The leader of the Belarusian swimming team, Alexandra Gerasimenya, twice ascended the podium during the representative international tournament, held in EindhovenBelarus’ best swimmer, Alexandra Gerasimenya, came second in the finals at one of her favourite distances — 50m butterfly — and finished third in the 50m backstroke. Gerasimenya wasn’t among prize winners on freestyle distances, coming fifth in the 50m and finishing tenth in the 100m distance. Other Belarusian participants were only once among top ten, with Oksana Demidova finishing 9th in the 200m medley, whilst her other race results were a long way from the podium — 19th in the 50m butterfly and only 40th in 100m freestyle.
The Dutch tournament was used as an initial stage of preparation by some leading swimmers for the Belarus Championship, to be held in May. The forthcoming national event will be the final selection meeting for the 2014 European Long Course Championship, scheduled for late August. The Belarusian athletes performed in Eindhoven almost immediately after their mountain training camp finished in Armenia.
