RUSSIA. Kazan: For the sixth time in his career, Polish Radosław Kawęcki won gold in the 200-meter backstroke race. Radosław Kawęcki won with a time of 1:48:46. The second and third places were won by Italians Lorenzo Mory and Michele Lamberti respectively.
The 2021 European Short Course Swimming Championships (25m) was held in Kazan, Russia, from November 2 to 7, 2021 at the Water Sports Palace. The Poles won eight medals and finished their performance with a heavy accent. This is their best result since 2011.
One of the many members of the Polish Athletes Program, three-time European champion Radosław has been a leading figure in international swimming for a decade. Kawęcki, a two-time silver medalist at the world championships in the 200-meter backstroke, narrowly missed the medals in London 2012 and became a three-time Olympian in Tokyo, where he finished seventh. For the Pole, it was the sixth gold of the European Championship in this competition. Before that, he won in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2019.
Medal’s table
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Italy | 7 | 18 | 10 | 35 |
| 1 | Russia | 11 | 5 | 8 | 24 |
| 2 | Netherlands | 8 | 5 | 5 | 18 |
| 6 | Poland | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
- Gold by Alicja Tchórz (100 m medley)
- Silver by Katarzyna Wasick (50 m freestyle)
- Silver by Katarzyna Wasick (100 m freestyle)
- Bronze by Jakub Majerski (100 m butterfly style)
- Bronze by Paweł Juraszek (50 m freestyle)
- Bronze by Paweł Juraszek, Jakub Majerski, Alicja Tchórz, and Katarzyna Wasick (4×50 m freestyle)
- Bronze by Katarzyna Wasick, Kornelia Fiedkiewicz, Dominika Sztandera, and Alicja Tchorz (4×50 m freestyle)
- Gold by Radosław Kawęcki (200 m backstroke)
Overview of the decisive competition in Polish
Radosław Kawęcki showed iron nerves and astonishing strategy when he won, forcing only the second half of it. He supposedly trained for this same competition only for a month and a half, and explained the victory as he regularly stays in good shape.
Notable congratulations received
Minister of National Defence Mariusz Błaszczak congratulated the swimmer on Twitter.
The Minister of Sport and Tourism Kamil Bortniczuk also congratulated the swimmer on Twitter.
