2015 FINA Junior World Championships: Day 4 Prelims Preview

2015 WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Here are a few of the highlights to come in this morning’s prelims session at the FINA World Junior Championships:

Girls 50 Back

Australia’s Minna Atherton looks to complete her sweep of the backstroke races in Singapore. She’s the top seed, and is also only two tenths off the world junior record.

But that world junior record belongs to New Zealander Gabrielle Fa’Amausili, who leads the heat right before Atherton’s. 100 backstroke co-junior world record-holder Claire Adams is also in the hunt for the 50 title.

Boys 50 Fly

American Michael Andrew has been in the hunt in a bunch of events, but has yet to win an individual medal at these Games. But he’ll have several great shots on day 4, with finals of the 50 back and 50 free, plus heats and semis of the 50 fly.

Andrew is the top seed, with Ukrainian Andrii Khloptsov and Croatia’s Bruno Blaskovic each leading circle-seeded heats of their own.

Girls 400 free

Australia’s Tamsin Cook was one of the stars of day 1, setting a meet record in the 200 free while leading off the 4×200 free relay. Cook won’t swim the 200 individually, but is the top seed in the 400 free on day 4.

Watch for her to tangle with American 800 free champ Sierra Schmidt, who has been lights-out all summer long.

Russia’s Arina Openysheva and American Hannah Cox should also be big factors in the heats.

Boys 200 Breast

Junior world record-holder Anton Chupkov of Russia is coming off golds in the 100 breast and mixed medley relay, and he’s the top seed in the boys 200 breast.

But one of the more intriguing prospects at this meet is 15-year-old Reece Whitley of the USA, a six-foot-eight breaststroker with some huge upside. Whitley leads heat 5, Chupkov heat 6.

Girls 200 IM

Turkey’s Viktoria Zeynep Gunes has already won the 50 breast and is the heavy favorite in the 100 breast tonight. She’s the junior world record-holder in the 200 breast, but before she takes on that event, she’s the top seed in the girls 200 IM on day 4.

Gunes is listed as the junior world record-holder, though that mark should actually belong to China’s Zhou Min at 2:10.22 (Zhou’s junior world record times in the 200 and 400 IMs have never made their way into FINA’s official database).

 

Prelims will also feature the men’s 4×200 free relay.

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About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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