After four days out of six at the 2013 FINA World Junior Championships, the American men continue to slide down the medal table while the Australians and Russians look very, very good.
That’s the opposite story from the American women, who have been rocketing up and dominating the competition with 10 total medals, and four golds.
The reasons for difference in performance between the two groups is not immediately obvious. Yes, the American men are without some of their key junior performers (Santo Condorelli, Ryan Murphy), but the American women are as well (Katie Ledecky, Simone Manuel). The American women’s ranks are clearly deeper than the men’s at the present time, though of course this could be just a developmental difference between boys and girls as anything (boys medals go to “early developers” at these sorts of meets, whereas the girls are all more at an even plane of development).
Either way, kudos go to the Australians for remaining on top of the medals table. With so much struggle at senior level meets as of late, the juniors continue to carry a big load of the country’s swimming hopes. Many in Swimming Australia have expressed the desire to be on top of the Olympic swimming medal table before too long, and with the success of their junior team, that may not be as much of a pipe-dream as it might initially sound like.
The medals table is below, followed by the points standings through 4 days.
| MEN | Gold | Silver | Bronze | TOTAL |
| Australia | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Russia | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| Great Britain | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| USA | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Japan | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Greece | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Brazil | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Hungary | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Germany | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Poland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| WOMEN | Gold | Silver | Bronze | TOTAL |
| USA | 4 | 5 | 1 | 10 |
| Lithuania | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Australia | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Russia | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Hong Kong | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Great Britain | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Hungary | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Ukraine | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Canada | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Japan | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| MIXED | Gold | Silver | Bronze | TOTAL |
| Russia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Australia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| USA | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Lithuania | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| TOTAL | Gold | Silver | Bronze | TOTAL |
| Australia | 8 | 4 | 1 | 13 |
| Russia | 6 | 3 | 6 | 15 |
| USA | 5 | 7 | 6 | 18 |
| Lithuania | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Great Britain | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Japan | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Greece | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Hong Kong | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Hungary | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Czech Republic | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Ukraine | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Brazil | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Italy | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Canada | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Poland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Team Rankings – Through Event 28
Women – Team Scores
Place Team                                           Points
===================================================================
1 United States of America          USA            321
2 Australia                         AUS            230
3 Canada                            CAN            165.5
4 Russia                            RUS            158
5 Japan                             JPN            135.5
6 Great Britain                     GBR            109.5
7 Italy                             ITA             91
8 Lithuania                         LTU             79
9 Hungary                           HUN             77
10 Ukraine                           UKR             72
11 Slovenia                          SLO             57
12 Brazil                            BRA             53.5
13 Mexico                            MEX             51
13 Germany                           GER             51
15 South Africa                      RSA             38
16 Hong Kong                         HKG             26
17 Sweden                            SWE             19
18 Czech Republic                    CZE             17
18 France                            FRA             17
20 Austria                           AUT             10
21 Turkey                            TUR              9
22 Poland                            POL              8
23 Slovakia                          SVK              6
24 New Zealand                       NZL              4
24 China                             CHN              4
26 Portugal                          POR              3
27 Bahamas                           BAH              1
Men – Team Scores
Place Team                                           Points
===================================================================
1 United States of America          USA            243
2 Russia                            RUS            227.5
3 Australia                         AUS            206
4 Brazil                            BRA            164.5
5 Japan                             JPN            142
6 Canada                            CAN            128
7 Poland                            POL            111
8 Great Britain                     GBR            106
9 Italy                             ITA             95
10 Greece                            GRE             51.5
11 Germany                           GER             49.5
12 South Africa                      RSA             47
13 Lithuania                         LTU             45
14 Trinidad & Tobago                 TRI             34
15 Hungary                           HUN             32
16 Czech Republic                    CZE             31
17 France                            FRA             29
18 Kazakhstan                        KAZ             26
19 Venezuela                         VEN             25
20 Egypt                             EGY             21
21 Mexico                            MEX             15
22 Ukraine                           UKR             11
23 Austria                           AUT             10
23 Suriname                          SUR             10
25 New Zealand                       NZL              6
26 Portugal                          POR              5
27 Jamaica                           JAM              4
28 Romania                           ROU              3
28 Croatia                           CRO              3
28 Sweden                            SWE              3
31 Uzbekistan                        UZB              1
Ridiculous selection process leads to these results. Thank goodness our World Championship roster was only selected at one meet so that those athletes could return their focus to Barcelona with plenty of time to prepare to dominate.
With Ledecky, Manuel and Murphy, USA would be well ahead. 🙂
Probably, but put in account almost every country left a star at home.Australia leave Graham out, Brazil, their best sprinter,
Even so, the level of Junior Champs is amazing.CR in almost every event.
Just like in the senior team, obviously USA would win these junior worlds easily if they had sent all their top juniors, but other countries such as Australia also did not send all their top juniors (Jordan Harrison, Alexander Graham, Amy Matsuo, etc).
The more important question is:
Where is the french??
You are european, so you should also know that some russians are not in very good shape. Ustinova, Baklakova and Tarasevich, to name just 3. The europeans consider the European Junior Championship more important than World Championship.