Capping off an incredible meet that has included victories in the 50 breastroke, 100 breastroke and 200 IM, Viktoriya Zeynep Gunes of Turkey blew the field away in the 200 breastroke, winning in a new world junior and championship record of 2:19.64.
The time is well below the previous junior world record she established earlier this year of 2:22.69, and the championship record she established two years ago in Dubai of 2:23.12 (done when she was Viktoriya Solnceva and representing Ukraine).
At the World Championships earlier this month in Kazan, Gunes was well off the form she has shown here, as she finished just 11th in 2:24.01 and missed qualifying for the final. That clocking of 2:19.64 would have not only made the final, it would have won the world title by a whopping 1.51 seconds, as Japan’s Kanako Watanabe won the title in 2:21.15.
Gunes’ swim was just off the current world record, held by Denmark’s Rikke Moller Pedersen in 2:19.11, but it is the fastest time in the world this year.
A pair of Russians rounded out the podium, with Mariia Astashkina winning silver in 2:24.57 and Sofia Andreeva winning bronze in 2:24.88.
Does anybody know where to get race video of this?
Is this the first time the jr worlds winning time has been faster than the senior worlds time?