Antonio Djakovic brings Switzerland its fifth medal at the European Championships in the large pool in Belgrade. This is a record for Swiss Swimming.
Antonio Djakovic won bronze in the 400 m crawl, having already finished third in the 200 m crawl in the Serbian capital. The 21-year-old from Thurgau finished in 3:47.62 minutes, just 18 hundredths of a second slower than Greece's Dimitrios Markos. Austria's Felix Auböck (3:43.24) was in a class of his own.
The fact that Djakovic is returning home from Belgrade with two podium places comes as a surprise, even for him, as he competed without any special preparation, as his planning is geared towards the Olympic Games in Paris. He had already won two medals at the 2022 European Championships in Rome, two silver medals at the time.
A Swiss team has never been as successful as in Belgrade at the European Championships in terms of the number of podium places. The previous record, achieved two years ago in Rome, was four medals. This is all the more impressive given that Swiss figurehead Noè Ponti only competed in the preliminary heat of the 100 m dolphin due to a stomach bug.
Disappointment for Desplanches
Meanwhile, there was another disappointment for Jérémy Desplanches. The 2021 Olympic bronze medallist in Tokyo will not be competing in the 200 m medley in Paris. In the final, the 29-year-old from Geneva missed his last chance to beat the limit in his showpiece discipline. Finishing fifth in 1:59.04 minutes, he was well over the required time of 1:57.94 - he was third after 150 meters.
Desplanches will nevertheless travel to Paris as a relay swimmer and will end his career after the Olympic Games. He had already celebrated several successes in the 200 m medley before Tokyo. He won the European Championship title in 2018 and took silver at both the 2019 World Championships and the 2021 European Championships. After the Olympic medal, however, he suffered many setbacks. His return to Geneva at the end of 2023 after two complicated years in Martigues under coach Philippe Lucas did not have the desired effect.
Antonio Djakovic's sister Vanna, who is three years younger, also made it to the final in the 400 m crawl, her first time at a European Championships. She finished in 6th place in 4:15.32 minutes. Hungarian Ajna Kesely (4:06.56) won gold.
