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
- Meet Website
- Results
FINA has put together a video package with highlights from the Day 4 of record-breaking swimming at the 2015 Junior World Championships.
Relive the exceptional races from Day 4 in Singapore, including the following races (exerpts from Jared Anderson’s reporting):
- Men’s 200m breast – Russia’s Anton Chupkov couldn’t quite break his own junior world record, but he earned his second breaststroking gold with a new meet record in the men’s 200 breast. Chupkov looked smooth and in control for the length of the race, going 2:10.19, just half a second off the world mark he set at Worlds in Kazan a few weeks ago. That breaks the championship record he set in prelims. Australia’s Matthew Wilson led a group of swimmers challenging Chupkov unsuccessfully most of the way. Wilson was 2:11.23 for silver, and Japan’s Ippei Miyamoto took bronze in 2:11.59.
- Women’s 50m fly – Rikako Ikee improved her meet record by .02 in finals of the 50 fly, once again shaking, but not breaking, the junior world record, which is still another .02 seconds away. Ikee was 28.28 for gold, topping the field by almost two tenths for sprint gold. Canada’s Penny Oleksiak picked up her second individual silver of the meet in 28.45. She nipped Russia’s Maria Kameneva for that spot by .02 – a unit of time that’s becoming a trend in this girls 50 fly final.
- Men’s 50m back – It’s been an up-and-down meet for American Michael Andrew, but his aggressive lineup choices are starting to look better in light of a gold medal and repeat meet record in the men’s 50 back. Andrew suffered through a 5-event finals session on day 2 in order to swim this event – he noted on social media that he had to swim the 100 back that day to claim a spot in the 50 back tonight. Though he just missed a medal in the 100 (and the fatigue may have cost him medals in a few other events that day), he made up for it with a gold medal in the 50 back at 25.13, taking .01 off his meet record from prelims. That’s also just .04 off the junior world record held at 25.09 by Russia’s Evgeny Rylov. Andrew won his first individual gold by a wide margin, beating Canda’s Javier Acevedo by about three tenths. Acevedo was 25.46, and two swimmers tied for bronze – Mohamed Samy of Egypt and Robinson Molina of Venezuela. Both were 25.54.
- Women’s 100m breast – Turkey’s Viktoria Zeynep Gunes mirrored Atherton on the day, working towards a sweep of her own primary stroke. Gunes went 1:06.77 to win the girls 100 breast, once again approaching, but not breaking, the meet record set by world and junior world record-holder Ruta Meilutyte. Gunes has now won both sprint breaststroke distances, and has only the 200 to go, an event in which she is the junior world record-holder. Gunes topped Sweden’s Sophie Hansson by exactly one second, with Hansson going 1:07.77. Great Britain’s Katie Matts was third in 1:07.96 – that’s the exact same medal order as the 50 breast from day 2.
- Women’s 400m free – Australia’s Tamsin Cook ended the American run of dominance in the women’s distance races this summer, going 4:06.17 to win gold in the girls 400 free. That’s a new meet record for Cook, breaking the 7-year-old mark set by Russia’s Elena Sokolova. She beat 800 free champ Sierra Schmidt, who was 4:07.47 to win a tight battle for silver. Italy’s Linda Caponi was the final medalist at 4:07.73.
- Men’s 50m free – Australian Kyle Chalmers took home his first individual gold of the meet, going 22.19 to power away with the boys 50 free title. Though it looked like American Michael Andrew had him beat off the start, Chalmers used his crushingly powerful stroke to overcome any deficit, finishing in 22.19 to rattle the meet record and finish two tenths off the junior world mark. Andrew would take second, going 22.36, a couple hundredths off his best time ever. Italy’s Giovanni Izzo touched out a pair of Brazilians for the final medal. His 22.55 topped Felipe Souza (22.58) and Pedro Spajari (22.59) for bronze.
- Women’s 200m IM – Turkey’s Viktoria Gunes earned her second gold medal of the night and her third gold overall, blowing away the 200 Im field in a meet-record 2:11.03. Gunes looked firmly in control the entire race, though she did slip the 5th after backstroke after leading on fly. Still, as one of the only breaststrokers in the field (and easily the meet’s best swimmer in that stroke), a Gunes victory never looked too much in doubt. She put up the best breaststroke split of the field by a full second, and never showed fatigue from her gold-medal 100 breast earlier in the night. Gunes would win by over a second, with Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey going 2:12.37 for silver. Great Britain’s Georgia Coates finished third in 2:12.74.
- Men’s 4×200 free relay – The men of Team USA finished the night with a bang, crushing the junior world record and winning gold in the 4×200 free relay. 200 free silver medalist Grant Shoults led off in 1:48.10, bettering his individual time and putting the team over two seconds ahead of junior world record pace. Then 200 free winner Maxime Rooney dropped an outstanding 1:46.55 on the second leg, putting the U.S. firmly in control. That split for Rooney is very similar to the best split on the previous junior world record-holding relay: a 1:46.39 from James Guy, who would go on to win the world title in the 200 free in Kazan. Sean Grieshop (1:49.82) and Grant House (1:49.29) closed the relay with big splits for the U.S., and the team went 7:13.76 to obliterate the field by four seconds.
You can check out the video above, or on the FINA YouTube page.
