Croatian Jere Hribar new European 50m freestyle champion

Jere Hribar (Photo: Instagram/Jere Hribar)

Croatian swimming has a new European champion. Jere Hribar has produced a dazzling performance to claim gold in the 50-metre freestyle at the European Short Course Championships in Lublin, rounding off a remarkable week for the 21-year-old from Split.

Hribar touched the wall in 20.70, a time he astonishingly recorded three times during the competition, to take the European title in the fastest event of the programme.

He finished 11 hundredths of a second ahead of France’s Maxime Grousset, the swimmer who had beaten him to silver in the 100-metre freestyle the previous day.

Ukraine’s Nikita Sheremet shared second place and, with his 20.81, set a new world junior record.

Hribar’s victory capped off a historic week for Croatian swimming. He leaves Poland with a full set of medals: bronze in the men’s 4x50m freestyle relay, Croatia’s first relay podium since 2009, silver in the 100m freestyle, and finally gold in the 50m freestyle.

It marks Croatia’s first medal at a major senior competition since 2016 and the country’s first men’s European swimming gold since the era of Duje Draganja in 2009.

“It has been an incredible European Championships and an incredible week for all of us,” Hribar said. “We’ve come away with bronze, silver and gold. I don’t even know when we last had a European champion in swimming. I’m really satisfied.”

Hribar’s 20.70 places him alongside one of Croatia’s greats. He equalled Draganja’s national record in the 50m freestyle and earlier in the week broke Draganja’s long-standing Croatian record in the 100m.

“I’ve swum 20.70 three times now, in the relay on the first and third days, and today again in the 50m. It matches the level of Draganja’s record. I broke his mark in the 100m and now I’ve equalled him in the 50m,” Hribar said.

Last year, Hribar shattered a 14-year-old pool record once held by the iconic Michael Phelps.

He posted a remarkable 42.99 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle during a four-school meet at the Leyeune Hall pool.

Phelps had set the previous mark back in 2010, long before he cemented his status as the most decorated Olympian of all time with 28 medals.