Gabriela Georgieva missed out on a hundredth of a second in the women's 200m backstroke final at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in Budapest. The Bulgarian covered the distance in 2:04.63 minutes and will be the first reserve, after Russian Milana Stepanova finished ahead of her in 2:04.62, BTA reports.
Georgieva also finished 26 hundredths of a second off her own national record, set 12 months ago in Otopeni. She achieved the top achievement in the qualifying series of the European Championships in 2023 and finished in eighth place in the final.
The first time in the qualifications was given by the three-time Olympic champion from Paris 2024 Summer McIntosh. The Canadian finished in 2:01.52 minutes.
Peter Mitsin was eliminated in the men's 200-meter freestyle after giving the 24th time. The Bulgarian finished in 1:44.07 and fell more than a second behind the qualifying times for the final swim on Sunday evening in Budapest.