Itongadol.- Israel’s Yakov Toumarkin missed out on a medal at the European Swimming Championships in London by 17 hundredths of a second on Tuesday, finishing the 100-meter backstroke final in sixth place in a time of 54.36 seconds.
Had the two-time European bronze medalist from four years ago repeated his time from Monday’s semis (54.18s), he would have finished in third place. Had he equaled his national record (53.77s) from last summer’s World Championships, he would have won the gold.
Despite having to settle for sixth, Toumarkin will be encouraged by his performance in the 100m back ahead of his main discipline, the 200m back, the heats for which will take place on Friday.
Toumarkin was scheduled to also compete in the 200m individual medley heats on Tuesday, but chose to skip the event, something he will also do at the Rio Olympics later this summer as they will be held on the same day as the 200m backstroke qualifiers.
Israel’s other finalist on Tuesday was 19-year-old Meiron Cheruti, who couldn’t repeat his surprise display from the 50m butterfly semis (23.70s) on Monday, finishing the final in the eighth and last place in a time of 23.93s.
Two other Israelis will take part in finals on Wednesday, with Gal Nevo and Andrea Murez advancing on Tuesday in the 200m IM and 100m freestyle, respectively.
Nevo progressed from fourth place overall in the semis with a time of 2:00.32 minutes, eight hundredths of a second slower than his time in the morning heats.
Murez qualified for her final from fifth place overall in a time of 54.57s, 42 hundredths of a second from the fastest qualifier, Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands.