On Saturday morning at 8.30am, João Carneiro and Finn Kemp were on the starting blocks for the 50m breaststroke.
Kemp clocked an excellent time, just two tenths of a second off the national record, but the young swimmer was disqualified due to an illegal kick. In the 200m breaststroke, however, he qualified for the afternoon A final, no easy feat given the exceptionally strong and closely matched field in the breaststroke events this year. Managing such an intense competition day requires careful planning.
Normally, Kemp and Carneiro are closely matched in breaststroke, but on Saturday the gap was significant in Kemp’s favour. Carneiro had not specifically prepared for the Euro Meet and was around ten seconds slower than his personal best in the 200m. Finn Kemp finished eighth in the A final, setting a new personal best in the process.
Emma Barthel qualified for the B final in the morning with a time close to her own national record. In the afternoon, the 15-year-old finished second in the B final and set a new national record in the 200m breaststroke with a time of 2:34.58, a fitting reward for her intensive preparation for the Euro Meet.
After reaching the A final on Friday, Florian Frippiat also secured a place in another A final on Saturday.
The final day of the Euro Meet takes place on Sunday, with more high-level and exciting races expected. Heats can be followed live from 8.30am to 12.35pm on RTL Play, RTL.lu and the app, while the finals will also be broadcast from 3.45pm to 5.50pm on RTL Zwee.
