Israeli swimmer takes silver medal in the 400-meters individual medley final in Herning, Denmark.
By ALLON SINAIGal Nevo 370(photo credit: REUTERS)
Gal Nevo claimed his sixth career medal at the European Short Course Swimming Championships on Friday, winning a silver medal in the 400-meters individual medley final in Herning, Denmark.However, the 26-year-old’s triumph was bittersweet, with Nevo missing out on becoming the first Israeli ever to win a gold medal at the continental short course championships by just two hundredths of a second.Nevo was in the lead entering the final 25 meters of the final, but was eventually edged by David Verraszto of Hungary despite clocking a new Israeli record time of 4:03.48 minutes.Nevertheless, Nevo was delighted at winning a third straight medal in the 400m IM final after taking bronzes in the past two championships.“It feels amazing,” he said. “Even before I saw exactly where I finished and how close I was to first place I was simply happy at breaking the national record. I didn’t manage to break it in the past two years and was already wondering if I would ever do so again.”Nevo, who became just the second Israeli to win a silver in the event, claimed not to be too disappointed at coming so close to taking the gold and said he has already turned his focus to next year’s challenges.“I’m trying not to think too much about those two hundredths,” he added. “I did what I could and this just makes me even hungrier ahead of next summer’s European Championships.”Nevo will compete in another final in the last day of the championships on Sunday after advancing to the 100m IM final from ninth place overall on Saturday, clocking 53.81 seconds.Amit Ivri came within 46 hundredths of a second of winning a medal in the women’s 100m IM final on Saturday, finishing in fourth place in a time of 58.72s.Guy Barnea, who ended the 50m backstroke final in ninth place on Friday, will take part in the 100m back final on Sunday, advancing from eighth position in 51.66s.
