2023 World Junior Championships Day One: Swims You Might’ve Missed

2023 WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• September 4 – 9, 2023
• Netanya, Israel
• Wingate Institute
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• How To Watch
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Day 1 Prelims Live Recap/Day 1 Finals Live Recap

Today marked the start of the 2023 World Junior Championships, with impressive performances being achieved on both the girls’ and boys’ sides.

We saw a Championships Record go down at the hands of American Leah Hayes in the girls’ 400m IM, while the United States’ boys’ 4x100m free relay established a new World Junior Record to end the session.

This morning’s prelims also brought a new Championships Record, as Estonia’s Eneli Jefimova crushed a time of 30.19 to take the top seed. She followed up with another top-tier performance of 30.48 to land lane four for tomorrow night’s final.

However, we also wanted to call out a handful of other high-caliber swims that you might have missed amid the opening-day action.

Monique Wieruszowski (NZL) 30.81 50m Breaststroke

Behind Jefimova in tonight’s girls’ 50m breaststroke semi-final was Monique Wieruszowski of New Zealand. The Kiwi athlete produced a time of 30.81 to snag the 2nd seed and put her name into the mix for a medal for tomorrow night’s final.

Wieruszowski’s effort represented a new national record, with the 16-year-old’s time overtaking the previous New Zealand standard of 30.87. The teen owned that prior record, having hit that mark at the New Zealand Championships/World Championships Trials this past April.

Julie Brousseau (CAN) 4:38.35 400m IM

17-year-old Julie Brousseau landed on the podium in the girl’s 400m IM this evening, but she did it in major style.

The Canadian punched a time of 4:38.35, hacking 4 seconds off of her previous best-ever effort of 4:42.90. That performance took place at the Summer Ontario Swimming Championships this past July.

Brousseau’s bronze medal-worthy outing here now renders her Canada’s 8th-swiftest performer in history in this 4IM event.

Ulises Saravia (ARG) 100m Back

Ulises Saravia of Argentina put up the race of his life en route to capturing the 2nd seed in the boys’ 100m backstroke.

The 17-year-old logged a time of 53.95 to flank top-seeded Miroslav Knedla of the Czech Republic who led the field in 53.28.

Opening in 26.09 and closing in 27.86, Saravia broke through with a new Argentine national record. His 53.95 not only represented his first-ever foray under the 54-second barrier, but it easily overtook the previous national standard of 54.32 Federico Grabich put on the books way back in 2009.