the 50m backstroke
The swimmer set a great personal best of 24.62 seconds, touched the Israeli record, and secured a qualification for the 2027 World Championships. Loktev is the first reserve in the 200m freestyle semifinals, the relay team is the second reserve for the final.
A successful morning for the Israeli national team at the European Swimming Championships: Tomer Shuster (Maccabi Rishon LeZion) advanced today, Thursday, to the semifinals in the 50-meter backstroke, finishing ninth overall in the qualifiers. Shuster set a stunning time of 24.62 seconds—a new personal best, just two hundredths of a second away from the Israeli record. Beyond advancing to the next stage, this high-quality result grants Shuster official qualification for the 2027 World Championships, joining five other Israeli swimmers who have already secured their place in the prestigious competition.
Three more Israelis took part in the 50m backstroke: Michael Laitarovsky (Jerusalem Rabbati) finished 27th with a time of 25.14 seconds, Inbar Danziger (Hapoel Jerusalem) ranked 35th at 25.36 seconds, and Okan Goldin (Maccabi Nahariya) finished 51st at 25.62 seconds.
In the men's 200-meter freestyle, Denis Loktev finished 18th in the qualifiers with a time of 1:47.21 minutes, serving as the first reserve for the semifinals. In the same event, Eitan Ben Shitrit (Jerusalem Rabbati) set a personal best of 1:47.59 minutes (26th place), Alexey Glivinskiy ranked 31st (1:47.83 minutes), and Yoav Romano (Maccabi Shoham) finished 34th (1:48.09 minutes).
The 4x100 meter freestyle relay team also recorded a respectable performance. The quartet, including Alexey Glivinskiy, Denis Loktev, Daniel Krichevsky, and Martin Kartavi, finished 10th in the qualifiers with a time of 3:15.45 minutes—a result that places them as the second reserve for the final.
