There are swimmers who keep all the juice inside, whose talent only needs that day to come when someone or something automatically uncorks it. An emotion, a unique setting, an insurmountable challenge, or swimming alongside your idol in a European semifinal. And this last one is what happened to Luca Hoek (18 years old), the torpedo from Sitges, with a French mother and Dutch father, but born and raised by the Mediterranean Sea.
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Hoek’s performance left Spanish swimming speechless. The swimmer who now trains at the CAR in Sant Cugat with Ben Titley and who was shaped by Emilio Huete broke an insurmountable wall in the 100 freestyle with a Spanish record of an Olympic final: 47.26 seconds. The previous record was his own at 47.72 seconds. Spain has only had two European finalists in this event in its entire history, the last being Edu Llorente in 2004, and speed was always a weakness. Now, with Hoek, whose progress has been meteoric, he is a swimmer capable of reaching heights never before reached: only Popovici and the world record holder, the Chinese Pan Zhanle, have swum so fast at his age.
His good morning performance allowed him to swim in lane five alongside his idol, the Romanian and Olympic champion in the 200 freestyle David Popovici. Both swimmers share virtues. They do not stand out for their physique, but for their morphology that allows them a level of flotation and glide superior to the rest. It seems they do not exert too much force in each stroke, advancing like fish.
Popovici set the pace with 22.57 seconds in the first 50, Hoek was close behind, following his wake and taking advantage of the wave, with 22.67 seconds. The level of the Catalan is not surprising, as he is a 50-meter swimmer and has a great start. This year he has been working conscientiously on those last 50 meters, not losing acceleration in the final part, which is why he even trains the 200, which he will not swim in Paris. And, alongside Popovici, he maintained the pace. The Romanian did not let up and again went under 47 seconds (46.72, with a 24.15 second return), while Hoek left the Spanish team amazed with that 47.26 that shatters the Spanish record, with a 24.59 second return. The swimming eclipse could also happen in the Paris pool tomorrow in the final.
Earlier, Estella Tonrath lacked a final push, an “extra gear,” the one she sensed she had left for the 200 backstroke final, but it did not come in a race where the gold was decided from the start. After the first turn, the British Katie Shanahan decided the excitement was over with a split (31.46) inaccessible to any European. The race focused behind, and the Mallorcan quickly positioned herself in contention.
Located in lane three, Tonrath touched fourth at the first 50, eight tenths behind the French Pauline Mahieu, who made a suicidal start. Estella maintained the semifinal splits, although she knew the medal would be closer to her personal best, the Spanish record she set the previous year (2:08.00). In fact, achieving that would have given her the bronze.
The swimmer was fifth at 100 and fourth at 150, but it was in the last part of the race when the event became too long for her. The French finished in 32.52 and held the bronze; the Portuguese Camila Rodrigues swam 31.77 to finish in 2:07.62 and take the bronze, while the German Lisa Seidel was also faster (32.24) than Tonrath to finish fourth with 2:08.86. The Spaniard was at 32.72 and did not have the necessary finish to fight for the medal.
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The 19-year-old swimmer remains consistent for another season in backstroke events. Although she did not make the final at the World Championships in Singapore, swimming under 2:09 is becoming a habit, a sign to hold on to for the Los Angeles Olympic Games and to get among the top eight at the 2027 World Championships in Budapest.
Later, from a Spanish perspective, Hugo González finished seventh (1:55.75) in the 200 backstroke final, dominated firmly by the Hungarian and Olympic champion Hubert Kos, trained by Bob Bowman and teammate of Léon Marchand, who left disappointed because he was aiming for the world record of the American Aaron Peirsol. He recorded 1:52.30, a championship and European record. And his face was a sad poem. He has the final to go under those 1:51.92.
In the other individual Spanish final, María de Valdés was seventh in the 800 freestyle with 8:37.23 with the victory, again, of the Italian Simona Quadarella (8:15.55).
Kornev and Stteenbergen
The two golds of the swimmers of the moment
In the rest of the finals, the gold won by the Russian Egor Kornev in the 50 butterfly (25.52) stands out in a final with big names like Kristof Milak, Noe Ponti, or Thomas Ceccon, although the silver went to the French Maxime Grousset (25.56) and the bronze to the Russian Grigori Pekarski (25.68). Kornev also made the final of the 100 freestyle and this year has swum under 47 seconds. In that event, precisely, but in the female category, the Dutch Marrit Stteenbergen fulfilled expectations in a year in which she became the world record holder. She again swam under 52 seconds (51.97) with a clear margin over her rivals. The silver went to compatriot Milou van Wijk (52.71) and the bronze to the Italian Sara Curtis with 52.72. In the 100 breaststroke, with Adam Peaty a finalist but losing his decade-long dominance, the winner was the Italian Nicolo Martinenghi, Olympic gold medalist, with 58.58, followed by the Russian Ivan Kozhakin (58.68) and his compatriot Simone Cerasuelo (58.90).
The morning also brought two Spanish records that join María Daza’s in the 100 freestyle on Monday. Carlos Garach, who took a break after the Paris Games to do military training with the help of the Superior Sports Council (CSD), returned in grand style to a major competition by erasing Marco Rivera’s record, set at the wild 2009 World Championships in Rome, in the 800 freestyle (7:49.09). The swimmer from Cádiz, who trains in Málaga, admitted to burying “the ghosts of the past” and recorded 7:48.26. This Wednesday he will participate in the final with the seventh-best time.
The mixed 4×100 medley relay was fourth and made it to the final, where the best swimmers from each country will swim. The time completed by Nil Cadevall, Irene Ciércoles, Laura Cabanes, and Iván Martínez became the new national record (3:45.87). And in the afternoon they finished sixth in Europe with another bite at the record (3:45.10).
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