2019 World Junior Championships: Day 6 Finals Preview

7th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships 2019

• 50-Meter Course
• Duna Arena, Budapest (Hungary)
• Pool swimming: Tuesday, August 20 – Sunday, August 25, 2019
• Heats 9:30am GMT+2 (3:30 am EDT / 12:30 am PDT)/ Semifinals and Finals 5:30pm GMT+2 (11:30am EDT / 8:30am PDT)
• Meet site
• Entries book
• FinaTV Live Stream (subscription required)
• Live results

Sunday, 25 August 2019

Day 6 Finals heat sheets

Tonight’s finals:

• Men’s 100m Freestyle
• Women’s 200m Breaststroke
• Men’s 200m Backstroke
• Women’s 100m Butterfly
• Men’s 1500m Freestyle – fastest heat
• Women’s 50m Freestyle
• Men’s 200m Butterfly
• Men’s 50m Breaststroke
• Women’s 200m Freestyle
• Men’s 4x 100m Medley
• Women’s 4x 100m Medley

It’s quite a lineup on the final night of competition in Budapest. Eleven finals will be contested, including nine individual events and our two last relays.

Andrei Minakov of Russia is the clear favorite in the opening event, the men’s 100 free, and he has a shot at taking down countryman Ivan Girev’s Championships Record of 48.33 in the final. Minakov went 49.35 in heats and 49.19 in semis, but he was seeded with a time of 48.50.

The women’s 200 breast may very well be the most exciting final of the night. The top four qualifiers all went between 2:27.2 and 2:27.3 in heats. Evgeniia Chikunova of Russia (2:27.23) is looking to add the 200 title to the 100 crown she earned earlier in the week, while Mei Ishihara (2:27.26) could give Japan their first gold of the Championships. Russia’s Anastasia Makarova (2:27.30) and Hungary’s Eszter Bekesi (2:27.36) are also contenders.

USA’s Wyatt Davis and Carson Foster are potential winners in the men’s 200 back final but Cole Pratt could give Canada their first men’s gold; he qualified second for the final with 1:58.73, only .11 behind Davis. Foster came in with the fastest seed time of the three; he’s been 1:57.70. The favorite in this event, Jan Cejka of Czech Republic, had a tough morning. He swam 2:02.16, well off his seed time of 1:57.51, to finished 18th out of heats.

Belarus’s Anastasiya Shkurdai and USA’s Torri Huske and Claire Curzan will be in the middle lanes of the 100 fly final. The trio made up the podium of the 50 fly earlier in the week. Shkurdai (57.82) and Huske (57.86) are the only sub-58s. Curzan qualified with 58.51.

Franko Grgic of Croatia is the top seed in the men’s 1500 free by five seconds and comes in with a seed time that is just under the meet record and only four seconds off the World Junior Record of 14:51.55 set by Australia’s Mack Horton in 2014. Grgic broke the World Junior Record, the Championships Record, and the Croatian National Record in the 800 on Thursday.

In the women’s 50 free, USA’s Gretchen Walsh had been the favorite but her teammate Maxine Parker stunned the crowd in the semi-finals with a sub-25 (24.96) to lead the qualifiers into the final. Parker’s PB moved her to fourth all-time for 17-18 girls in the United States. Australia’s Meg Harris is also a contender.

USA’s Luca Urlando (1:55.98) qualified with a full second’s margin over number two Wang Kuan-Hung of Taipei (1:56.86). With a seed time of 1:53.84, Urlando is the clear favorite in this event; the question will be whether he can take down Kristof Milak’s Championships Record of 1:53.87 and World Junior Record of 1:53.79.

Anything can happen in a 50, and the 50 breast final might produce Great Britain’s first gold medal. Russia’s Vladislav Gerasimenko qualified first in semi-finals with 27.89 but he was only .02 faster than GBR’s Archie Goodburn. Greece’s Arkadios Aspougalis is also in the mix, having gone 27.98 in semis.

Lani Pallister (1:59.07 in heats) is looking to add the 200 crown to the 400/800/1500 golds she has already won this week. Whether or not she succeeds, and Claire Tuggle (1:59.55) of USA and Erika Fairweather of New Zealand (1:59.87) could ruin her plans, the Australian will still be a contender for Swimmer of the Meet here in Budapest.