15-Yr-Old Merve Tuncel Hits 16:03.23 LC 1500 Free Turkish Record | SwimSwam

By Retta Race on SwimSwam

2020 TURKISH LC NATIONAL TEAM SELECTION MEET

• Friday, December 25th – Sunday, December 27th
• Istanbul, Turkey
• LCM (50m)
• Results

While competing at the just-concluded Turkish Long Course National Team Selection meet, 15-year-old Merve Tuncel fired off another national record.

Placing on top of the podium in the women’s 1500m free, the teen clocked a time of 16:03.23, overtaking the previous NR of 16:21.39 Beril Bocekler put on the books in July of 2019.

Remarkably, Tuncel’s personal best entering this 3-day meet in Istanbul rested at the 16:29.24 she established at the FFN Golden Tour in Nice in February of 2020. As such, in the span of fewer than 12 months, the young budding freestyle ace dropped a massive 26 seconds en route to the Turkish title.

At just 15, Tuncel just makes the list of the world’s top 50 performers all-time in the event. Splits for her impressive swim are below.

Tuncel’s 16:03.23 now ranks the Turk as the world’s 4th fastest performer this season.

2020-2021 LCM Women 1500 Free

WangCHN
Jianjiahe

09/27
15:45.59

2	Anastasia Kirpichnikova	RUS	15:53.18	12/12
3	Kareena Lee	AUS	16:01.02	12/16
4	Sarah Kohler	GER	16:03.43	12/20
5	Erica Sullivan	USA	16:04.37	11/14

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Tuncel is the teen who clocked a remarkable short course 1500 free swim at the Turkish SC Championships last week. She produced a big-time lifetime best of 15:45.29 in the event to establish a new World Junor Record.

Read the full story on SwimSwam: 15-Yr-Old Merve Tuncel Hits 16:03.23 LC 1500 Free Turkish Record