Denis Loktev on Friday became Israel's third Israeli swimmer at the 2024 Paris Olympics, after breaking the national record in the 200-meter freestyle.
The 23-year-old had a close battle in the swim, touching the wall first in 1:46.17, a 47-hundredths improvement on his previous record set at the Tokyo Olympics and, just as importantly, his ticket to a second career Olympics.
"I couldn't sleep in the afternoon," Loktev said. "My friend Tomer Frenkel set the criteria yesterday and it gave me a drive and I'm very happy that we're together at the Olympics, swimming from the age of 10 together. It was a close battle and the relays are what turns me on, when we are four very strong guys and the sky's the limit. The goal at the moment is a world championship, while there is also peace of mind for Paris."
Thus, as mentioned, the swimming delegation to the Paris Olympics grew to three, with in addition to Loktev and Frankel, European champion Anastasia Gorbenko also secured her place.
Daria Golovaty. Bypassed Gorbenko at the last minute, photo: Oren Aharoni
The evening of finals opened with drama in the women's 200-meter freestyle final, where Gorbenko led all the way, but in the final meters, she was overtaken by Daria Golubetti with 1:58.24. The result is a new youth record and a criterion for the World Championships in Japan.
The Israeli champion in the 100-meter breaststroke was Keren Eizbruch, who finished the distance with a time of 1:13.79 minutes, ahead of Netta Ussishkin with 1:14.57. In the men's event, Alon Be'er won with 1:01.85 minutes and was crowned Israeli adult champion for the first time in his career.
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Gorbenko returned to the water to swim the 50-meter butterfly final, winning in 26.54 seconds, with Tomer Frenkel winning with 23.48 seconds.
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