Swiss fail to make a big splash

Luka Gabrilo broke the record he set for Switzerland in the 200m backstroke event Keystone

The Swiss have made a quiet start to the European short-course swimming championships in Antwerp, Belgium.

Not one of the 14 Swiss taking part in the championships made it into the final race of an event, being eliminated in the preceding heats.

The Swiss 4 x 50m medley relay team missed their chance to compete in the event’s final race by 7 hundredths of a second. They finished the semi-final heat ninth.

The German men’s medley team set a new world record in the event with a time of 1:34.78. The British team smashed their own national record to finish second in the final in 1:35.19 while Sweden were third.

Christoph Bühler was eliminated from the men’s 50m freestyle event in the semi-finals where he came 12th while his compatriot, Karel Novy came 14th.

In the 400m freestyle race, David Richard was the best-placed Swiss at 21 while Gerry Strasser came 24th.

New Swiss record

Luka Gabrilo had something cheer about despite not making it to the semi-finals of the 200m backstroke. He broke the record he set for Switzerland after he finished the race in 1: 58.26.

In the women’s competition, Sweden’s Emma Igelstorm equalled the world record in the 50m breaststroke. She set a new championship best in the semis, equalling the world record mark of 30.56 set by China’s Luo Xue and Li Wei in Shanghai 10 days ago.

Switzerland’s Carmela Schlegel came 21st while Céline Baillod came 24th.

Nicole Zahnd was disqualified from the 200m butterfly event while Dominique Diezi was eliminated from the 100m freestyle semi-finals.

Diezi also failed to make the finals of the women’s 100m backstroke race. She came 13th while Carla Stampfli came 16th.

swissinfo with agencies