Israel’s top swimmers were in action at the World Swimming Championships in Singapore, with mixed results across several events, on Wednesday.
Anastasia Gorbenko and Alexei Glivinskiy both advanced to the semifinals in their respective events, but Gorbenko was unable to carry her momentum into the final round.
Gorbenko, Israel’s leading swimmer, qualified for the women’s 50-meter backstroke semifinal after posting a time of 27.95 seconds in the morning heats, ranking 15th overall. However, in the evening session, she fell short of a place in the final, finishing 10th overall with an improved time of 27.65 seconds – just outside the top 8 needed to qualify.
Glivinskiy, meanwhile, had a solid performance in the men’s 200-meter individual medley heats, stopping the clock at 1:59.00 to also qualify from 15th place. In the semifinals that took place in the afternoon, Glivinskiy clocked 1:59.41 to finish in 14th place to miss out on qualifying for the final.
Unable to qualify for semifinals
Daniel Krechevski competed in the men’s 100-meter freestyle and recorded a personal best of 48.88 seconds. Despite the strong swim, it placed him 30th overall and outside of semifinal contention.
Lea Polonsky narrowly missed a spot in the women’s 200-meter butterfly semifinal. She clocked 2:11.65 in the heats, finishing 17th overall – one spot away from qualifying. She swam alongside a Syrian athlete in her heat and placed seventh.
The Israeli mixed medley relay team also competed in the 4x100-meter event but was disqualified.
Despite the mixed outcomes, the performances of Gorbenko and Glivinskiy demonstrate the growing depth and competitiveness of Israel’s swimming program on the world stage.