2022 World Junior Championships: Day 3 Finals Preview

2022 FINA WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• August 30-September 4, 2022
• Lima, Peru
• Long Course Meters (50m), Prelims/Semis/Finals
• Meet Site
• Event Schedule
• Live Results
• Entries List
• Top 5 Girls’ Storylines
• Top 5 Boys’ Storylines
• Click here to download an Excel sheet with events by swimmer
• Day 3 Prelims Live Recap
• FINA YouTube Link (USA, Canada)
• How to Watch

Day 3 Finals Event Schedule

• Girls 50 Fly – SEMIFINAL
• Boys 50 Free – SEMIFINAL
• Girls 200 Back – FINAL
• Boys 100 Fly – FINAL
• Girls 100 Breast – SEMIFINAL
• Boys 50 Back – SEMIFINAL
• Girls 100 Back – FINAL
• Boys 800 Free – FASTEST HEAT
• Mixed 4×100 Free Relay – FINAL

Scratch Report:

There are no scratches to report for tonight’s finals session.

Session Preview:

Tonight’s finals session will feature finals in the girls 200 back, boys 100 fly, girls 100 free, and mixed 4×100 free relay. Timed finals of the boys 800 free are also taking place today. The early heats were completed this morning, with the top 8 seeds set to race in this session. We also have semifinal of the girls 50 fly, boys 50 free, girls 100 breast, and boys 50 back.

Romania is on the cusp of winning another World Junior relay gold medal tonight. The Romanian team of David Popovici, Patrick Sebastian Dinu, Rebecca-Aimee Diaconescu, and Bianca Costea combined to post the fastest time in prelims by 2 seconds. That same relay team won silver at the European Junior Championships in July. Romania won the boys 4×100 free relay on day 1 of the meet, marking the country’s first World Junior Championships relay medal ever.

The boys 800 free will see Brazil’s Stephan Steverink, the 400 free champion from day 1, go up against Romania’s Vlad Stefan Stancu and Poland’s Krzysztof Chmielewski, who also medaled in the 400. Stancu is notably the Romanian Record holder in the 800 free.

The girls 200 back also presents what should be a thrilling race. Hungary’s Dora Molnar, the 100 back champion from last night and the European Junior Champion in the 100 and 200 back this summer, was the top finisher this morning, swimming a 2:11.62. Japan’s Mio Narita, who won the girls 400 IM on night 1 in a new Championship Record, was right behind Molnar this morning, swimming a 2:12.05. Narita’s teammate, Yuzuki Mizuno, won gold at the Junior Pan Pacs in Hawaii last week, swimming a 2:09.17. Narita won silver in 2:09.67. This morning, Mizuno was 2:12.55. Poland’s Laura Bernat was 2:13.29 this morning but has also been 2:09 before.

Hungary’s Nikolett Padar and Italy’s Matilde Biagiotti are set to face off in the girls 100 free final tonight. Padar led semifinals with a 55.62 and is the only swimmer in the field who has been under 55 seconds individually in the event before. Biagiotti was 2nd in semifinals last night with a 55.92 after leading prelims yesterday morning.

Portugal’s Diogo Ribeiro is in good shape to win gold in the boys 100 fly tonight. In semifinals last night, Ribeiro clocked a 52.29, touching first by nearly a full second. At the European Championships in August, Ribeiro swam a 51.61, setting a new Portuguese Record.

They’ll be swimming in separate heats tonight, but we’ll still get another backstroke battle between Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk and South Africa’s Pieter Coetze in the boys 50 back semifinals. Coetze led prelims this morning, swimming a 24.95, touching as the only swimmer to crack 25 seconds on prelims. Masiuk was a tick slower, swimming a 25.13. After both swimmers broke the 100 back Championship Record earlier in the meet, the Championship Record of 24.63 in the 50 back could go down tonight as well.