2018 Youth Olympic Games: Day 6 Finals Live Recap

2018 YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES

• October 6th-18th, 2018
• Swimming Portion: October 7th-12th, 2018
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Schedule & Results
• Entries
• YouTube Live Stream (24hr Youth Olympic Stream)

Buckle up for tonight’s finals session from the Youth Olympic Games, because it’s going to be fast and furious with a whopping nine finals on the docket.

The women will fight for the medals in the 50 free, 100 fly, 200 breast and 400 free, while the men will battle it out in the 200 back, 100 free, 200 fly and 50 breast. The meet will close with the mixed 400 medley relay.

Among tonight’s highlights will be Kliment Kolesnikov looking to secure the backstroke sweep in the men’s 200 back, Kristof Milak in search of his first fly title of the meet in the men’s 200 butterfly, and a very intriguing clash between Ajna Kesely and home crowd favorite Delfina Pignatiello in the women’s 400 freestyle.

We’ll also see European Junior champions Anastasia Makarova (200 breast) and Anastasiya Shkurdai (100 fly) in action, along with women’s 100m freestyle gold medalist Barbora Seemanova in the 50 free, South African Michael Houlie in the men’s 50 breast, and a loaded lineup that includes Andrei Minakov (RUS) and Jakub Kraska (POL) in the men’s 100 freestyle. Milak had qualified for the 100 free final, but has scratched out to focus solely on the 200 fly.

Women’s 50 Free Final

1. Barbora Seemanova, CZE, 25.14
2. Mayuka Yamamoto, JPN, 25.39
3. Yang Junxuan, CHN / Neza Klancar, SLO, 25.47

Barbora Seemanova finished off the sprint double by winning the women’s 50 freestyle, clocking in at 25.14 to fall just .08 off her Czech National record of 25.06. Seemanova broke a ten-year-old Czech record when she won the 100 free a few nights ago.

Swimming out in lane 1, Mayuka Yamamoto of Japan blasted a new personal best by over two tenths in 25.39 to grab silver, with Yang Junxuan of China and Neza Klancar tying for the bronze in 25.47. Klancar also won bronze in the 100 free, where Seemanova won and Yang took silver.

Mona McSharry had set a new Irish Record in the semis in 25.42, but was just over a tenth slower tonight for 5th in 25.54

Men’s 200 Back Final

1. Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS, 1:56.14
2. Daniel Martin, ROU, 1:58.20
3. Manuel Martos Bacarizo, ESP, 1:59.37

Kliment Kolesnikov led wire-to-wire to finish off the backstroke sweep in the men’s 200, finishing in a time of 1:56.14 that falls exactly one second shy of his junior world record.

Romanian Daniel Martin, who won silver behind Kolesnikov at this summer’s Euro Juniors, slipped under his PB of 1:58.37 set at that meet to take 2nd in 1:58.20, while Spain’s Manuel Martos Bacarizo fended off American Ethan Harder for the bronze in 1:59.37. Harder cracked two minutes himself to take 4th in 1:59.79.

Women’s 100 Fly Final

1. Polina Egorova, RUS, 59.22
2. Angelina Koehler, GER, 59.44
3. Anastasiya Shkurdai, BLR, 59.76

European Junior champion Anastasiya Shkurdai of Belarus used her early speed to take the early lead in the women’s 100 fly, turning 1st at the 50 in 27.45, but Russia’s Polina Egorova charged home in 31.26 to overtake the lead and touch for gold in 59.22.

Angelina Koehler of Germany also moved past Shkurdai on the back half, finishing just a few one-hundredths off her personal best for silver in 59.44. Shkurdai took bronze in 59.76, with China’s Lin Xintong (1:00.35) 4th and 50 fly winner Sara Junevik (1:00.41) 5th.

Men’s 100 Free Final

1. Andrei Minakov, RUS, 49.23
2. Jakub Kraska, POL, 49.26
3. Robin Hanson, SWE, 49.52

Russia’s Andrei Minakov used front-end speed to open up a lead on the first 50 of the men’s 100 free, splitting 23.53, and then managed to fend off the big push from Poland’s Jakub Kraska towards the finish as he won gold in 49.23. That gives the 16-year-old an incredible six golds in six events, including three individual titles.

Kraska charged back in 25.43 and nearly stole the win from Minakov, but ran out of room as he touched 2nd in 49.26 to lower his previous best of 49.35. Robin Hanson of Sweden, the 200 free silver medalist, came back even faster than Kraska in 25.39 and moved up from 7th at the 50 into bronze in a lifetime best of 49.52.

Andre Luiz Calvelo de Souza of Brazil couldn’t quite recreate the 48.8 relay split he had earlier in the meet, falling off a bit coming back after sitting 2nd at the 50 to ultimately place 4th in 49.86.

Women’s 200 Breast Final

1. Shiori Asaba, JPN, 2:26.80
2. Kotryna Teterevkova, LTU, 2:28.18
3. Wang Heesong, KOR, 2:28.83

Japan’s Shiori Asaba assumed control of the women’s 200 breast final on the second 50 and really took off on the back half, winning by well over a second in a time of 2:26.80, just four-tenths off her personal best.

2018 European Junior bronze medalist Kotryna Teterevkova of Lithuania had a solid performance to win silver in 2:28.18, while 14-year-old Wang Heesong of Korea overtook China’s Zheng Muyan on the last 50 to snag the bronze in 2:28.83. Muyan was 4th in 2:28.99.

Russian Anastasia Makarova was expected to challenge for gold after her incredible closing speed led her to the win in the 100 breast, but she was too far back early on (8th at the 100) and ended up 6th in 2:29.03, close to three seconds off her best.

Men’s 200 Fly Final

1. Kristof Milak, HUN, 1:54.89
2. Denys Kesil, UKR, 1:55.89
3. Federico Burdisso, ITA, 1:57.16

As he’s become known to do, reigning European senior and junior champion Kristof Milak went out real fast in the men’s 200 fly final, and Italian Federico Burdisso went with him.

Both out ahead of the field through 150 metres, Burdisso began to fade on the final length while Milak held it together, and Ukranian Denys Kesil made a late charge. Milak was home in 30.72 to win by a second in 1:54.89, while Kesil was back in 29.99 to overtake Burdisso and win silver in 1:55.89. That improves his previous personal best of 1:56.45, and puts him just over four-tenths off of the Ukrainian Record set in 2002 by Denys Sylantyev (1:55.42). Milak’s lifetime best is the current junior world record, standing at 1:52.71 from the Hungarian Championships back in March.

Burdisso, who won bronze at the Euros in August, was out 1st in 25.06 and held his 2nd and 3rd 50s sub-30, but died on the last length as he split 32.44 and ended up in the bronze medal position in 1:57.16. Wang Kuanhung of Chinese Taipei slipped under his previous best for 4th in 1:57.45.

Women’s 400 Free Final

1. Ajna Kesely, HUN, 4:07.14
2. Delfina Pignatiello, ARG, 4:10.40
3. Marlene Kahler, AUT, 4:12.48

Ajna Kesely won Hungary’s seventh gold medal of the meet in the women’s 400 free, slowly pulling away from Argentina’s Delfina Pignatiello over the back half of the race to win by three seconds in 4:07.14. Kesely is now the reigning World Junior, European Junior, and Youth Olympic Games champion in this event.

Pignatiello was two seconds off her best was it was still good for silver in 4:10.40, and Austria’s Marlene Kahler was right up there over the first 200 before falling back a few seconds for 3rd in 4:12.48, still less than a second off her personal best time.

South Africa’s Dune Coetzee (4:15.27) held off a late push from American Kaitlynn Sims (4:15.53) in the race for 4th.

Men’s 50 Breast Final

1. Michael Houlie, RSA, 27.51
2. Sun Jiajun, CHN, 27.85
3. Alexander Milanovich, CAN, 27.87

University of Tennessee commit Michael Houlie wasn’t quite as fast as he was in the semi-finals, but it was enough to win gold in the men’s 50 breast by over three-tenths of a second in 27.51. The South African had been a personal best of 27.33 in the semis, and with this swim gives the country their second medal and first gold of the competition. Houlie fell out of the medals in the 100 after swimming the top time in the semis, so this was an impressive bounce back performance.

100m winner Sun Jiajun of China won silver in 27.85, while Alexander Milanovich won Canada’s third medal here in Buenos Aires as he dipped under his personal best by .06 for bronze in 27.87. Taku Taniguchi of Japan, the bronze medalist in the 100, took 4th in 28.20.

Mixed 400 Medley Relay Final

1. China, 3:49.79
2. Russia, 3:51.46
3. Japan, 3:51.74

The Chinese team used the traditional order of swimming two men and then two women in the mixed 400 medley relay, and it ultimately worked as they won gold in 3:49.79.

Leading with Wang Guanbin (55.31) and Sun Jiajun (1:00.22), they led by over nine seconds at the halfway mark, with their biggest threat, Russia, swimming the opposite order with their two females swimming first. A full 16 seconds back at the 200, Andrei Minakov (51.63) and Kliment Kolesnikov (47.85) brought them back into it, but it wasn’t enough to catch China. It looked they were going to take bronze, but a late push by Kolesnikov edged them past Japan’s Nagisa Ikemoto to put them 2nd in 3:51.46 to Japan’s 3:51.74. Both Kolesnikov and Minakov miss out on a chance for seven gold medals at the meet, instead walking away with six gold and one silver.

Shinnosuke Ishikawa had a notable 51.94 split on fly for Japan, while the Norwegians took 4th in 3:56.75 with a solid 53.03 fly split from Tomoe Hvas.