Good morning - here's where we'll post a short wrap of Day 1 heats from the European Championships.

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• RESULTS IN FULL & START LISTS

Men's 400m Medley

Liam Custer, of Ireland, will forever be able to say he was the first swimmer home at the 2026 European Championships in Paris: he heat 1 in a personal best of 4:22.55 (prev. 4:23.14, April this year).

Next up, Finn Hammer, of Germany, Alberto Razzetti, of Italy, and Max Litchfield of Great Britain, swung their last strokes into the wall together, Hammer on 4:13.45, Razzetti 4:13.54, Litchfield 4:13.69. Romanian teenager Robert Badea was next home but a dolphin kick too many landed him a DQ and loss of place in the final .

In the last heat, which would normally have featured Olympic and World champion Léon Marchand, neutral Ilia Borodin clocked 4:13.10 to book a ticket to lane 4 for the final this evening, Cedric Bussing granting Germany a second lane in the showdown asx the last man through from the last heat. The context of the favourite's withdrawal:

"I'm very disappointed by all this. Also very disappointed for the people - those who came to see me for the individual medley events this week. At the same time, it’s a decision that brings me relief, because wondering whether or not to do it has really been weighing on my mind these past few weeks. It’s a bit of a mixed bag of emotions.

"I had an MRI three days ago and the injury is about 70% healed, but that’s not enough: competing would still be risky, and I don’t want to ruin the whole week. I feel slight discomfort during the butterfly stroke when I’m really pushing at 100% intensity, because I use my adductors a lot for the undulation. But it’s really just discomfort, not pain, so I think it’ll be fine."

Marchand To Manage His Injury Setback By Upping His Self-Care Game En Route To LA2028

Léon Marchand on the long-term prognosis of his injury: “I’m gonna try to do better on the ... outside thing of the pool. I would say I need to prepare better, warm up better. There’s a lot of things I can do better to not get another injury in the future.” His drive? “More records...”

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

The qualifiers - for the Final:

Women's 100m freestyle 

Just one swimmer got inside 53sec in morning heats: a 52.62 from World-record holder Marrit Steenbergen looked so easy that the pool announcer took a little while to notice that the swim established a championship record. It was also 02sec faster that the Dutch ace clocked for 7th at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Since then, she's stepped up apace and in June at the Sette Colli in Rome, she ripped a 51.68 World record:

Steenbergen Shaves 0.03 Off Sjöström’s 2017 Standard For 51.68 WR In Rome 100 Free

“It’s surreal. That’s the right word. I’m incredibly proud of it, yet it still sounds strange to have the world record to my name. I am the fastest woman ever in the 100m freestyle. It still needs to sink in, but it’s absolutely true” - Marrit Steenbergen

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

In heat 4 off 6, Steenbergen's teammate Milou Van Wijk was next through to semis, on 53.00 to grab the second qualification berth among four Dutch prelims swimmers in the top 11 (under the four-per-nation/two-go-through rule). Sara Curtis, of Italy, topped heat 5 in 53.76.

What Steenbergen said on the eve of day 1 heats:

Steenbergen Out To Take “Some Kind Of Revenge” On Paris 2024

“The Olympics for me were not really what I expected of them. It’s really good to be back and to get some kind of revenge in the pool.” - Marrit Steenbergen

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

The qualifiers for Semis:

Men's 50m butterfly 

If Léon was forced to skip the beat in day 1 heats, his teammate Maxime Grousset filled the void with a crowd-pleasing 22.49 blast in the last heat of the 'fly dash, just 0.01sec shy of his French record - and the championship record set by a swimmer now retired and gone off to a different world to be enhanced in ways forbidden in the tested realm.

The biggest cheer of the morning has been heard. Before Grousset, in heat 7 of 8, Swiss ace Noé Ponti flowed home in 22.69, 0.01sec inside neutral Egor Kornev's heat 6 topper ahead of Hungarian Kristof Milak and a 22.96. The sub-23 crew included Stergios Bilas, of Greece (22.93) and neutral Grigori Pekarsi (22.97), Diogo Ribeiro (POR) the World champion from intercalated Doha 2024 the first of the 23s, 0.04sec that side of the pace.

At another 'intercalated' event in 2024, the European Championships in the first season ever to also feature Olympic Games and World Championships in the same year as organisers insisted on catching up with Covid contracts, saw the 50m 'fly won in a time that would have finished 12th this morning. Consequence: It will take some nations - due to very low turnout of the biggest fish - many years before they are able to celebrate their 'best' European Championships medal haul...

The qualifiers for semis:

Women's 200m backstroke

In the first of three heats, Great Britain's Katie Shanahan left nothing to chance: 2:09.28, which would end up punching as ticket to the best of the two lane 4s in semis this evening.

Shanahan claimed Commonwealth silver for Scotland behind Australia's Jenna Forrester in Glasgow two weeks ago:

Pallister & Forrester Lead Aussie Gold Rush On Day 1 In Glasgow

Aussie gold rush on a day when Chad Le Clos broke his tie with with shooters Mike Gault, of England, and Philip Adams of Australia, to set a new standard of 19 medals by a single athlete.

State Of Swimming +Craig Lord

The qualifiers for Semis

Coming up...

• Men's 100m breaststroke
• Women's 4x200m free
• Men's 4x200m free
• Women's 800m free