Laszlo flies to the top of the podium again as arena swimmers make a splash

Laszlo Cseh won his 14th European gold medal and picked up his first international 100m butterfly title as arena’s gold rush continued at the European Championships in London.

Laszlo, clad in an arena Powerskin Carbon-Air, added the 100m title to the 200m he won on Thursday to propel himself to the top of the rankings in 50.86secs, a new championship record, with a possible showdown looming against world champion and fellow arena swimmer Chad Le Clos.

Radoslaw Kawecki won his third straight 200m backstroke gold while Fran Halsall defended her 50m backstroke title. Adam Peaty also added the 50m breaststroke to his 100m title to repeat the double he won two years ago in Berlin.

It lifts the number of medals won by swimmers wearing arena to 66, after six days of competition at the Aquatics Centre.

On Saturday, Laszlo was third at halfway, but his second 50m was more than half a second quicker than any of his rivals and he closed out the double, with arena swimmer Konrad Czerniak taking Silver.

He said: “It’s a new national record by 0.01sec, cool. This is the margin you should beat records.”
“It was a good swim but I feel I have much more in for Rio in this event as well.”

Radoslaw won his first European 200 backstroke title in Debrecen in 2012 before defending it in Berlin and then London in 1:55.98, wearing his arena Powerskin Carbon-Air.

The Pole, who has been second at the last two World Championships, said: “It was not an easy win, the time is not that good but I am pleased with my preparations for the Olympics.”

Adam retained his 50m breaststroke title by matching his time from the semi-final – 26.66 – which is the fourth fastest in history.

“My start wasn’t the best and I’m happy to post the same time as yesterday,” he said.

Fran showed a whole lot of style in the water, setting a championship record of 27.57 to defend the 50m backstroke title she won in Berlin, 0.20secs ahead of Mie Nielsen, winner of the 100m title.

“That was exciting,” Halsall said. “I really enjoyed that a lot. It shows I’m in great shape at an important stage in the season.”

“I managed to swim in a straight line and deliver a great time tonight, so I’m really happy with that.”

The Netherlands won the men’s 4x200m freestyle in 7:07.82, Sebastiaan Verschuren adding the relay title to his individual gold.

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