In the prelims of the men’s 100 meter breaststroke at the 2015 FINA Junior World Championships, Russia’s Anton Chupkov obliterated the field to take the top seed and set a new Junior World Record.
Chupkov raced to a blistering 1:00.12 this morning, well under his previous Junior World Record mark of 1:00.65 from the 2015 European Games. While that record hasn’t officially been ratified by FINA, he still holds the official mark of 1:00.84 from last summer’s Youth Olympic Games.
Chupkov’s Splits:
2015 FINA Junior World Championships- 1:00.12: 28.74/31.38
2015 European Games- 1:00.65: 28.89/31.76
He looks like the man to beat in this event, and has some room to cruise through semis. He was over a second ahead of anyone else through the heats.
Rounding out the top 3 seeds behind Chupkov this morning, American teammates Reece Whitley and Michael Andrew were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Andrew’s best of 1:00.68 puts him within reach of Chupkov, but he’s doubling this event with the 100 backstroke. He put up a 1:01.54 in prelims. Whitley boasts a 1:01.06 and was fairly close to that this morning with a 1:01.48.
The Americans have given impressive showings when they’ve gone head-to-head against each other, but they’ll have to drop significant time if either wants a shot at gold. Chupkov has 2 more chances to re-break his record at this meet and dip under 1:00, with semis and finals to come.
