European Championships

The European Swimming Championships get underway tomorrow in the pool in Budapest, Hungary. Much of Europe's top talent is expected to compete, including Alain Bernard, Fred Bousquet, Paul Biedermann, Federica Pellegrini, Rebecca Adlington, Markus Rogan, Laszlo Cseh, and Katinka Hosszu. (Notable absentees include Milorad Cavic and Britta Steffen.) Competition and races will be fierce, but equally interesting will be to see how these times stack up against those that will be posted at the upcoming Pan Pacs and Commonwealth Games. More on that in a later blog. Meanwhile, I put together some predictions. Admittedly, these probably suck. I don't know as much about the smaller names in swimming in Europe, so these picks are heavily biased towards the big names and American-based swimmers. (Honestly, Barry Murphy and Damir Dugonjic probably won't medal in the 50 breast.) Full start lists and results are available at Omega Timing, and you can follow the races live with Omega Live Timing. Full recaps will be available after each day at SwimmingWorld.com.

Women:

50 Free
1. Therese Alshammar, Sweden
2. Hinkelien Schreuder, Netherlands
3. Francesca Halsall, Great Britain

100 Free
1. Femke Heemskerk, Netherlands
2. Francesca Halsall, Great Britain
3. Sarah Sjoestrum, Sweden

200 Free
1. Federica Pellegrini, Italy
2. Femke Heemskerk, Netherlands
3. Camille Muffat, France

400 Free
1. Federica Pellegrini, Italy
2. Rebecca Adlington, Great Britain
3. Joanne Jackson, Great Britain

800 Free
1. Rebecca Adlington, Great Britain
2. Lotte Friis, Denmark
3. Camelia Potec, Romania

1,500 Free
1. Lotte Friis, Denmark
2. Camelia Potec, Romania
3. Erika Villecija Garcia, Spain

50 Back
1. Anastasia Zueva, Russia
2. Daniela Samulski, Germany
3. Mercedes Peris Minguet, Spain

100 Back
1. Gemma Spofforth, Great Britain
2. Elizabeth Simmonds, Great Britain
3. Daniela Samulski, Germany

200 Back
1. Elizabeth Simmonds, Great Britain
2. Gemma Spofforth, Great Britain
3. Henriette Stenkvist, Sweden

50 Breast
1. Yuliya Efimova, Russia
2. Rebecca Ajulu-Bushell, Great Britain
3. Valentina Artemyeva, Russia

100 Breast
1. Yuliya Efimova, Russia
2. Rikke Moeller Pederson, Denmark
3. Sarah Poewe, Germany

200 Breast
1. Nadja Higl, Serbia
2. Rikke Moeller Pederson, Denmark
3. Sara Nordenstam, Norway

50 Fly
1. Therese Alshammar, Sweden
2. Hinkelien Schreuder, Netherlands
3. Ingvild Snildal, Norway

100 Fly
1. Sarah Sjoestroem, Sweden
2. Francesca Halsall, Great Britain
3. Aurore Mongel, France

200 Fly
1. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary
2. Aurore Mongel, France
3. Ellen Gandy, Great Britain

200 IM
1. Camille Muffat, France
2. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary
3. Hannah Miley, Great Britain

400 IM
1. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary
2. Hannah Miley, Great Britain
3. Mireia Belmonte Garcia, Spain

4x100 Free Relay
1. Germany
2. France
3. Great Britain

4x200 Free Relay
1. Great Britain
2. France
3. Hungary

4x100 Medley Relay
1. Great Britain
2. Germany
3. France

Men:

50 Free
1. Fred Bousquet, France
2. Fabien Gilot, France
3. Orsi/Draganja/Deibler

100 Free
1. Alain Bernard, France
2. Filippo Magnini, Italy
3. Paul Biedermann, Germany

200 Free
1. Paul Biedermann, Germany
2. Danila Izotov, Russia
3. Sebastiaan Verschuren, Netherlands

400 Free
1. Paul Biedermann, Germany
2. Yannick Agnel, France
3. Mads Glaesner, Denmark

800 Free
1. Federico Colbertaldo, Italy
2. Mads Glaesner, Denmark
3. Sebastian Rouault, France

1,500 Free
1. Mateusz Sawrymowicz, Poland
2. Federico Colbertaldo, Italy
3. Mads Glaesner, Denmark

50 Back
1. Liam Tancock, Great Britain
2. Camille Lacourt, France
3. Guy Barnea, Israel

100 Back
1. Camille Lacourt, France
2. Liam Tancock, Great Britain
3. Aschwin Wildeboer Faber, Spain

200 Back
1. Markus Rogan, Austria
2. Radoslaw Kawecki, Poland
3. Sebastiano Ranfagni, Italy

50 Breast
1. Hendrik Feldwehr, Germany
2. Barry Murphy, Ireland
3. Damir Dugonjic, Slovenia

100 Breast
1. Alexander Dale Oen, Norway
2. Igor Borysik, Ukraine
3. Hugues Duboscq, France

200 Breast
1. Daniel Gyurta, Hungary
2. Edoardo Giorgetti, Italy
3. Michael Jamieson, Great Britain

50 Fly
1. Steffen Deibler, Germany
2. Rafael Munoz Perez, Spain
3. Fred Bousquet, France

100 Fly
1. Evgeny Korotyskhin, Russia
2. Steffen Deiber, Germany
3. Konrad Czerniak, Poland

200 Fly
1. Pawel Korzeniowski, Poland
2. Nikolay Skvortsov, Russia
3. Dinko Jukic, Austria

200 IM
1. Laszlo Cseh, Hungary
2. Markus Rogan, Austria
3. Markus Deibler, Germany

400 IM
1. Laszlo Cseh, Hungary
2. Gal Nevo, Israel
3. Gergo Kis, Hungary

4x100 Free Relay
1. France
2. Russia
3. Italy

4x200 Free Relay
1. Italy
2. Russia
3. France

4x100 Medley Relay
1. Russia
2. France
3. Germany