2024 CALIFORNIA/NEVADA SECTIONALS
- February 29-March 3, 2024
- Novato, California
- Long Course Meters (50 meters), Prelims/Finals
- Live Results
14-year-old Luka Mijatovic broke his second National Age Group Record in as many days on Friday evening in Novato, California. He posted a 1:49.63 in the 200 meter freestyle, cracking his own record of 1:50.40 done at last summer’s Junior National Championships.
Like on Thursday, where he broke the 1500 free record in 15:26.73, he was way more focused on the back-end of this 200 free than he was in his prior record swim. While he opened about six-tenths slower on Friday, he closed more than 1.1 seconds better to break the record.
Splits Comparison:
| Mijatovic | Mijatovic | |
| Old Record – 2023 Junior Nationals |
New Record – 2024 Sectionals
|
|
| 50 | 26.02 | 26.64 |
| 100 | 28.25 | 27.48 |
| 150 | 28.19 | 28.73 |
| 200 | 27.94 | 26.78 |
| 1:50.40 | 1:49.63 |
The swim also puts Mijatovic under the 14-year-olds Australian Record held by Ian Thorpe, the global gold standard for age group freestylers. Thorpe was 1:50.07 as a 14-year-old, when he became the youngest male to ever represent Australia internationally.
Mijatovic, who turns 15 on April 22, is down to his last few weeks as a 13-14 swimmer, where he holds the National Age Group Records in eight different events.
This swim in the 200 free gives him another Olympic Trials cut, sliding under the standard of 1:49.99. He already has cuts in the 400, 800, and 1500 freestyles.
Mijatovic’s 15-year-old teammate Songrui Wu finished 2nd in 1:50.94. That’s a huge time drop from the 1:52.56 he swam at Summer Juniors. That is the 7th-best 200 free by an American 15 & under in the last decade.
Later in the session, Mijatovic swam 4:24.20 in the 400 IM to break Michael Phelps’ record of 2:24.77 that was set in 2000. Read more about that record here.
Further results will be added when they become available.
Other Day 2 Highlights
- Shareef Elaydi of the Santa Clara Swim Club won the 100 fly in 55.60. Another 14-year-old, his personal best is 54.73 from Junior Nationals – which ranks him 4th all-time in the age group. He doesn’t age up until June.
- While the meet has been dominated by junior-age swimmers, the boys’ 100 breaststroke was led by a trio of pros. Evgenii Somov won in 1:00.83, Tom Higdon was 2nd in 1:01.88, and Ben Cono was 3rd in 1:02.23. That swim by Higdon was a new lifetime-best at 25-years-old, improving his previous best of 1:02.05 (which already made him an Olympic Trials qualifier).
- Bailey Hartman of the Crow Canyon Sharks won the 100 fly in 1:00.72 and the 200 free in 2:03.20. Her fellow Virginia commit Raya Mellott won the 100 breast in 1:10.31.
Having a 15 year old go 1:50 and 14 year old go 1:49 is absurd. Their practices must be so competitive.
Imagine all this talk about who will be top 6 in the 200 then Mijatovic drops like 3.5 seconds which honestly isn’t completely out of the question and grabs a top 6 spot.
Not sure 1:46.1 gets sixth.
Serbian genetics make him so strong
This kid is the second coming of Ian Thorpe+Grant Hackett
Thorpe would’ve done 1:45 at 14 with modern training and technology
t
Cope
Thorpe was in super suit, was he not?
He was swimming in briefs at 14 and supersuits weren’t used until 2008.
Faster than Thorpe at 14… I think Thorpe won worlds at 15 in the 400 so I’m guessing his 200 was pretty solid too. Let’s see how he compares to Thorpe when he’s 15.
Either way this kid is a stud.
Tbf Thorpe was 1.46 at 15, he made quite a leap
Also, Ian Thorpe swam in briefs at 15 and 16.
And 14
So the kid just broke a Thorpe record and then a Phelps record in the same session 😳
Djakovic had the record at 1.50.05, no one mentions my man
Fantastic swim! Way to go Luke!