2018 Youth Olympic Games Day 1 Finals: Live Recap

2018 YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES

• October 6th-18th, 2018
• Swimming Portion: Octoer 7th-12th, 2018
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Schedule/Results
• Entries

The 1st finals session of the 2018 Youth Olympic Games kicks off at 4pm Central Time. Kaylee McKeown will look to impress after an 8th place finish in this morning’s 200 IM, as well as defending her top-seeded time in the 1st semifinal in the 100 back.

Men’s 400 Free – Finals

1. Kristof Milak (Hungary) – 3:48.08
2. Marco De Tullio (Italy) – 3:48.55
3. Keisuke Yoshida (Japan) – 3:48.68

In an incredibly tight 400 free race, Kristof Milak came out victorious in his 1st of 9 races at the Youth Olympic Games. Milak swam a conservative first half of the race, settling for staying comfortably in range of the leaders. He made a push on the 2nd half, where at the same time Huy Hoang Nguyen (Vietnam) burst out the front of the pack. Nguyen ended up getting run down on the final 50 by Milak, Marco De Tullio, and Keisuke Yoshida, finishing 4th in a final time of 3:48.85. Milak posted a very speedy 26.76 on the final 50 to get the job done, claiming the 1st Gold medal of the meet.

Women’s 50 Breast – Semifinal

1. Agne Seleikaite (Lithuania) – 31.41
2. Weronika Hallmann (Poland) – 31.49
3. Chelsea Hodges (Australia) – 31.62
4. Niamh Coyne (Ireland) – 31.80
5. Tina Celik (Slovenia) – 31.89
6. Mona McSharry (Ireland) – 32.01
7. Nina Kucheran (Canada) – 32.17
8. Avery Wiseman (Canada) – 32.18

Lithuania’s Agne Seleikaite took the 2nd semifinal to establish herslef the top-seed going into final, taking .14 seconds off her prelims time. Her time marked the 2nd fastest 50 breast in history at the Youth Olympic Games, behind only Ruta Meilutyte, who is also Lithuanian. Weronika Hallmann came in just behind her in Heat 2, touching in 31.49 to earn the 2nd seed for tomorrow’s final. Ireland advanced a pair of swimmers, with Niamh Coyne and Mona McSharry earning 4th and 6th place finishes respectively. Canada got a pair of swimmers into finals as well, with Nina Kucheran and Avery Wiseman rounding out the top 8.

Men’s 100 Back – Semifinal

1. Kliment Kolesnikov (Russia) – 53.80
2. Daniel Cristian Martin (Romania) – 54.08
3. Tomoe Hvas (Norway) – 54.93
4. Thomas Ceccon (Italy) – 55.48
5. Guanbin Wang (China) – 55.77
6. Gabor Zombori (Hungary) – 56.19
7. Manuel Martos Bacarizo (Spain) – 56.20
8. Lewis Blackburn (Australia) – 56.27

Kliment Kolesnikov unsurprisingly came out on top in the semifinals, earning the top seed for tomorrow’s final with a 53.80. Daniel Cristan Martin finished just behind Kolesnikov, with the pair establishing themselves as the clear top 2 favorites going into finals. Kolesnikov has a best time of 52.53, which he swam en route to claiming Gold at the European Championships in August. No country had 2 qualifiers into the final, with Australia’s Lewis Blackburn rounding out the top 8. 3rd place finisher Tomoe Hvas touched laees than half a second off the Norwegian Record, taking 2 seconds off his seed time of 56.93.

Women’s 100 Back – Semifinal

1. Polina Egorova (Russia) – 1:00.92
2. Rhyan White (United States) – 1:00.94
3. Daria Vaskina (Russia) – 1:01.41
4. Kaylee McKeown (Australia) – 1:01.51
5. Madison Broad (Canada) – 1:01.66
6. Tatiana Salcutan (Moldova) – 1:02.04
7. Xuwei Pang (China) – 1:02.12
8. Tamara Frias Molina (Spain) – 1:02.17

Rhyan White nearly came out on top again like she did this mroning, but Polina Egorova got her hand on the wall first after swimming side-by-side with White on the 2nd 50. Kaylee was off her time from this morning, going .3 seconds slower to finish 4th overall. Molodova qualified its first swimmer to a final at this meet. White and Egorov have set up a fun race to look forward to tomorrow eveing.

Russia got a 2nd qualifier into the final, with Daria Vaskina coming in 3rd, giving RUssia a shot at having 2 medalists in this event.

Men’s 100 Breast – Semifinals

1. Michael Houlie (South Africa) – 1:00.23
2. Jiajun Sun (China) – 1:00.61
3. Dens Petrashov (Kyrgyzstan) – 1:01.95
4. Yu Hanagguruma (Japan) – 1:01.99
5. Taku Taniguchi (Japan) – 1:02.08
6. Vladislav Gerasimenko (Russia) – 1:02.15
7. Jan Kalusowski (Poland) – 1:02.23
8. Caspar Corbeau (Netherlands) – 1:02.29

Michael Houlie, a Univwersity of Tennessee commit from South Africa, took the race out in an incredibly fast 27.44. He fell off that pace by quite a bit, however, finishing in 1:00.23. That time comes in as a Youth Olympics Best. Jiajun Sun established himself as the 2nd seed for tomorrow, setting himself up to take a run at beating Houlie.

Women’s 200 IM – Final

1. Anastasia Gorbenko (Israel) – 2:12.88
2. Anja Crevar (Serbia) – 2:13.98
3. Cyrielle Duhamel (France) – 2:14.15

Just 15 years old, Anastasia Gorbenko took Gold with a very quick 2:12.88. She split the race very well posting splits of 29.31, 34.12. 38.06, and 31.39 respectively, claiming Israel’s first medal of the meet. Anja Crevar gave Serbia its first medal by getting her hand on the wall just ahead of Cyrielle Duhamel, who picked up France’s first medal of the meet. Kaylee McKeown moved up a place from this mroning, touching in 7th overall.

Mixed 4 x 100 Free Relay – Final

1. Russia – 3:28.50
2. Brazil – 3:30.13
3. China – 3:30.45

Kliment Kolesnikov got Russia out to a stellar start, and there was no stopping them after that. Kolesnikov split a lifetime best 48.17, taking nearly half a second off his lifetime best. Kolesnikov has been as fast as 47.39 with a relay start. Kolesnikov was followed by Andrei Minakov (49.60), Polina Egorova (55.71), and Elizaveta Klevanovich (55.02).