2026 European Swimming ChampionshipsMen’s 200 Backstroke — PrelimsTop 16 QualifiersNathan Muratory, the current European Junior champion, hacked a second off his lifetime best in the 200 back this morning to crack Kliment Kolesnikov‘s nine-year-old World Junior Record of 1:55.14 with his field-leading swim of 1:54.87. The fastest performance in history by a junior stands at Ryosuke Irie‘s 1:54.77 from the 2008 Japan Open, but this preceded the establishment of official World Junior records by six years. Swimming out of the final heat, Muratory had the advantage that he knew exactly what he needed to progress. Ndoye-Brouard won the first of the circle-seeded heats in 1:55.91, which Tomac bettered with a 1:55.14 in the next heat. Muratory is coming off a successful European Junior campaign in Munich last month.