2024 LITHUANIAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- February 22nd – February 24th
- Klaipėda, Lithuania
- LCM (50m)
- Results
The 2024 Lithuanian Junior Swimming Championships recently concluded but not before two of the nations’ promising standouts produced several eye-catching swims.
15-year-old Tajus Juska of the Kaunas Swimming School demonstrated once again he’s a bona fide rising sprint star, capturing multiple golds in record-setting fashion.
Juska topped the boys’ 50m freestyle event in a time of 22.84 to establish a new Lithuanian 16&U Age Record. His time checked in as the sole outing of the field under the 23-second barrier and was in fact the teen’s first-ever foray under that threshold. Entering this competition, Juska’s lifetime best rested at the 23.10 notched in the prelims at last year’s European Junior Championships.
The boys’ 100m freestyle also fell victim to Juska, with the teen firing off a time of 50.09. That set him apart from the field by nearly half a second, with his outing coming within .08 of his career-quickest effort of 50.01 from last December.
Finally, Juska made some noise in the butterfly sprints, establishing new Lithuanian 16&U Age Records in both the 50m and 100m events. The 50m saw him stop the clock in 24.46, slicing .27 off his prior PB of 24.63. The 100m race also saw Juska’s previous career-best go down as he nabbed gold in 54.12.
On his results, Juska said, “Honestly, I didn’t expect such good results because we didn’t specifically prepare for this competition. We mainly worked on technique, and we only had about two days of rest. We came to see how we’d perform, but everything turned out quite well. I’m really satisfied.”
Another eye-catching performance came at the hands of Mantas Kauspedas.
Racing in the boys’ 100m backstroke, Kauspedas registered a new Lithuanian 17&U Age Record of 54.70. The 16-year-old beat the field by nearly 3 seconds en route to clocking a new lifetime best. His performance surpassed his previous career-quickest 55.41 from last December.
Kauspedas stated, “I didn’t expect such a result. I thought I’d improve a little; we put in a lot of work before the World Championships. Since it didn’t go well there, I redirected my energy forward, towards the next competitions. It was very gratifying to see that progress had been made. It motivates me even more to work harder and aim for better results.”
Kauspedas raced in the heats of the men’s 50m back at this year’s World Championships was disqualified for surfacing after the 15m line.
Quotes courtesy of the Lithuanian Swimming Federation.
Wowza. To add some slight local context to those Freestyle events by Tajus Juska, that’s faster than any 15&U Male has ever been in Canadian history (with Laon Kim being the fastest in the 50FR and 100FR at 23.01 and 50.39 respectively). As for the 100FL, he’d be 2nd just after Liendo’s 53.97.
And in terms of Mantas Kauspedas’s 100BK performance, he’d be 2nd just after Cole Pratt’s 54.64.
Highly impressive
Beyond Juska, three other kids born in 2009 produced great swims, and considering that Tuskenis swam 57.59 in the 100 back (new NAG record)), Vilimas 1.05.67 in the 100 breaststroke (new NAG record) and Bernotas 55.80 in the 100 fly (his PB was 59.23 at the beginning of the meet), while it’s too early to say something about their career at absolute level, it isn’t for Eyof 2025: Lithuania (with Juska in the free) has a fantastic medley relay in the making.
Swimming 22.84 in the 50 free at 15 and 1 month without specifically preparing this meet is really impressive considering that the fastest 15 year-old ever has been Selin at 22.60.