Slovenian swimmer Neža Klančar advances to 50m freestyle final despite illness

Slovenia's top swimmer, Neža Klančar, has battled illness to reach the final of the 50m freestyle at the European Championships in Paris. Klančar, who arrived at the championship late after falling ill just before traveling, managed to overcome her health issues to compete in her strongest event.

In the preliminary heats, Klančar swam her fastest time of the season, clocking 24.70 seconds. She improved on this in the semi-finals, finishing just a hundredth of a second faster to secure the eighth and final qualifying spot for the championship race. This performance follows her career-best sixth-place finish and national record in the same event at the Olympics two years prior.

Klančar will swim from lane eight in the final on Saturday. The event also features other Slovenian swimmers, with Primož Šenica Pavletič competing in the 100m backstroke and Tina Čelik in the 50m breaststroke on Saturday morning. Sašo Boškan is set to compete in the 400m freestyle on Sunday.