Estonian Romanjuk reaches semi-finals of Euro swimming championships

Estonia's Maria Romanjuk has reached the semi-finals of the women's 100 meter breaststroke at the European Aquatics Championships in Rome.
Romanjuk finished fifth in her heat with a time of 1 minute 08.74 seconds, putting her in 15th place overall and ensuring qualification for this evening's semi-finals.
The leaderboard was dominated by Italy, with the fastest four qualifiers all from the host nation, with Benedetta Pilato leading the way in 1 minute 05.77 seconds. The semi-finals of the women's 100 meter breaststroke get underway on Friday evening at 19:24 Estonian time.
In the men's 100 meter freestyle, Estonian swimmers Alex Ahtiainen and Daniel Zaitsev were both in action, but neither managed to qualify for the semis.
Zaitsev's 49.73 seconds was only enough for third place in his heat, behind winner Luis Dominguez Calogne of Spain who swam 48.98 seconds and Ukraine's Illya Linnyk (49.69 seconds). The Estonian finished 30th overall in the preliminary round. Zaitsev's teammate Alex Ahtiainen placed eighth in his heat with a time of 50.62 seconds, leaving him 54th out of 79 participants overall.
17-year-old Romanian star and defending world champion David Popovici set the pace in the heats, with a time of 47.20 seconds, ahead of Italians Alessandro Miressi (47.60 seconds) and Lorenzo Zazzeri (48.27 seconds) in second and third place respectively.
In the preliminary round of 4 x 100 m mixed medley, the Estonian team of Daniel Zaitsev, Maria Romanjuk, Aleksa Gold and Armin Evert Lelle finished sixth in their heat with a time of 3 minutes 56.40 seconds.
The result left Estonia in 12th place overall, just under six seconds away from a time which would have seen them qualify for the final. The Netherlands were the fastest team in the qualifiers, with a time of 3 minutes 46.64 seconds.
The semi-final of the women's 100m breaststroke featuring Estonia's Maria Romanjuk starts at 19:24 Estonian time, with live coverage on ETV2 here.
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Editor: Michael Cole