Meilutyte Scratches 50 Fly Final; Americans Get a Breakthrough

With a National Record in hand, Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte has scratched the final of the girls’ 50 fly for Thursday evening at the 2013 World Junior Championships. That move comes after finishing as the 7th seed in 27.14 in Wednesday’s semi-finals.

Meilutyte, after swimming three events in that Wednesday evening session in less than an hour, will now have just three on Thursday, but two are much longer events. She comes in as the top seed in the 200 IM (2:15.10) and the 3rd seed in the 100 breaststroke (1:08.49). She’s a huge favorite in that breaststroke race as the World Record holder. She’ll also swim the semi-finals of the women’s 50 backstroke.

The beneficiary of that scratch is American Katie McLaughlin, who was initially left out of the 50 fly final by a mere .01 seconds. She will move into Meilutyte’s now-vacated spot, and swim in lane 8 as the 8th seed. That will be the first time at this meet, now more than halfway over, that the Americans have put a swimmer into the finals of a non-Olympic 50 meter event.

A reminder of all the links you need to follow Thursday’s finals session, which begins in approximately 45 minutes.

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Heh
10 years ago

So what’s with Meilutyte’s right arm in that picture. Did her forearm move very fast with the camera on a slow shutter speed? Or is that a photoshop fail?

HARDCOREcoach
10 years ago

The fact that the US team is just now getting their first 50 stroke finalist is an interesting one. I understand that a certain amount of this weakness comes from an obvious lack of focus on stroke 50s compared to other countries, but how much of this can be attributed to training. I don’t think it is a secret that club swimming (speaking of junior level swimmers) in the US is much more focused on aerobic-type training relative to swimming most other places. Is this apparent lack of speed an indicator that things need to change? Is this deficit ok because we seem to be stronger in the 200s? I understand that some of our very best juniors aren’t at… Read more »

SwimFanFinland
Reply to  HARDCOREcoach
10 years ago

As a side note I think it’s easier to move downwards in terms of distance than build up the base of endurance later on if it turns out you’re not a sprinter. There is always a “danger” that youngsters fall a bit too much love in 50’s simply because it doesn’t hurt to train as much for them as it does for longer distances.

GSpeed100
Reply to  HARDCOREcoach
10 years ago

Agree with your comment and open question. Age group swimming is all about what Bill Boomer calls “Building the Engine” (check out his 2008 interview). I don’t disagree that early on, age group swimming should be about stroke technique and building aerobic capacity.However, by high school age (@14) swimming must emulate track and field in focusing on natural physiological swimmer types (fast twitch/slow twitch muscles, anaerobic vs. aerobic). In very simplistic terms, you should have a least two separate training groups at the high school / senior age group level, one which trains the fast twitch energy systems properly and the other which feeds the aerobic requirements of the slow twitch distance oriented group.. More high intensity speed / race… Read more »

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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