Israel’s Anastasia Gorbenko wins gold medal at European Aquatics Championships

Israeli swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko on Tuesday won a gold medal at the European Aquatics Championships in Rome, taking the top spot in the women’s 200-meter individual medley for the second straight year.

Gorbenko, 19, finished the event in 2 minutes, 10 seconds and 92 milliseconds, nearly a second longer than last year when she became the first Israeli woman to win the gold at the European Championships.

Finishing second place this year was Dutch swimmer Marrit Steenbergen, followed by Italy’s Sara Franceschi.

The Israeli swimmer has won gold medals at numerous other events in recent years, including a pair of first-place finishes at last year’s World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi, the first Israeli to manage the feat.

She also competed in the Tokyo Olympics, where she became the first female Israeli swimmer to make it to a final, though she came short of a medal.

“At the end of the day it’s something that no female swimmer has done before, and it’s fun to be the first, and I hope there will be more in the future,” she said at the time of her Olympic performance.