Apostolos Papastamos Torches World Junior, Greek Records in 400 IM with 4:11.93

7th FINA World Junior Swimming Championships 2019

  • 50-Meter Course
  • Duna Arena, Budapest (Hungary)
  • Pool swimming: Tuesday, August 20 – Sunday, August 25, 2019
  • Heats 9:30am GMT+2 (3:30 am EDT / 12:30 am PDT)/ Semifinals and Finals 5:30pm GMT+2 (11:30am EDT / 8:30am PDT)
  • Meet site
  • Entries book
  • FinaTV Live Stream (subscription required)
  • Live results

MEN’S 400 IM – FINAL

Greece’s Apostolos Papastamos torched the World Junior Record and Championships Record in the final of the men’s 400 IM in Budapest on Saturday night. He also took down the Greek national record of 4:14.41, set in 2012 by Ioannis Drymonakos at the European Championships. The previous World Junior Record of 4:13.39 had been set by USA’s Carson Foster at the 2019 U.S. National Championships. Foster was in the final of the 400 IM on Saturday night at World Juniors but he placed sixth with 4:17.39.

Hugo Gonzalez of Spain had set the Championships Record in this event at 2017 World Juniors in Indianapolis. He went 4:14.65 to win gold to beat Gunnar Bentz’s meet record of 4:14.97 from 2013.

Papastamos had a monster second half of the race. He was in fourth place after the butterfly, going out in 57.49. By the end of the backstroke he had moved into second place behind Foster, who at that point was 2/10 under his WJR pace with 2:00.89. With a split of 1:10.58 on the breaststroke, though, Papastamos moved into first place and was a full body length under the WJR record line. Russia’s Ilia Borodin, who split 1:10.69 on the breast, had moved to second place. Papastamos led Borodin by 6/10, while Foster had fallen back to third place by three seconds. Papastamos brought it home in 59.81

Below is a side-by-side comparison of Papastamos’s World Junior Record with that of Foster from July and Gonzalez’s from 2017:

Apostolos Papastamos, World Juniors 1st 50 2nd 50 100 Running   Carson Foster, US Nationals 1st 50 2nd 50 100 Running   Hugo Gonzalez 2017 1st 50 2nd 50 100 Running
Fly 27.01 30.48 57.49 57.49   Fly 26.50 30.20 56.60 56.60   Fly 26.21 30.95 57.16 57.16
Back 32.20 31.85 1:04.05 2:01.54   Back 32.83 31.60 1:04.43 2:01.03   Back 32.98 31.69 1:04.67 2:01.83
Breast 34.88 35.70 1:10.58 3:12.12   Breast 36.29 36.65 1:12.94 3:13.97   Breast 35.61 36.51 1:12.12 3:13.95
Free 30.00 29.81 59.81 4:11.93   Free 30.18 29.24 59.42 4:13.39   Free 30.80 29.90 1:00.70 4:14.65

Borodin took the silver medal in the World Junior Championships final with 4:12.95, also finishing under the previous World Junior Record. France’s Léon Marchand surged past USA’s Jason Louser over the final 50 meters to snatch the bronze medal with 4:16.37.

 

 

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Sqimgod
4 years ago

The real wjr is haginos 4:08 that’s not ratified

marklewis
4 years ago

There were a lot of good breast splits in the final. He swam a 1:10 which is world-class.

New names are popping up in the mens 400 IM. Add his name to list of contenders for the WC and Olympic medals.

AnEn
Reply to  marklewis
4 years ago

No chance that he will win a medal, but maybe he can make the final.

Marklewis
Reply to  AnEn
4 years ago

4:12.0 was bronze at the WCs this year.

SAMUEL HUNTINGTON
Reply to  Marklewis
4 years ago

what a slow time, hard to believe. Glad some of the youth are stepping up

Oldswimfan
4 years ago

The next great IMer for Greece. I’d love to see him follow Vazaios and join NC State after the Olympics.

huh?
4 years ago

Would have been 3rd at World Champs. Watch out!

Dee
4 years ago

That’s the swim I expected from Papastamos at Euro Juniors after his 200. Such a complete IMer, super effort.

Snarky
Reply to  Dee
4 years ago

Very smartly swum race.

Swimmer
4 years ago

That’s an amazing time but 4.12 at 16 is insane. He has 2 more years to break the WJR

Awsi Dooger
4 years ago

Not particularly surprising. As I’ve posted many times recently, there is so much room in these individual medleys. Apparently none of the swimmers want to do the work. They allowed Phelps and Lochte to push the standard to new level, and then felt we’re not in their league anyway so we’ll pretend it never happened and continue to be content with 10 seconds slower. That an out of shape Lochte could belly flop into the pool and win a national championship by more than 1 second was a blatant indictment of what the medleys have become in recent years. Any swimmer who is on the fence toward what event to emphasize should choose the medleys. It may seem like more… Read more »

DMacNCheez
Reply to  Awsi Dooger
4 years ago

This is the type of passionate hot take I come to SwimSwam for

Snarky
Reply to  Awsi Dooger
4 years ago

I think foster swam too many races. His tank is too empty for the 4 IM at this level this late in the season. He had a 4:10 in him but not after ten races.

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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