Estonian swimmers put in good results at Fort Lauderdale Open
Swimmer Eneli Jefimova placed third in the 100m breaststroke at the Fort Lauderdale Open in Florida Thursday.
"Overall, the coach and I were satisfied. Maybe there wasn't quite that sharpness in the swim yet, but considering I took a short break less than a month ago and now we're back to full training load, it's logical," Jefimova said.
Jefimova was recently crowned Women's Rookie of the Year at her college, North Carolina State University.
She recorded a time of 1:07.37 in the heats, placing her second overall and securing a spot in the final. There, her result was five hundredths of a second slower (1:07.42), and she finished third in her first long-course competition of the season.
Jefimova now sits in 12th place in the European seasonal rankings. The fastest 100-meter breaststroke time so far this season has been posted by Britain's Angharad Evans (1:04.96), whom Jefimova will face at the London AP Meet at the end of May.
Of the other three Estonians competing in Fort Lauderdale, European champion Ralf Tribuntsov placed highest, in fourth, in the 50-meter backstroke.
Both he and Daniel Zaitsev made it to the finals in the 50-meter backstroke. Tribuntsov was fourth in the heats (25.61), Zaitsev sixth (25.67). In the final, Tribuntsov just missed out on the podium, finishing fourth with a time of 25.45.
Tribuntsov noted that swimming backstroke in an outdoor pool is more challenging simply because the usual point of reference swimmers use on their backs to triangulate their positions — i.e., the ceiling — is absent. "At the same time, everyone is in the same situation, so there's no point complaining — you just have to adapt. At the European Championships in Paris, we'll be swimming indoors," he added.
Margaret Markvardt also competed, recording a time of 29.47 in the 50-meter backstroke heats, which placed her 12th overall. She missed advancing to the finals by 0.36 seconds.
Following the end of the college season, Jefimova has shifted to training in a 50-meter pool, with her sights set on the European Aquatics Championships in Paris in August.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Kristjan Kallaste
