Pole Wins European Butterfly Title

Rafal Szukala captured Poland’s first-ever European Swimming Championships gold medal today by winning the men’s 100-meter butterfly in 54.47 seconds.

Szukala narrowly beat Bruno Gutzeit of France, who finished .03 of a second behind.

East Germany continued to dominate the women’s events, with Manuela Stellmach winning the 200-meter freestyle in a race that saw Olympic champion and world record-holder Heike Friedrich, also of East Germany, beaten back to fourth place. Susanne Boernike won the 200-meter breast stroke.

Tamas Darnyi of Hungary won the 400-meter medley in a dramatic duel with East German Patrick Kuehl but failed to break the world record he set at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

A strong Italian men’s team won the 800-meter freestyle relay in a tight finish with second-place West Germany and East Germany.

Irina Lachko of the Soviet Union won the gold medal in the women’s 1-meter diving event with 278.46 points.