Israel are sending 15 athletes to next week’s European Swimming Championships in Berlin.
Jonatan Kopelev and Guy Barnea offer the best medal hopes in the 50m backstroke, along with Yaakov Tomarkin (100m and 200m back), Guy Nevo (200m medley) and Amit Ivri (50m and 100m breast).
Israel claimed five medals two years ago in Hungary, but national coach Leonid Kaufmann says that many of Europe’s best swimmers "stayed away to save themselves for the Olympics".