European Championships in Belgrade

Bucher narrowly misses out on a medal in the 100 m dolphin

Simon Bucher(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Swimming vice world champion Simon Bucher missed out on a double medal in Belgrade. After winning silver in the 50 m dolphin on Tuesday, the Tyrolean came fourth in the 100 m dolphin on Thursday. 

His time of 51.28 seconds was just one tenth off his OSV record, although the top three remained under the 51-second mark. Christopher Rothbauer finished eighth in the 200 m breaststroke final in 2:13.07, while Iris Julia Berger was eliminated in the 100 m dolphin semifinals in eleventh place with a personal best time of 58.94.

"The disappointment is huge. Nevertheless, we were three tenths off, so it wasn't close," said Bucher, pointing out that bronze went away in 50.98 seconds. The OSV ace was in third place after around 75 m, having been sixth at the turnaround, but was unable to maintain his pace. "I ran out of juice, I got really short and couldn't get to the wall properly. Maybe I put everything out a bit too early on the second length. But I still wouldn't have been in contention for the medals."

He was feeling the strain of four days of competition in a row, and in the heat. Even at 8.30 pm on Thursday it was still 33 degrees - and Bucher's final was at 6.30 pm. Kristof Milak won in 50.82 seconds. Incidentally, the Hungarian refused to speak to the media in Serbia's capital for a year.

Bucher wanted to get a good night's sleep on Friday and then decide whether he would compete in the 100 m backstroke on Saturday. The fixed point is the medley relay on Sunday. "A medal there would be cool." In Rome in 2022, the red-white-red team won bronze.

Rothbauer lost 0.28 seconds on his semi-final time from the previous day in his first ever European Long Course Championship final. "I had hoped for a bit more. It was extremely uncontrolled," said the 26-year-old, summing up his race. "But I can't complain, I've had a difficult year. I reached a European Championship final, another milestone in my career." Rothbauer's remaining goal for the season is the national championships in Innsbruck at the beginning of August - during the Olympics. The European champions were Lyubomir Epitropov (BUL) and Erik Persson (SWE) in 2:09.45 min.

Berger was overjoyed despite her elimination, she had not expected a time under 59 seconds. "After the turnaround, I realized that I was well in the field. And then I kept pushing. The field was very tight." The 19-year-old ultimately missed out on a place in the final by 0.31 seconds. The German-born athlete even came within 0.14 seconds of the Austrian record of 58.80 seconds set by Birgit Koschischek in March 2012. On Friday, Berger contested her fourth individual start of the week in the 100 m backstroke, plus two relay events.

In the morning, Heiko Gigler, Leon Opatril, Lukas Edl and Alexander Trampitsch finished tenth in the 4 x 100 m crawl with an OSV record of 3:18.03 minutes, Fabienne Pavlik was eliminated in the 100 m dolphin with 1:01.22 minutes (21st). This was just as much a personal best as Max Halbeisen's time in the 50 backstroke (25.94/21st). Moritz Dittrich was 22nd (25.96). Trampitsch finished 36th in the 200m crawl (1:51.07). On Friday, Lena Kreundl in the 200m medley and Bernhard Reitshammer, Valentin Bayer and Heiko Gigler in the 50 breaststroke will be in contention.