He did, however, register his third top-five finish at the European Short- Course Swimming Championships.
By ALLON SINAIIsraeli sw immer Yakov Toumarkin ended yesterday’s 100-meter individual medley final in fifth place at the European Short-Course Swimming Championships in Copenhagen.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel’s Yakov Toumarkin registered his third top-five finish at the European Short- Course Swimming Championships in Copenhagen in the last day of competition in Denmark on Sunday.However, he came up short in his attempt to win a medal once more, finishing the 100- meter individual medley final in fifth place in a time of 52.91 seconds, 92 hundredths of a second behind third place.Despite a respectable showing in Copenhagen, the 25-year-old Toumarkin will be relatively disappointed with his results in the championships after winning two silver medals in the previous edition of the event held at Wingate Institute in Netanya two years ago.Toumarkin ended the 200- meter backstroke final in fourth place in the opening day of action last Wednesday and on Friday finished fifth in the 200m individual medley.Israel’s only other finalist in Copenhagen was Amit Ivri, who ended the women’s 100m medley final in fifth place on Friday.The biggest disappointment for the delegation was the performance of the younger generation of swimmers, who all failed to qualify for a final.There are still few signs of any significant improvement being made under the guidance of American coach David Marsh, who was leading the team in his second major competition in Copenhagen following the world championships held in Budapest, Hungary during the past summer.After the disappointment of the Rio 2016 Olympics, the Israeli Swimming Association decided to change course by hiring Marsh to be its top professional authority and lead Israeli swimming to Tokyo 2020.Leonid Kaufman was relieved from his role as the head coach of Israel’s national swimming team, a job he had held since 2007, as well as during much of the 1990s.Marsh was the head coach of the US women’s team at the Rio Olympics and served as a men’s assistant coach for the 2012, 2000 and 1996 US Olympic teams.His next major goal on the road to Tokyo will be the European Championships to be held in Scotland in August 2018.
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