2025 World Junior Swimming Championships
- August 19-24, 2025
- Otopeni, Romania
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DAY 5 PRELIMS HEAT SHEET
Welcome to Day 6 of the 2025 World Junior Championships! We are onto the final day of the meet here in Otopeni, with four different 200 meter events as well as the medley relay heats this morning, before we finish off with the slow heats of the men’s 1500 freestyle.
DAY 6 PRELIMS SCHEDULE:
- Boys 200 Backstroke
- Girls 200 Breaststroke
- Boys 200 Butterfly
- Girls 200 Freestyle
- Boys 4×100 Medley Relay
- Girls 4×100 Medley Relay
- Boys 1500 Freestyle (slower heats)
The top two seeds in the boys’ 200 backstroke have already won a gold medal apiece, with Daniel del Signore winning the 50 and Jon Shortt winning the 100. They are the only two swimmers entered under 1:58 here, with USA’s Gavin Keogh, 3rd in the 100, the 3rd seed here in 1:58.19.
China’s Qu Jianing is the top seed in the girls’ 200 breaststroke, but is entered just seven-hundredths ahead of Australia’s Hayley Mackinder, who was 4th in the 100. Germany’s silver medalist from the 100, Lena Ludwig, comes in 4th fastest, while the U.S. pair of Kayda Geder and Kaidy Stout are seeded 10th and 12th.
Not one of the boys’ 100 butterfly finalists will be in the field in the 200, but there are still ten swimmers entered under 2:00. They are led by Hungary’s David Antal in 1:57.42, closely followed by China’s Xue Zijian in 1:57.66. One to watch could be Namibia’s Oliver Durand, who has set National Records in both the 200 IM and 400 IM so far at this competition.
The girls’ 200 freestyle sees Rylee Erisman and Yang Peiqi lock horns in a second instalment of the battle they began on the anchor leg of the 4×200 freestyle relay on Day 1. Yang took the win in round 1, outsplitting Erisman by a second en route to a gold medal for the Chinese team, but Erisman was still 1:56.69 on her anchor leg.
It is also a meeting of the 100 freestyle champion (Erisman) and 400 freestyle champion (Yang), with each having set a Championship record in their respective finals. Erisman will have the 50 free and 4×100 medley relay finals as well tonight, so may take it a little easier this morning. Kennedy Dobson will also represent the U.S., and set a new best when leading off the 4×200 free relay in 1:57.53.
The boys’ 4×100 medley relay looks to be a fascinating race, with Great Britain, Italy, the U.S. and NAB all having reasons to believe they can take the win. All of their swimmers should be fresh this morning, with none having any other events, so look for those four to take the middle lanes for the final.
The girls’ event is more clear cut, with the battle likely to come down to the U.S., China and NAB, with the Americans coming in as the favorites. They will likely swim the ‘B’ team this morning, but will then bring in the 100 backstroke (Charlotte Crush) and 100 freestyle (Rylee Erisman) champions, and likely a 100 fly medalist in Audrey Derivaux.
Finally, we will have the slower two heats of the women’s 1500 freestyle, ahead of the final heat of this heat-defined winner event being swum in tonight’s finals session. Xu Haibo and Tex Cross, who took 3rd and 4th respectively in the 400 free, could be ones to watch in heat 4.
BOYS 200 BACKSTROKE – PRELIMS
- World Record: 1:51.92 – Aaron Peirsol, USA (2009)
- World Junior Record: 1:55.14 – Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS (2017)
- Championship Record: 1:56.05 – Pieter Coetze, RSA (2022)
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Jon Shortt (IRE) – 1:57.53
- David Melnychuk (USA) – 1:59.31
- Aukan Goldin (ISR) – 1:59.48
- Matteo Venini (ITA) – 1:59.70
- Gavin Keogh (USA) – 2:00.05
- Daniele del Signore (ITA) – 2:00.11
- Francis Brennan (CAN) – 2:00.17
- Anton Denysenko (UKR) – 2:00.33
Jon Shortt backed up his top seed by dominating the final heat of the boys’ 200 backstroke, the only swimmer this morning to come back in under a minute on the second 100 (59.86). He leads all qualifiers by nearly two seconds, and looks well placed to add the 200 to his 100 title tonight.
He was joined under 2:00 by USA’s David Melnychuk, Israel’s Aukan Goldin and Italy’s Matteo Venini, with Melnychuk and Venini setting new best times in the process. Melnychuk knocked two tenths off his 1:59.53 entry time, while Venini was a tenth under his best of 1:59.80.
Gavin Keogh added from his 1:58.19 entry time, but will be dangerous out of lane 2 tonight after he set a big best in the 100 earlier in the week. He was out fastest of anybody in 57.22, but had a final 50 of 32.18 to finish behind his teammate Melnychuk in heat 5.
Italy’s Daniele del Signore, the 50 backstroke champion, looked controlled as he came out with a 2:00.11. He holds a best in the 1:57-point range, and will likely be down near that after setting a best time in both the 50 and 100 so far this week.
Australia’s Henry Allan, one of ten swimmers entered under 2:00, added seven seconds to finish 31st and miss the final.
GIRLS 200 BREASTSTROKE – PRELIMS
- World Record: 2:17.55 – Evgeniia Chikunova, RUS (2023)
- World Junior Record: 2:19.64 – Viktoriya Zeynep Gunes, TUR (2015)
- Championship Record: 2:19.64 – Viktoriya Zeynep Gunes, TUR (2015)
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Sua Moon (KOR) – 2:26.39
- Lena Ludwig (GER) – 2:27.72
- Kaidy Stout (USA) – 2:28.58
- Anastasiia Shilenkova (NAB) – 2:28.59
- Daria Asaftei (ROU) – 2:28.77
- Kayda Geder (USA) – 2:30.36
- Shima Taghavi (CAN) – 2:30.82
- Qu Jianing (CHN) – 2:31.00
The fastest swim of this morning came from Korea’s Sua Moon out of the unseeded heat 2. Entered with no time, Moon does hold a best of 2:26.23 from 2023, which she nearly matched here as she led the heats by well over a second.
She had a stellar final 50 of 37.16, one of only two in the field under 38 seconds alongside NAB’s Anastasiia Shilenkova.
There were only five swimmers in total under the 2:30 barrier, as top seed Qu Jianing snuck into the final in 8th after adding more than four seconds. One big name we did see miss out was Australia’s Hayley Mackinder, who finished just six-hundredths behind Qu in 9th after coming home in 41.26.
Lena Ludwig, Kaidy Stout and home swimmer Daria Asaftei were the winners of the circle-seeded heats and all progressed through safely. Asaftei has set new Romanian Records in both the 50 and 100 breast, but will face a challenge to get down to Diana Mocanu‘s mark of 2:25.00 in the 200 tonight, which has stood for 24 years.
Kayda Geder was 6th, as the U.S. were the only country to put two swimmers into the final.
BOYS 200 BUTTERFLY – PRELIMS
- World Record: 1:50.34 – Kristof Milak, HUN (2022)
- World Junior Record: 1:53.79 – Kristof Milak, HUN (2017)
- Championship Record: 1:53.87 – Kristof Milak, HUN (2017)
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Kris Mihaylov (RSA) – 1:58.17
- David Antal (HUN) – 1:58.46
- Xue Zijan (CHN) – 1:58.74
- Blazej Dworakowski (POL) – 1:59.13
- Jan Jurcik (CZE) – 1:59.28
- Anton Semeyuk (CAN) – 1:59.67
- Tuncer Berk Erturk (TUR) – 1:59.73
- Grigorii Vekovishchev (NAB) – 1:59.76
It took a time under 2:00 to make the top eight this morning, with every swimmer who did so making it through to tonight’s final.
The fastest two times came out of the final heat, where South Africa’s Kris Mihaylov and Hungary’s David Antal were out in 57-low before coming home in identical 1:01.14s. Mihaylov clipped a hundredth from his entry time with his swim, and will be in lane 4 for the final tonight.
Blazej Sworakowski was out fastest of anyone in 56.16, although was 31-point on both of his final 50s to finish second in the penultimate heat behind China’s Xue Zijian.
Both of the U.S. swimmers in this event missed the final, with Shareef Elaydi (2:01.21) and Noah Cakir (2:01.20) posting near-identical times.
Turkey’s Arda Akkoyun, the 7th seed in 1:59.03, added seven seconds to miss the final in 28th.
GIRLS 200 FREESTYLE – PRELIMS
- World Record: 1:52.23 – Ariarne Titmus, AUS (2024)
- World Junior Record: 1:53.65 – Summer McIntosh, CAN (2023)
- Championship Record: 1:57.08 – Taylor Ruck, CAN (2017)
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- Rylee Erisman (USA) – 1:57.76
- Kennedi Dobson (USA) – 1:58.30
- Alessandra Mao (ITA) – 1:59.19
- Yang Peiqi (CHN) – 1:59.20
- Bianca Nannucci (ITA) – 1:59.42
- Yui Fukuoka (JPN) – 1:59.42
- Yan Tiaoshan (CHN) – 1:59.69
- Ella Cosgrove (CAN) – 2:00.65
Rylee Erisman, despite having three finals to look forward to tonight, did anything but take it easy as she burned the rest of heat 8 away, ending up as the only swimmer that heat to make the final. She was 1:57.76, just half a second off her entry time, to claim top spot overall by half a second.
Her teammate Kennedi Dobson took heat 7 in 1:58.30, and has already been 1:57.53 leading off the silver medal-winning 4×200 free relay in Otopeni. Yang Peiqi, who finished 4th overall, will be dangerous after winning the 400 and splitting 1:55.54 anchoring China to gold in the 4×200 free on Day 1.
Italy put Alessandra Mai and Bianca Nannucci into the top five, with five of the finalists coming from an almost blanket finish in heat 9.
BOYS 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY – PRELIMS
- World Record: 3:26.78 – USA (2021)
- World Junior Record: 3:33.19 – RUS (2019)
- Championship Record: 3:33.19 – RUS (2019)
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- USA – 3:38.59
- NAB – 3:39.10
- Great Britain – 3:39.45
- Japan – 3:39.61
- Poland – 3:40.50
- Romania – 3:40.53
- Greece – 3:40.56
- Italy – 3:40.59
Ian Call’s 1:00.24 breaststroke leg helped the U.S to the top seed, as they won the final heat over NAB by half a second. Collin Holgerson led them off in 55.67, Rowan Cox was 53.28 on butterfly, and Mike Rice was 49.40 on freestyle.
Gavin Keogh and Austin Carpenter will likely come in tonight, although Call will likely keep the breaststroke spot ahead of Drew Eubanks.
Poland had the fastest front half of anyone thanks to Jan Gajda’s 1:00.02 breaststroke split, fastest in the field, but fell away slightly due to a 50.52 anchor, qualifying 5th overall
Great Britain swam half of their ‘A’ team relay this morning, but will bring in Filip Nowacki and Jacob Mills on breaststroke and freestyle respectively. That would give them around five seconds on their time this morning, and they could well be the favorites tonight.
Max Morgan, who was 59.93 for bronze individually in the 100 breaststroke, was just 1:01.61 here, while 100 butterfly bronze medalist Dean Fearn was 52.36, fastest in the field.
Italy, who left Carlos D’Ambrosio off this relay, snuck through in 8th by just 0.15 seconds over Brazil. Swapping in the 200 free champ for Daniel D’Agostino on the anchor leg could give them almost three seconds, as D’ambrosio’s best split this week of 47.02 is 2.94 seconds faster than the 49.96 anchor they got here.
Just like at the senior world championships this summer, China and Australia missed out on the final.
GIRLS 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY – PRELIMS
- World Record: 3:49.34 – USA (2025)
- World Junior Record: 3:58.38 – CAN (2017)
- Championship Record: 3:58.38 – CAN (2017)
TOP 8 QUALIFIERS:
- USA – 4:03.04
- Japan – 4:04.05
- China – 4:04.65
- Canada -4:05.56
- NAB – 4:05.58
- Australia – 4:05.71
- Italy – 4:05.95
- Great Britain – 4:06.86
The U.S. swam their ‘B’ team this morning, but still led the way into tonight’s final by just over a second. Lily King had the fastest split in the field with her 54.07 anchor, as did Rachel McAlpin on breaststroke (1:08.11), and bringing in Charlotte Crush (back), Audrey Derivaux (fly) and Rylee Erisman (free) should see them challenge Canada’s World Junior Record tonight.
Japan took 2nd overall, winning heat 3 behind Mizuki Hirai’s 57.21 butterfly split, fastest in the field by over a second.
Five of the finalists ended up coming from the final heat, with Korea missing out by two tenths despite having the 2nd-fastest breaststroke split in the field (1:08.38) from Sua Moon.
BOYS 1500 FREESTYLE – SLOWER HEATS (TIMED FINAL)
- World Record: 14:30.67 – Bobby Finke, USA (2024)
- World Junior Record: 14:41.22 – Kuzey Tuncelli, TUR (2024)
- Championship Record: 14:46.09 – Franko Grgic (2019)
TOP 8:
- Won June (KOR) – 15:13.36
- Chen Shengxin (CHN) – 15:14.39
- Raito Numata (JPN) – 15:25.50
- Mikhail Zhikharev (NAB) – 15:28.50
- Tex Cross (AUS) – 15:32.1
- Simon Fonseca (CAN) – 15:33.23
- Lucas Fackerell (AUS) – 15:39.47
- Pang Russel (SGP) – 15:40.59
Korea’s Won June absolutely demolished his entry time to post the fastest time of this morning’s heats, knocking 27 seconds off to go 15:13.36. That just held off a fast-charging Chen Shengxin, who closed in 27.14 to go 15:14.39 and post a 12 second PB of his own.
Raito Numata was 15:25.50 out of heat 1 to win by nearly a minute, while Tex Cross of Australia dropped eight seconds for 5th overall this morning.
A reminder that this is a timed final event. The fastest 8 seeds will be competing in the fastest heat, which will take place near the start of tonight’s finals session. With six of the swimmers in that heat entered faster than June’s time from this morning, there may well be a completely new top 8 when all is said and done.
Team GB boys will win the Medley relay at a canter – easy work! 🇬🇧
I agree we’re favourites, the key is getting Mills a decent lead over D’Ambrosio and within a second of everyone else by the final leg. Only issue is the backstroke where we’ll lose 1.5-2 seconds on teams around us and that could disadvantage Nowacki and Fearn swimming in the wash of other swimmers.
🤞
Well, this meet has been for TEAM USA 1) a glorious effort by the women’s team and 2) pretty much a bust for the men’s team, esp. the DQ for the relay – I mean, “amateur hour” kind of stuff on that one. But, I think we’ll top the medals chart, and then, just move on!
Do not forget the TEAM Championship Trophy award! This is turning out to be a much closer Team contest than expected, with the Russian swimmers making a very good challenge for the USA.
The problem with the overall men’s team is simply there are only 5 or 6 men superstars right now to draw from in total, and they do not cover all the events. Whereas on the women’s side you have at least 15 superstars, with another 5 at the almost superstar level, covering all the strokes and events, to draw on. In 3 years we may have 3 or 4 more men at the top level based on what we see presently, but again not in all the… Read more »
In fairness, USA Swimming selection procedures prevented three athletes from attending juniors in Thomas Heilman, Luka Mijatovic and Claire Weinstein, all of whom could have won multiple medals. I suspect that even if eligible, Heilman and Weinstein may have declined due to college, similar to Madi Mintenko. The main point is that while the U.S. men are not as strong or deep as our women right now, the team in Romania does not represent all of our best, affecting the men’s results and the Team Trophy. I do think in the future, as we have done in the past, we should allow junior athletes who qualify for the senior team to do both. As we saw with Mijatovic and Heilman,… Read more »
You make good points and it highlights what our the Senior USA Swimming leadership and coaches should have done to help these male swimmers make the better decision for the US Team and their individual carriers. Swimming one event at a senior meet or 4-5 events each at the next level, with world class competition, should be looked at very carefully. These two men would have greatly benefited by being at this Jr World Championships, aside from scoring points for the USA. This is how they will develop faster and stronger.
Allowing more different people to compete has benefits for the program, too. And there is no guarantee that either Mijatovic or Hellman would have wanted to do both.
Yes, once university starts it is a real chore to compete internationally. First things first.
Luka wanted to go. He would have gone.
Maybe USA swimming should keep that in mind. There was a time fairly recently when they allowed people to do both. Not many did but it was an option.
The female contingent of USA Swimming at the 2025 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships are doing just fine without Claire Weinstein. The male contingent of USA Swimming have failed to hold up their end of the bargain.
So Cotroneo and the womens medley relay are the only Australians swimming finals tonight.
R. McAlpin makes a case to swim the breaststroke leg in the final of the women’s 4 x 100 meter medley relay.
Where was that sense of urgency in the women’s 100 meter breaststroke at the 2025 USA Swimming National Championships?
MacAlpine had the fastest breaststroke among the field..1.08.1..she grab her spot to be on the finals..So as Ian CAll ..Great 50 breaststrokers to pop up when needed more..Ian with second fastest in the field
Is it legal to start crossing lanes to exit the pool after you have finished whilst there are other competitors still racing?
Yes..it is
That’s only a NCAA rule
How do you think they’ve been doing it all these years ?
Usually the swimmers just hop out of the pool in theor lane . Just like leaving swimmers in the pool during backstroke starts. So weird just let the swimmers get out before the next heat
Never participated in relays or watched international swim meets?
Have you ever swam a relay?
An actual answer to my question would have been more helpful and informative than this response
I mean I thought it would just be common sense to be all honest with you.
“If you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all”
Common sense in your eyes, but a potential obstruction risk in others, hence my question for clarification.
🤷♂️
It’s legal, unless they impede other swimmers who are yet to finish
If memory serves me, the short answer is YES, if there is NO obstruction of any active swimmer still racing. HOWEVER, IMHO, it is bad form to leave the pool before all competitors are finished unless an official instructs otherwise.
From the earliest years, swimmers learn this.
At world aquatics meets they encourage all swimmers to exit to the sides. It feels dumb on relays, especially in short course, but they don’t want any potential disruption to the timing system.
Ian Call got locked his spot in the finals..that 1.00.20 is good for him
Henry Allan dropped form majorly from Age Champs .. back to the drawing board for Australian men’s backstroke then ..
His 50 and 100 weren’t that far off age champs.
Not just men’s backstroke.
AUS juniors are severely underperforming here in Romania.
2011 Lima, you had Cam McEvoy, Bronte Campbell, Brianna Throshell, Taylor McKeown
2013 Dubai, you had Luke Percy (what happened to him???), Mac Horton, Regan Leong (what happened to him??), Remy Fairweather (what happened to her??), Shayna Jack
2015 Singapore, you had Kyle Chalmers, Matthew Wilson, Jack Cartwright, Clyde Lewis, Tamsin Cook, Minna Atherton, Shayna Jack
2017 Indianapolis, you had Elijah Winnington, ZSC
2019 Budapest, you had Thomas Neill, Thomas Hauck (what happened to him?), MOC, Meg Harris, Lani Pallister, Jenna Forrester
2022 Lima, Australia didn’t participate
2023 Netanya, you had Flynn Southam, Edward “fly and die” Sommerfield, Olivia Wunsch, Milla Jensen, Jamie… Read more »
It has been said a few times before but one weaker generation won’t be that impactful if the ones that come before and after it are good.
I said it before and I’ll say it again: One off meet does not singularly determine the success of this generation, nor the trajectory of the careers of these athletes here
Also true.
It has been quite disappointing for us – didn’t realise it was that bad from a historical standpoint though, ouch 😔
I was told AUS prioritized the TYR meet in Irvine over Jr Worlds, so the faster swimmers went there, but looking at it I think Miller may be the only one that was actually a junior for them at that meet.
No the junior team was picked in April.
The TYR meet team ( Australia A) was chosen before the WUGs team.
No juniors went to the TYR meet.
Hopefully not a sign of the future. Would suck to finally discover I like watching swimming and then have Paris be the best I’ve seen us, or at least to not get close to that again (since Paris was so good)
Our best meet was the year before in Fukuoka. Especially day one.
Yeah and skipping Trials, makes one wonder if there was an injury or something along the way.