2015 FINA Junior World Championships: Atherton ties junior world record on day 2

2015 WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, August 25th – Sunday, August 30th
• OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore
• Prelims 10 am (GMT+8)/ in USA = previous day 10 pm EDT, 7 pm PDT
• Finals 6 pm (GMT+ 8)/ in USA = 6 am EDT, 3 am PDT
• Psych Sheet
• Meet Website
• ‘Live’ Stream – EuroVision
• Live Results

MEN’S 100M BACKSTROKE – Final

• WR: 51.94 Aaron Peirsol (USA) 8 JUL 2009 Indianapolis (USA)
• CR: 54.56 Robert Glinta (ROU) 25 AUG 2015 Singapore (SIN)
• WJ: 54.03 Apostolos Christou (GRE) 10 JUL 2014 Dordrecht (NED)

A very tight 100 back field saw Romania’s Robert Glinta hang on to his top spot, going 54.30 to break the meet record one more time for the week. That gave Glinta the win by about three tenths over American Michael Taylor (54.64).

In a great battle for bronze, Great Britain’s Luke Greenbank came up just ahead of the U.S.’s Michael Andrew, 54.81 to 54.88.

Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez touched out Canada’s Markus Thormeyer 55.04 to 55.11 for fourth. Meanwhile Egypt’s Youssef Abdalla (55.24) and Canada’s Javier Acevedo (55.48) capped off the heat.

WOMEN’S 200M BUTTERFLY – Final

• WR: 2:01.81 Liu Zige (CHN) 21 OCT 2009 Ji Nan (CHN)
• CR: 2:08.10 Akiyama Natsuki (JPN) 9 JUL 2008 Monterrey (MEX)
• WJ: 2:06.51 Zhang Yufei (CHN) 6 AUG 2015 Kazan (RUS)

China’s Wang Siqi pulled away from the field late to win the girls 200 fly, just missing the meet record with a 2:08.24. It was mostly a two-person battle by the end, with Australia’s Tamsin Cook chasing hard. Cook, who broke the meet record in the 200 free while leading off Australia’s junior world record-setting 4×200 free relay on night 1, finished in the silver spot here with a 2:08.86.

The U.S.A. duo took the next two spots. Hannah Kukurugya pulled out the last medal, going 2:10.08, and Cassidy Bayer was 2:10.12 for fourth.

About a second back, Japan’s Haruno Ito (2:11.07) topped Spain’s Carmen Balbuena (2:11.31) and Great Britain’s Holly Hibbott (2:11.63). The final spot went to Hungary’s Boglarka Bonecz in 2:12.11.

MEN’S 200M FREESTYLE – Final

• WR: 1:42.00 Paul Biedermann (GER) 28 JUL 2009 Rome (ITA)
• CR: 1:47.55 Mack Horton (AUS) 27 AUG 2013 Dubai (UAE)
• WJ: 1:47.10 Maxime Rooney (USA) 7 AUG 2015 San Antonio (USA)

A big men’s 200 free saw the Americans go 1-2, with junior world record-holder Maxime Rooney blowing away the field.

Rooney wasn’t able to break his own junior world record, but still won by seven tenths of a second in 1:47.78, topping the main pack of swimmers by a visibly wide margin. Behind him, teammate Grant Shoults followed up his 400 free gold by topping Russia’s Ernest Maksumov for silver, 1:48.42 to 1:48.68.

Australia’s Damian Fyfe also got under 1:49, though he just missed the medals in fourth place at 1:48.90.

The other Russian entrant, Elisei Stepanov, was fifth in 1:49.18, just ahead of Great Britain’s Cameron Kurle (1:49.28).

Brazilian sprinter Felipe Souza was 1:50.17 and Tunisia took the final spot with a 1:52.00 from Mohamed Mehdi Lagili.

WOMEN’S 50M BREASTSTROKE – Final

• WR: 29.48 Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) 3 AUG 2013 Barcelona (ESP)
• CR: 29.86 Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) 27 AUG 2013 Dubai (UAE)
• WJ: 29.86 Ruta Meilutyte (LTU) 27 AUG 2013 Dubai (UAE)

Turkey’s Viktoria Zeynep Gunes won her first breaststroking title with a 30.78 in the 50 breast, capping off a dominant run through the qualifying rounds.

Gunes, the world junior record holder in the 200 breast, was dominant all week in arguably her weakest breaststroking distance. The only swimmer under 31 seconds in all three rounds, Gunes won by almost half a second over Sweden’s Sophie Hansson (31.18). Gunes will have a shot at a breaststroke sweep in Singapore, with high seeds in both the 100 and 200 meter distances later on.

Hansson was second with Great Britain’s Katie Matts rounding out the medals in 31.66. That left both Americans just on the outside – Kennedy Lohman was 31.78 and Nikol Popov 31.88.

Russia’s Maria Astashkina was sixth in a final four swimmers who all came in within a tenth of one another. Japan’s Yukino iyasaka was 31.95 and Australia’s Ella Bond 31.98.

MEN’S 100M BUTTERFLY – Semifinals

• WR: 49.82 Michael Phelps (USA) 1 AUG 2009 Rome (ITA)
• CR: 52.52 Daniel Bell (NZL) 9 JUL 2008 Monterrey (MEX)
• WJ: 51.33 Li Zhuhao (CHN) 7 AUG 2015 Kazan (RUS)

Russia’s Daniil Pakhomov continued to hover in the low 52s, hanging onto the top seed in the men’s 100 fly out of semifinals.

Pakhomov was 52.40 to win the second semifinal, breaking the 7-year-old meet record set by New Zealand’s Daniel Bell.

Brazil’s Vinicius Lanza (52.81) and the USA’s Ryan Hoffer (52.89) also got under 53 seconds and qualified for the final, along with Spain’s Alberto Lozano (52.99).

Poland’s Michal Chudy went 53.38 for fifth, and both Russia and Brazil will get second swimmers into the final, with Daniil Antipov for Russia (53.45) and Henrique Painhas for Brazil (53.52).

Italy’s Giacomo Carini was the last swimmer to qualify for the medal round, going 53.68 to just beat out American Michael Andrew. Andrew, perhaps feeling the heat of a brutal event schedule thus far, was just 53.72 for 9th place.

WOMEN’S 100M FREESTYLE – Semifinals

• WR: 52.07 Britta Steffen (GER) 31 JUL 2009 Rome (ITA)
• CR: 53.95 Taylor Ruck (CAN) 26 AUG 2015 Singapore (SIN)
• WJ: 53.84 Shen Duo (CHN) 19 AUG 2014 Nanjing (CHN)

Canada’s Taylor Ruck is once again the runaway top seed in the girls 100 free, though she didn’t quite match her 53-second time from the morning heats. Ruck went 54.14 to crush the second semifinal and take an inside lane for tomorrow’s medal final.

In fact, the Canadians sit 1 and 2 in this event at the moment, with Penny Oleksiak finishing second to Ruck in that semifinal with a 54.51. Her time topped the winner of the first semi, Japan’s Rikako Ikee, who went 54.81.

Those three are the only ones under 55 for now, though expect some others to push that barrier in the final. Russia’s Arina Openysheva was 55.05 coming off a dominant run earlier this summer at the European Games.

Behind her, the Australian duo of Shayna Jack and Lucy McJannett will move on to the final. Jack was 55.21, McJannett 55.42. Both were on Australia’s record-setting 4×200 free relay last night.

Also into the final: Sachi Mochida of Japan (55.42 to tie McJannett) and American Stanzi Moseley (55.48).

MEN’S 100M BREASTSTROKE – Final

• WR: 57.92 Adam Peaty (GBR) 17 APR 2015 London (GBR)
• CR: 1:00.12 Anton Chupkov (RUS) 25 AUG 2015 Singapore (SIN)
• WJ: 1:00.12 Anton Chupkov (RUS) 25 AUG 2015 Singapore (SIN)

Russia’s Anton Chupkov stayed atop a tough 100 breast field, nearly equaling his junior world record en route to Junior World Champs gold.

Chupkov went 1:00.19, capping a dominant win in which he was the only swimmer under 1:01.

Silver went to American upstart Reece Whitley, who hit a lifetime-best 1:01.00 to finish behind Chupkov. Whitley has been on the cusp of 1:00 all year long, but won’t quite get there yet at Junior Worlds.

Lithuania’s Andrius Sidlauskas nabbed bronze, going 1:01.26, while American Michael Andrew fell to fourth at 1:01.52, about nine tenths off his lifetime-best. That’s his third swim of the night and fifth on the day. Andrew has one more individual event, plus a potential leg of the mixed medley relay to go today.

Great Britain’s Charlie Attwood and Australia’s Matthew Wilson tied for fifth, each going 1:01.69. Meanwhile Italy’s European Youth Olympic Festival star Nicolo Martinenghi struggled to a 1:02.08 good for seventh. Belgium’s Basten Caerts closed out the heat in 1:02.37.

WOMEN’S 100M BACKSTROKE – Final

• WR: 58.12 Gemma Spofforth (GBR) 28 JUL 2009 Rome (ITA)
• CR: 59.83 Minna Atherton (AUS) 25 AUG 2015 Singapore (SIN)
• WJ: 59.58 Claire Adams (USA) 07 AUG 2015 San Antonio (USA) – **Tied**

Australia’s Minna Atherton continued her run of dominance in the girls 100 back, winning gold and tying the junior world record.

Swimming right next to the record-holder, Team USA’s Claire Adams, Atherton blasted a 59.58, leading the field by a good three tenths at the 50 turn. Atherton broke her own meet record from prelims and ultimately topped Adams by six tenths for gold.

Adams held on for silver, not quite able to get under a minute after setting the junior world record at U.S. Nationals a few weeks ago. Her 1:00.19 still beat out the rest of the field by a wide margin, though.

New Zealand’s Bobbi Gichard took home the bronze medal, going 1:00.42 and touching out Canada’s Danielle Hanus (1:00.44) by just two one-hundredths.

Russia’s Irina Prikhodko was just behind that duo, going 1:00.64, and Canada’s other entrant took sixth. That was Taylor Ruck, coming off of her 100 free semifinal to go 1:00.70.

New Zealand’s Gabrielle Fa-Amausili was seventh in 1:00.74, and American Grace Ariola rounded out the A final in 1:01.10.

Men’s 200M Individual Medley – Final

• WR: 1:54.00 Ryan Lochte (USA) 28 JUL 2011 Shanghai (CHN)
• CR: 1:59.44 Gunnar Bentz (USA) 27 AUG 2013 Dubai (UAE)
• WJ: 1:59.19 Gunnar Bentz (USA) 10 AUG 2014 Irvine (USA)

Australia’s Clyde Lewis put up a big drop in finals to win the boys 200 IM, crushing the field by a wide margin.

Lewis was dominant on all four legs, but really pulled away through the back and breast legs, dropping the field’s best splits on both strokes. Lewis was third after fly, but powered away from there, finishing in 2:00.15 for Junior Worlds gold.

Hungary’s Daniel Sos put together a big comeback on breast and free, rising from seventh place at the halfway point to the silver medal in 1:02.78. Also rising through the field was American Sean Grieshop, who nearly ran down Sos with the field’s best freestyle split, but ultimately settled for bronze in 2:01.83.

Canada’s Javier Acevedo was just outside medal standing at 2:01.91, followed by Russia’s Nikolai Sokolov (2:02.98) and Great Britain’s Martyn Walton (2:03.11).

American Michael Andrew‘s loaded day 2 lineup hasn’t gone as smoothly as he’d hoped, and he fell off a long ways in this race. Swimming his fourth event of the night session and sixth of the day, a clearly-exhausted Andrew was 2:06.54 with a rough 32.23 freestyle split.

That garnered him seventh place, with Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez, the third seed out of prelims, getting disqualified.

WOMEN’S 800M FREESTYLE – Fastest Heat

• WR: 8:07.39 Katie Ledecky (USA) 8 AUG 2015 Kazan (RUS)
• CR: 8:32.30 Bonnie MacDonald (AUS) 17 AUG 2011 Lima (PER)
• WJ: 8:11.00 Katie Ledecky (USA) 22 JUN 2014 Shenandoah (USA)

American Sierra Schmidt jumped out to a big early lead and never faltered in the girls 800 free. Her 8:27.55 won gold by two full seconds and missed her lifetime-best from Pan Ams by just .01 seconds.

That gives the Americans a sweep of the women’s 800 free at every major competition this summer: Katie Ledecky won the world title, Schmidt won Pan Ams and Junior Worlds, and Lindsey Vrooman won the World University Games.

Italy’s Simona Quadarella chased Schmidt as best as she could, finishing a solid second at 8:29.79. Bronze went to Great Britain’s Holly Hibbott at 8:31.56.

Italy placed two in the top 4, with Linda Caponi going 8:35.21, and the second American took fifth – that was Gabrielle Kopenski at 8:38.72.

The top swimer out of the morning heats, Hungary’s Janka Juhasz‘s 8:40.07 held up for sixth overall. Rounding out the top 8 were China’s Fuwei Dong (8:41.85) and Spain’s Laura Rodriguez (8:44.00), both also coming out of the early heats.

MIXED 4X100M MEDLEY RELAY – Final

• WR: 3:41.71 Great Britain (GBR) 5 AUG 2015 Kazan (RUS)
• CR: 3:48.89 Russia (RUS) 27 AUG 2013 Dubai (UAE)
• WJ: 3:48.89 Russia (RUS) 27 AUG 2013 Dubai (UAE)

The mixed medley relay saw quite a bit more gamesmanship out of the relay lineups than we typically see in the mixed relays. The worldwide trend ever since FINA began including mixed relays in its world records and major competitions has been to front-load every relay, with male legs on the first two splits to get a lead and clean water for the final two female splits.

But teams really tailored their relay orders to their specific rosters in this medley, and it paid off handsomely for the teams that did. Russia led off with women’s backstroker Irina Prikhodko, freeing up their next two legs for individual gold medalists Anton Chupkov (100 breast) and Daniil Pakhomov (100 fly).

Prikhodko was 1:00.53 on her leadoff leg, second-best of the females but just 6th overall. But Chupkov, the junior world record-holder, dropped a field-best 59.74 on breast, and Pakhomov crushed a 51.33 on fly to rocket the team into first place.

Arina Openysheva closed in 54.25 as Russia destroyed the field, the junior world record and the meet record with a 3:45.85.

Also under the old junior world record were the Australians, who also mixed up their relay order from the typical male-male-female-female. Junior world record-holder Minna Atherton led off in 59.87 – just missing her world mark from earlier tonight – to put the team in fifth.

Matthew Wilson was 1:01.16 on the breaststroke and Lucia Lassman was a nice 59.56 on fly, but the team still ran 6th. But Kyle Chalmers came up with a giant anchor leg of 47.68 to propel the team to silver in 3:48.27.

The Americans took bronze with a more typical relay order. Michael Taylor led off in a field-best 54.72, and the team threw Michael Andrew on the breaststroke leg, despite his obvious fatigue in the individual events. Andrew came up with a solid final swim of the night, going 1:01.07 to keep the team in first.

Cassidy Bayer was 59.43, only giving way to the Russians on fly, and Stanzi Moseley held off everyone but Chalmers with a 55.02 anchor split as Team USA went 3:50.24.

Japan was 3:50.50 for fourth, getting a 54.13 anchor split from Rikako Ikee – the best female freestyle leg. Canada took fifth in 3:51.49, with Ruck battling Ikee at the end. Ruck was 54.20 on her split, and Penny Oleksiak had the best girls fly split at 58.51.