The national team of Ukraine won the first gold medal at the 2024 European Championship in water sports. 18-year-old Ukrainian swimmer Oleksandr Zheltyakov won it in the 200-meter backstroke.
This was reported by "Suspilne.Sport".
Zheltyakov started swimming sixth in the first 50 meters and finished half the distance in the top three.
50 meters before the end of the swim, Zheltyakov continued to be third. However, in the end, the Ukrainian swimmer became the champion: he covered the distance in 1:55.39 minutes, ahead of the Greek Apostolos Siscos with an advantage of 0.03 seconds. Swiss swimmer Roman Mityukov took third place with a gap of 0.36 seconds.
Zheltiakovʼs result in the Euro-2024 final is also a new national record in the 200-meter backstroke. The Ukrainian swimmer improved the previous record, which also belonged to him, by 0.4 seconds.
Yes, Zheltyakov won the first "gold" for Ukraine at the European Championships in water sports. Before that, Ukrainians won three awards in diving.
And in general, this is the first medal for Ukraine in backstroke at the Euro water sports in the last 24 years: in 2000, Volodymyr Nikolaychyk won the "silver" at the distance of 100 meters.
In addition, for Zheltyakov, this is the first personal gold medal at the adult European championships. Before that, the swimmer won medals only among juniors, in particular, he won two "golds" at the Junior World Championships and two awards of the highest category at the Euro.
- Oleksandr Zheltyakov is an 18-year-old Ukrainian swimmer from Dnipro, specializing in the 50, 100 and 200 meter backstroke. A nine-time winner of the European Junior Championships, he has two "golds" of the continental championship. He is the holder of Ukrainian junior records in the 50 and 100 meter backstroke on short water, as well as adult records in the distance of 200 meters and in the mixed relay of 4x100 meters in the complex style. In 2023, Zheltyakov won an Olympic license in swimming for 100 and 200 meters backstroke.