Toumarkin misses out on medal

Yakov Toumarkin fell 17 hundredths of a second short of winning a medal at the European Swimming Championships on London.

The two-time European bronze winner finished the 100m backstroke final in sixth place in a time of 54.36 seconds. He will though be in action later in the week, when he takes part in the heats for the 200m backstroke on Friday.

Elsewhere in the pool, 19-year-old Meiron Cheruti finished the 50m butterfly final in eighth, in a time of 23.93s.

Two other Israelis will take part in finals on Wednesday. Andrea Murez qualified for the final of the 100m freestyle, reaching it by finishing her heat in fifth place. The final takes place at 7.21pm.

Gal Nevo will race in the final of the 200m IM, having finished the semi-finals overall in fourth place, which takes place at 7.26pm.

The tournament is serving as preparation for the Olympic Games in the summer, where Israel hope to send at least nine swimmers to Rio. Toumarkin, Nevo, Murez, Ziv Kalontarov, Amit Ivri and Zohar Shikler have already booked their tickets for the summer, though Israel have sent another 21 swimmers to London.