Fleur Lewis hits distance double at European Championships

Loughborough University swimmer Fleur Lewis came away with two medals as a young British swimming squad impressed at the European Championships in Belgrade.

The ten-strong group headed to the Serbian capital looking to make their mark on the international stage and gain some valuable experience as they start to build towards their long term target of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

Only one of the ten had taken part at a senior long course event for Great Britain before the competition in Ed Mildred, who took bronze as part of the Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay team in Rome two years ago.

And it was one of those European debutants in Lewis that stood out throughout the week.

She won the nation’s only two medals in the pool as they took on the challenge of a number of swimmers who are heading to the Paris Olympics next month.

She took her first international medals as she turned her British silver in the Women’s 800m and 1500m Freestyle events, into European silver and bronze respectively.

Her success began with the 800m silver. She paced her 16 laps well to keep herself in touch of the leading pack throughout the race.

She upped her pace into the final 100m, moving from third to a clear second before reaching the final turn. She held that place well to the wall to secure a silver medal behind Hungary’s Ajna Késely, finishing in a time of 8:33.54.

It was good pacing once again that helped Lewis return to the podium in the 1500m Freestyle just a few days later.

She sat just off the lead in the early stages before moving into fourth around the halfway mark.

Hungary’s Viven Jackl pulled clear to take the gold but Lewis stuck with the rest of the field and once again improved in the final 100m’s to surge into a podium place ahead of Jackl’s compatriot Viktoria Farkas.

They weren’t her only impressive performances of the week as she also touched the wall fourth in the 400m Freestyle final.

Strong swims

Despite not reaching the podium there were plenty of strong swims across the week for British athletes in Belgrade.

City of Leeds’ Leah Schlosshan agonisingly missed out on a podium spot in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley.

The two-time European Junior champion from 12 months ago moved into second at 150m mark after a brilliant breaststroke leg.

She ultimately missed out on bronze by a quarter-of-a-second in a race where she finished narrowly off her personal best time.

Schlosshan also made the 200m Freestyle final, finishing in eighth spot with a time of 1:59.38.

Mildred and Josh Gammon went head-to-head in a swim off to reach the Men’s 100m Butterfly final.

It was Gammon that came out on top in a strong time of 51.65 which he unfortunately couldn’t improve on in the final as he finished in eighth.

Scotland’s Holly McGill was also fourth in the Women’s 100m Backstroke whilst Matthew Ward and Lucy Grieve were seventh in the Men’s 100m Backstroke and Women’s 200m Butterfly respectively.

There were a number of solid senior European debut swims for Calvin Fry, Jack Skerry and Alexander Painter which will support their development going forward.

All the results from across every discipline at the European Aquatics Championships are available on the European Aquatics Belgrade 2024 website.

Images: European Aquatics