Toumarkin claims second silver for Israel

Yakov Toumarkin won his third career medal at the European Swimming Championships in London, on Saturday.

The 24-year-old, who won two bronze medals in the 100m and 200m in the European Championships in Hungary four years ago, finished second in the 200m backstroke, recording a time of 1:56.97.

He said: “I’m mainly exhausted, but I’m happy. I had hoped to take a medal. I didn’t know what colour it would be, but I certainly planned to scale the podium. My result is slightly slower than my personal record, but I’m happy that I’m at such a good level that I don’t need to break my record in order to reach the podium.

This gives me a lot of strength and confidence ahead of Rio and I’m very pleased.”

Israel’s second medal of the tournament, following on from Gal Nevo’s silver win in the 200m individual medley final, national team coach Leonid Kaufman said: “Yakov registered a result which can give him a place in the Olympic final in Rio. That was the goal and I’m happy that he achieved it.”

The event ends on Sunday where Nevo will be looking to reach the podium again, this time in the 400m IM.