2023 WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- September 4 – 9, 2023
- Netanya, Israel
- Wingate Institute
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- How To Watch
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Prior Recaps: Day 1 Prelims
Update: Perkins was even faster in finals, 1:57.85, but the Australians (7:52.68) took silver behind the Americans (7:52.48).
The defending World Champions and current World Record holders in the women’s 800 free relay from Australia are an unbridled machine in women’s freestyle events, and another key piece of the future of that machine had a bounceback on Monday to kick off the World Junior Swimming Championships.
18-year-old Jamie Perkins led off the heats of the women’s 800 free relay in 1:58.23. Even without the benefit of a rolling start, that was the fastest split in the field – American Addison Sauickie was next-best on the US anchor in 1:58.38.
Aside from being faster than all-but-one of the entry times in the individual 200 free (Ella Jansen, Canada, 1:58.09), that swim for Perkins is her best outside of last year’s Junior Pan Pac Championships, where she declared her candidacy for Paris with a 1:57.34, taking a silver medal.
Perkins is not entered in the individual 200 free at this meet, however, because of a back injury that forced her into a last minute withdrawal from the World Short Course Championships.
She swam 1:59.44 at the Australian Championships in April and 1:59.67 at the Australian Trials in June. That was not enough to knock off Hannah Casey (1:58.96) or Amelia Weber (1:58.42) for an individual spot – all-the-more impressive given that Weber is a year younger and Casey 15 months younger than Perkins.
But the time is a ‘back on track’ swim for Perkins. With a relatively-young Australian relay, there’s no easy path to a finals swim in Paris, but Perkins is in the conversation for a prelims leg there, with maybe more in Los Angeles in 2028.
Casey split 1:59.99 in prelims and Weber didn’t swim in the heats. The Canadians hold the World Junior Record in this event from the 2017 World Junior Championships in 2017. Their 7:51.47 averages out to 1:57.87s for the group thanks to a lineup that included 1:56s from both Penny Oleksiak and Taylor Ruck.
Perkins is entered in the 400 free individually later in the meet as the 7th seed, but will otherwise be focused on relay duty for Australia.
