2025 World Junior Swimming Championships
- August 19-24, 2025
- Otopeni, Romania
- LCM (50 meters)
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The fourth night of finals at the 2025 World Junior Championships was one for the books, with stars Mizuki Hirai, Jacob Mills, and Jan Malte Grafe making the major headlines. However, SwimSwam wants to highlight a few performances that may have gone under the radar and weren’t discussed in significant detail in its own article or during the live recap:
- In the fastest “slower” heat of the girls’ 1500 freestyle, Romania’s Diana Gabriela Stiger (16:39.88) earned a commanding win over Amelie Smith (16:47.10) and Abigail McLeod (16:47.22). Stiger controlled the final quarter of the race to secure the top time from the morning session, improving her entry time by nine seconds. Smith and McLeod also achieved personal bests, each dropping approximately four seconds from their entry times. As a timed final event, the fastest eight qualifiers competed in the premier heat during the evening finals session, and Stiger’s time held up for 9th overall. The 17-year-old’s swim built upon two other personal bests from earlier in the meet: 13th in the 400 free (4:15.73) and 13th in the 800 free (8:44.75).
- Cape Verde’s Wilina Jules-Marthe continued her record-setting form in the 50 free heats. Jules-Marthe improved her own national record by four-tenths of a second, winning heat nine in 26.12 to touch 21st overall. The 18-year-old has established multiple national marks throughout the competition, having previously set records in the 50 back (29.73) and 100 back (1:08.39). She placed 31st and 59th in those events earlier in the meet. Combined with her 50 butterfly record of 30.86 set in April, Jules-Marthe now holds four national standards.
- Yang Peiqi‘s gold medal performance in the girls’ 1500 free garnered attention at the start of the finals session, but her sprinting ability later in the evening went a bit under the radar. Serving as the anchor leg for China’s 4×100 free relay, Yang secured a bronze medal with a split time of 54.52, well under her flat-start best of 55.86. After winning both the 400 and 800 free—echoing the multi-event success of her countrywoman Li Bingjie, a multi-time World Championships medalist—Yang’s performance following the demanding 1500 revealed her impressive range. The 18-year-old’s final individual event, the 200 free tomorrow, will feature an anticipated matchup with American Rylee Erisman, though Yang enters with a considerable advantage given her best time is seven-tenths faster. Erisman is slated to swim in the 50 free final just 30 minutes before, giving Yang even more of an advantage on paper.
- Poland’s Jan Gajda qualified 6th for the boys’ 50 breast final, touching in a lifetime best of 27.61. The 18-year-old entered the meet with a personal best of 27.88, then lowered it to 27.82 during prelims. This followed his sizable drop in the 100 breast earlier this week, where he lowered his pre-meet best from 1:01.58 to 1:01.07 in prelims before finishing 11th overall with a sub-1:01 swim of 1:00.92.
