Barzelay reaches 200m backstroke final as Loktev sets Israeli record in relay's 7th-place finish

Aviv Barzelay booked her place in Wednesday's 200m backstroke final at the European Aquatics Championships, and Israel's men closed out the opening night in Paris with a national record, ONE reported from the pool on Monday.

The 2026 championships, staged across Paris and Saint-Denis through August 16, have drawn one of the strongest fields outside an Olympic or World Championship year, headlined by home favourite Léon Marchand and Sweden's Sarah Sjöström.

Barzelay touched in 2:11.01 in the semi-finals to finish eighth quickest overall, just enough to squeeze into Wednesday evening's eight-woman final, according to ONE.

It is familiar territory for the 24-year-old, a two-time Olympian who swam the 200m backstroke at Tokyo 2020 and returned for the event plus the 200m individual medley at Paris 2024. She won gold in the 200m backstroke at the 2023 European Under-23 Championships and holds the Israeli record of 2:09.63 in the event.

Behind her, Tom Minis touched ninth in the same semi-final. ONE reported that the 21-year-old, who swims for the University of North Carolina, was left waiting on a possible late withdrawal elsewhere in the field that could still hand her a lane in the final as first reserve.

Earlier in the session, Israel's men opened their championships in the 4x200m freestyle relay, with the quartet finishing seventh overall in 7:07.55.

The placing came with a highlight: Denis Loktev split 1:45.59 on the opening 200m freestyle leg, shaving more than half a second off his own Israeli record of 1:46.17 and delivering the country's first national record of the meet, ONE reported.

Loktev, an Ashdod-born freestyler who represented Israel at the Tokyo Olympics, had set the previous mark at the Israeli championships; breaking it again on a relay leg in Paris underlines the form he is carrying into the individual events later in the week.

With Barzelay's final and the rest of the Israeli team's programme still to come, Monday's results gave the squad a solid platform on just the first night of competition in Paris.