European Swimming Championships in Belgrade

Tyrolean Simon Bucher wins silver in the 50 m dolphin!

The Tyrolean Simon Bucher swam to European Championship silver in the 50 m dolphin on the long course in Belgrade on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old improved his time by 0.10 seconds compared to the semi-final in 23.19 seconds. Bucher missed out on gold by 0.04 seconds. This is the first European Championship medal in the general class for the 24-year-old runner-up in the double distance. Bernhard Reitshammer came sixth in the 100 m breaststroke in 1:00.13 minutes, Lena Kreundl seventh in the 100 m crawl in 55.07 seconds.

Title to the Greeks
The dolphin sprint title went to the Greek Sterios Marios Bilas in 23.15, bronze in 23.26 to the Czech Daniel Gracik. "I'm extremely happy with silver. I was extremely happy when the two-man stood there," said Bucher jubilantly. But he even mourned gold. "You can always find 4/100 somewhere. I had to glide a bit in the stop, otherwise I could have won it. It's an extremely close race. In any case, the medal means a lot to me. Being at the top in Europe means just as much as being at the top in the world."

Heiko Gigler will also be competing in the semifinals of the 100 m crawl. Austria's team has three medals at these continental championships five days before the end, with synchronized swimmer Vasiliki Alexandri winning two gold medals last week in the technical and free freestyle solo events.