2024 EUROPEAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The third night of finals from the 2024 European Junior Championships featured the best swim of the competition thus far, as Turkey’s Kuzey Tuncelli unleashed a stunning performance in the boys’ 1500 freestyle.
Tuncelli put on a masterclass, taking the lead from the first 50 and running away from the field to touch first by more than 22 seconds in 14:41.89, taking down Franko Grgic‘s World Junior and European Junior Record of 14:46.09 set at the 2019 World Junior Championships.
What a moment! 👏
Kuzey Tuncelli 🇹🇷 feels ‘great’ after setting a new World Junior Record in the 1500m Free. #EJSCVilnius2024 | https://t.co/IBWoGhHUkN pic.twitter.com/2fGeX0WcYs
— European Aquatics (@EuroAquatics) July 4, 2024
Tuncelli, 16, knocked more than 12 seconds off his Turkish Record and lifetime best of 14:54.16, set in July 2023.
He’s also been close to that mark twice in the lead-up to this competition, placing 8th at the 2024 World Championships (14:54.98 in the prelims) and winning the European senior title in 14:55.64 less than two weeks ago.
In April 2023, he became the first 15-year-old to break 15:00 in the 1500 free.
Split Comparison
| Grgic, 2019 | Tuncelli, 2024 |
| 27.21 | 26.75 |
| 56.52 (29.31) | 55.36 (28.61) |
| 1:26.03 (29.51) | 1:24.85 (29.49) |
| 1:55.88 (29.85) | 1:54.40 (29.55) |
| 2:25.64 (29.76) | 2:23.74 (29.34) |
| 2:55.57 (29.93) | 2:53.23 (29.49) |
| 3:25.49 (29.92) | 3:22.78 (29.55) |
| 3:55.53 (30.04) | 3:52.52 (29.74) |
| 4:25.10 (29.57) | 4:22.04 (29.52) |
| 4:54.84 (29.74) | 4:51.74 (29.70) |
| 5:24.57 (29.73) | 5:21.37 (29.63) |
| 5:54.31 (29.74) | 5:50.82 (29.45) |
| 6:24.02 (29.71) | 6:20.33 (29.51) |
| 6:53.66 (29.64) | 6:49.72 (29.39) |
| 7:23.47 (29.81) | 7:19.27 (29.55) |
| 7:53.07 (29.60) | 7:48.99 (29.72) |
| 8:22.76 (29.69) | 8:18.42 (29.43) |
| 8:52.49 (29.73) | 8:47.98 (29.56) |
| 9:22.12 (29.63) | 9:17.33 (29.35) |
| 9:51.66 (29.54) | 9:47.22 (29.89) |
| 10:21.32 (29.66) | 10:16.74 (29.52) |
| 10:50.93 (29.61) | 10:46.56 (29.82) |
| 11:20.63 (29.70) | 11:16.42 (29.86) |
| 11:50.21 (29.58) | 11:46.51 (30.09) |
| 12:19.93 (29.72) | 12:16.33 (29.82) |
| 12:49.43 (29.50) | 12:45.66 (29.33) |
| 13:19.30 (29.87) | 13:15.14 (29.48) |
| 13:48.71 (29.41) | 13:45.23 (30.09) |
| 14:17.80 (29.09) | 14:14.46 (29.23) |
| 14:46.09 (28.29) | 14:41.89 (27.43) |
Tuncelli also took 17 seconds off the European Junior Championship Record of 14:58.89 that he set last year en route to gold.
Set to turn 17 in August, he moves into 18th all-time in the event and 8th among Europeans.
For additional context, his time is more than 22 seconds faster than the existing U.S. National Age Group Record for 15-16 boys of 15:03.91 set by Bobby Hackett in 1976.
Set to make his Olympic debut in Paris, Tuncelli moves into #4 in the world this season.
| 2 | Robert FINKE |
USA | 14:40.38 | 06/23 |
| 3 | Gregorio PALTRINIERI |
ITA | 14:41.38 | 11/28 |
| 4 | Kuzey Tuncelli |
TUR | WJR 14:41.89 | 07/04 |
| 5 | Florian WELLBROCK |
GER | 14:42.28 | 04/28 |
In the race itself, Tuncelli won by a massive margin ahead of Germany’s Johannes Liebmann (15:04.04), while he was joined by countryman and bronze medalist Muhammed Yusuf Ozden (15:19.56) on the podium.
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