Swimmers perform well in Antwerp

Dominique Diezi at the start of the 50 metres backstroke in the Wezenberg pool in Antwerp Keystone

Swiss swimmer Dominique Diezi just missed out on a bronze medal when she swam to fourth place in the 50 metres backstroke at the European Championship in Antwerp.

The 24-year-old swimmer from Zurich finished in 28″27 just behind Janine Pietsch from Germany, who fetched the bronze medal with a time of 27″79.

“I really enjoyed the final and I am happy about the otherwise hated fourth place,” Diezi said about her best performance ever in an international competition.

Ilona Hlavackova from the Czech Republic swam to gold by finishing the race in 27″06 before Anu Koivisto from Finland, who came second.

Other Swiss swimmers also performed well, with Nicole Zahnd taking the sixth place in the 400 metres freestyle and Remo Luetolf also finishing sixth in the Men’s 50 metres breaststroke.

Karel Novy, who fetched bronze medals in this discipline in the past two years, came seventh in the 100 metres crawl. “I was too nervous and made too many mistakes,” he said disappointedly after the race.

Yves Platel took the eighth place with a time of 1’11″50 in the Men’s 1,500 metres freestyle.

However, there was some disappointment for Friday’s gold medal winner Flavia Rigamonti, who only finished tenth in the 400 metres freestyle race.

On Friday, the young Swiss swimming star smashed her own short course record in the 800 metres freestyle and finished the race in 8’17″20, which also set a new European short course record.

swissinfo with agencies