Germany's next generation stepped up to the plate at the European Championships in Helsinki, with Silke Lippok taking two golds, one off her own bat, and Christian vom Lehn victorious in the 200m breaststroke.
Lippok, 16, dominated the 100m free crown in 55.31, off a 26.41 split, ahead of French challengers Mathilde Cini, 56.41, and Alizee Merdy, 56.55.
All three of those podium placers were back on the medal hunt later in the session in the 4x100m freestyle, Lippok panning for gold once more with her Germany teammates to get the better of a British quartet by just 0.54sec, on 3:46.04, France taking bronze in 3:48.21.
Juliane Reinhold led the way for Germany on 57.27 but found herself trailing Britain's Emma Saunders, 56.62, and Cini, 57.08. Merdy then took the lead for France with a 56.90 split that left her a touch ahead of Britain's Jessica Lloyd, on 57.45, with Teresa Baerens home for Germany in 57.67.
And that's when the raced changed pace, Lippok cracking out a 55.11 split that placed the Germans in the lead on 2:50.05, Britain close on 2:50.21 after a 56.14 from Sophie Smith, France still in the chase off a 57.61 from Beryl Gastaldello, 15 this year.
Last in for Germany was Alexandra Wenk, also 1995 born and already on a 55.99, for that 3:46.04 total. Sara Hamilton delivered silver for Britain on 56.39, for 3:46.60, with Charlotte Bonnet, 1995 born, on 56.62, giving France bronze in 3:48.21.
There was more good news for Germany when Christian vom Lehn clocked 2:12.93 in the 200m breaststroke. On 1:04.10 at the half-way mark, he trailed Norway's Sverre Naess by 0.19sec. Down the third length, Vom Lehn opened a decisive gap of almost a second on the Norwegian, with Flavio Bizzarri, of Italy, chasing hard. The race changed little on the way to the wall, the champion holding out for a 2:12.93 win ahead of Naess, on 2:13.77, and Bizzarri, 2:13.93.
Olympic hosts in 2012, Britain has a good stock of talent pushing through the ranks, among them Karley Mann, 200m backstroke champion 2:11.48, off a 1:04.09 that placed her a touch behind a 1:03.52 half-way marker from Daryna Zevina (UKR). Mann (good name for a swimmer: it was made famous by Shelley Mann, the first woman to become an Olympic butterfly champion for the US) never let up the pressure and in the battle for the wall took gold ahead of Zevina's 2:11.82. The bronze went to Henrietta Stenkvist (SWE), on 2:13.38.
All the more impressive that effort of Stenkvist's considering the 4:13.69 victory she had celebrated earlier in the session for a Manaudou-style mix of events. The silver went to Amalie Emma Thomsen (DEN), on 4:14.61, with bronze for Ireland's Sycerika McMahon on 4:15.92.
The boys' 100m back went to Yakov-Yan Toumarkin (ISR), in 55.20, almost a second up on Hungarian Peter Bernek, on 56.16, with Israel enjoying a second medal, David Gamburg on 56.58.
The 200m butterfly saw Judit Ignacio Sorribes lead for Spain from start to stopping the clock at 2:12.30, the silver going to Britain's Rachael Kelly, in 2:13.43, Russian Alisa Trukhanovich taking bronze in 2:15.03.
The final solo event of the session witnessed a victory of strategy and biding time over a fast start that petered out as far as gold was concerned for the two racers who took silver and bronze. At 500m, Sergiy Frolov (UKR) trailed Ward Bauwens (BEL) and Ediz Yildirimer (TUR) by 4sec; by 1000m, the deficit had been cut back to less than two seconds; 100m later and Frolov had not only sensed blood but gone in for the kill, turning on the shoulder of his quarry before blasting ahead from that point on. By the turn into the last 100m, the champion had built up a lead of 2.18sec over Bauwens, with Yildirimer starting to fade.
And still there was more in Frolov's tank: with a sub-minute homecoming split, he stopped the clock in 15:20.57, Bauwens taking silver in 15:27.04, the bronze for Yildirimer, on 15:31.07.
There were some impressive efforts in semi-finals, Yannick Agnel (FRA) on 49.51 to take lane four for the 100m free final, and Hungarian 17-year-old Bence Biczo on 1:57.13 to take lane 4 for the 200m 'fly final.
