2018 Youth Olympic Games: Day 5 Finals Live Recap

2018 YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES

We’re set for the penultimate night of finals from the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, where we’ll see finals in the men’s 800 free, 50 fly and the women’s 50 back, along with the women’s 400 free relay to close things out. The session will also feature four sets of semi-finals.

Among the highlights will be top seed Thomas Ceccon of Italy and Russia’s Andrei Minakov going to battle in the men’s 50 fly and Australian Kaylee McKeown looking for her first gold medal of the meet in the women’s 50 back.

Men’s 800 Free Timed Final

  1. Nguyen Huy Hoang, VIE, 7:50.20
  2. Keisuke Yoshida, JPN, 7:53.85
  3. Marco De Tullio, ITA, 7:55.81

400 free bronze medalist Keisuke Yoshida of Japan got out to the early lead in the men’s 800 free, and held onto it all the way until the 550m mark where Vietnam’s Nguyen Huy Hoang took control.

Nguyen, who won bronze in this event at the Asian Games in August in a Vietnamese National Record of 7:54.32, exploded over the back half of the race to pull away from Yoshida and win gold in a new national mark of 7:50.20. He negative split the race by over four seconds, splitting 3:57.13/3:53.07.

Yoshida, swimming way out in lane 8, held strong down the stretch and touched for silver in 7:53.85, his first time under 8:00. 400 silver medalist Marco De Tullio, swimming out of lane 1, made a late charge to overtake European Junior champ Akos Kalmar and snag the bronze in 7:55.81. Kalmar, the top seed coming into the meet, was only a second off his lifetime best by fell to 4th in 7:56.43.

Women’s 100 Fly Semi-Finals

  1. Anastasiya Shkurdai, BLR, 59.72
  2. Angelina Koehler, GER, 59.78
  3. Polina Egorova, RUS, 1:00.14
  4. Lin Xintong, CHN, 1:00.21
  5. Miriam Carolina Guevara Hernandez, MEX, 1:00.36
  6. Aleyna Ozkan, TUR, 1:00.77
  7. Sara Junevik, SWE, 1:00.85
  8. Natalie Kan, HKG, 1:01.05

2018 European Junior champion Anastasiya Shkurdai joined Angelina Koehler under a minute in the women’s 100 fly semi-finals, as the Belarusian and the German went 1-2 in the 2nd semi in 59.72 and 59.78 respectively and advance in the top two spots into the final. Koehler was the only swimmer sub-1:00 this morning in 59.99.

Russian Polina Egorova used a strong back 50 to win the first semi in 1:00.14 over China’s Lin Xintong, as those two advance 3rd and 4th. 50 fly champion Sara Junevik of Sweden was much quicker than this morning and qualifies for the final in 7th (1:00.85).

Men’s 100 Free Semi-Finals

  1. Jakub Kraska, POL, 49.70
  2. Andre Luiz Carvelo de Souza, BRA, 49.87
  3. Lee Yooyeon, KOR, 50.07
  4. Andrei Minakov, RUS, 50.16
  5. Robin Hanson, SWE, 50.17
  6. Rafael Miroslaw, GER, 50.28
  7. Kristof Milak, HUN, 50.36
  8. Lucas Peixoto, BRA, 50.53

Jakub Kraska and Andre Luiz Carvelo de Souza were the only two swimmers to go sub-50 in the men’s 100 free, winning the two semi-finals to advance 1-2 into tomorrow’s final.

Korea’s Lee Yooyeon followed up his impressive morning swim by dropping a few more one-hundredths down to 50.07 for 3rd overall, while Andrei Minakov and Robin Hanson advance in 4th and 5th after being the only two to take it out sub-24. Kristof Milak qualified for the final in 7th.

Women’s 50 Free Semi-Finals

  1. Barbora Seemanova, CZE, 25.33
  2. Mona McSharry, IRL, 25.42
  3. Yang Junxuan, CHN, 25.43
  4. Neza Klancar, SLO, 25.47
  5. Diana Petkova, BUL, 25.53
  6. Kate Douglass, USA, 25.57
  7. Mayuka Yamamoto, JPN, 25.62
  8. Elizaveta Klevanovich, RUS, 25.74

2017 European Junior champ Barbora Seemanova won the second semi in the women’s 50 free for the top seed heading into tomorrow in a time of 25.33, followed by Ireland’s Mona McSharry who established a new Irish Record of 25.42. Slovenian Neza Klancar was just over a tenth off her national record for 3rd in the heat and 4th overall in 25.47.

Yang Junxuan of China won the first semi in 25.43 for the 3rd seed. Seemanova, Yang and Klancar were the medalists earlier in the competition in the 100 freestyle.

Men’s 50 Fly Final

  1. Andrei Minakov, RUS, 23.62
  2. Daniil Markov, RUS / Tomoe Hvas, NOR, 23.63

In an incredibly close final, Russia’s Andrei Minakov won gold by .01 in the men’s 50 fly in a time of 23.62. His countryman Daniil Markov and Norwegian Tomoe Hvas tied for the silver in 23.63, while Thomas Ceccon, the top seed out of the semis, ended up locked out of the medals in 4th (23.65). The Italian had set a new personal best in the semis in 23.46.

Minakov, Hvas and Markov were also the medalists at the European Juniors this past summer, winning gold, silver and bronze respectively.

Shen Jiahao of China was also under 24 seconds for 5th in 23.83, while Kristof Milak was back in 7th in 24.11. Both Milak and Minakov were coming off the 100 free semi-finals.

Women’s 50 Back Final

  1. Kaylee McKeown, AUS, 28.28
  2. Daria Vaskina, RUS, 28.38
  3. Lila Touili, FRA, 28.78

She wasn’t quite as fast as she was in the prelims or semis, but Australian Kaylee McKeown got her hand on the wall first for her first gold medal of the competition in the women’s 50 back.

McKeown touched in 28.28 to top 100 back champion Daria Vaskina (28.38) of Russia, while Lila Touili of France won bronze in 28.78 over American Rhyan White (28.86).

McKeown adds this gold to the silver and bronze medals she won in the 100 and 200 back.

Men’s 50 Breast Semi-Finals

  1. Michael Houlie, RSA, 27.33
  2. Sun Jiajun, CHN, 28.05
  3. Alexander Milanovich, CAN, 28.19
  4. Taku Taniguchi, JPN, 28.22
  5. Vladislav Gerasimenko, RUS, 28.43
  6. Caspar Corbeau, NED, 28.44
  7. Vitor Pinheiro de Souza, BRA, 28.53
  8. Denis Petrashov, KGZ, 28.62

South African Michael Houlie absolutely destroyed the first semi-final of the men’s 50 breast, touching a full 1.3 seconds clear of the next fastest swimmer in 27.33. That beats the 27.44 he opened up the 100 semi-finals in, and gives the Tennessee commit the top seed by seven-tenths heading into the final.

100 breast winner Sun Jiajun led a much more competitive field in the second semi, clocking 28.05 to beat out Canada’s Alexander Milanovich (28.19) and Japan’s Taku Taniguchi (28.22). Six of the eight finalists came from semi #2, with Denis Petrashov (28.62) joining Houlie from semi #1 in 8th.

Women’s 400 Free Relay Final

  1. Russia, 3:45.26
  2. Brazil, 3:47.20
  3. Japan, 3:49.27

The Russian women continued the country’s relay success here at the Games with the win in the 400 free relay, giving them four relay titles through five events.

Elizaveta Klevanovich gave them the lead on the opening leg in 55.92, and after Japan and Brazil pushed them back into 3rd heading into the anchor leg, Polina Egorova dropped the top split in the field in 55.31 to win them the gold by close to two seconds.

The Brazilians were 2nd in 3:47.20, with their top split coming on the lead-off from Rafaela Raurich (56.46), while the Japanese women took bronze thanks to a pair of 55s from Mayuka Yamamoto (55.67) and Nagisa Ikemoto (55.76).

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Billy
5 years ago

How many Americans are competing at this meet? I’ve seen only two names….

Old Man Chalmers
Reply to  Billy
5 years ago

Each country is allowed to send 4 boys and 4 girls. USA capped that, but bar Rhyan White, I don’t think they sent their A team:
Kate Douglass
Kaitlynn Simms
Maddie Donohoe
Rhyan White
Ethan Dang
Will Barao
Ethan Harder
Jake Johnson

Miss m
Reply to  Old Man Chalmers
5 years ago

Us selection criteria meant that no one who qualified for a senior team or junior pan PACs was eligible for selection.

SwimParent
Reply to  Old Man Chalmers
5 years ago

This is a low priority meet for the US so they did not send their A team and the swimmers that are there did not train and taper for it – it is basically training a meet for the US Team, with the opportunity to experience a big international travel meet.

Verram
5 years ago

Not sure the top juniors for Australia are here for his meet.. would have made the relays more competitive

Miss M
Reply to  Verram
5 years ago

I think they are, but it’s very hard with such a small team to have relay depth. For the women they picked 4 women that could be competitive as a medley relay team, but they pulled from the freestyle relay as Kaylee and Chelsea really don’t do sprint freestyle. For the men they were more competitive as a freestyle relay, but none of them are breaststrokers, so they pulled that team.

Admin
Reply to  Verram
5 years ago

They’re not all there, but Kaylee McKeown certainly falls into that category.

Miss M
Reply to  Braden Keith
5 years ago

McKeown … the other swimming family 🙂

Emma
Reply to  Verram
5 years ago

Australia picked the fastest girl/boy for each of the 100m strokes from their Age champs. So certainly not as competitive as they could have been if they had picked their top ranked juniors – except for McKeown.

Miss M
5 years ago

So pleased for Kaylee… was worried she’d suffer the curse of the swim swam cover picture! I certainly rated her in the 200 more than the 50. Can’t be easy will all that’s going on at home.

5 years ago

Historic medal for Brazil Team.The first time a girl/women’s relay wins a medal in a world level swimming competition.

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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