2023 WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- September 4 – 9, 2023
- Netanya, Israel
- Wingate Institute
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- How To Watch
- Psych Sheets
- Live Results
- Day 1 Prelims Live Recap | Day 1 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
- Day 2 Finals Heat Sheet (Start List)
17-year-old Maximus Williamson picked up his second World Junior Championships gold medal on Tuesday, dominating the 200 IM final and winning in a time of 1:57.29. That time is significant for several reasons. First, it crushed Japanese swimmer Tomoyuki Matsushita‘s old championship record time of 1:58.42 which was set earlier in prelims. Second, it makes Williamson the fastest 17-year-old in the history of the event, surpassing Kosuke Hagino‘s previous “17-year-old record” time of 1:57.35 from the 20212 Olympics. Third, it moves Williamson up to #2 all-time in the U.S. 17-18 age group, only behind Michael Phelps.
Had Williamson clocked this 1:57.29 at U.S. Nationals earlier this summer, he would have surpassed Shaine Casas’ second-place time of 1:57.47 and qualified for the 2023 World Championships.
Daniel Diehl, who was rewarded silver after Matsushita’s disqualification, is now #4 in the U.S. 17-18 age group behind Phelps, Williamson and Carson Foster. He swam a time of 1:58.62, dropping over a second off his pre-meet personal best of 1:59.89.
All-Time U.S. Boys 17-18 Age Group Rankings, 200-Meter IM:
- Michael Phelps — 1:55.94 (2003)
- Maximus Williamson — 1:57.29 (2023)
- Carson Foster — 1:57.59 (2019)
- Daniel Diehl — 1:58.62 (2023)
- Michael Andrew — 1:59.12 (2017)
All-Time Fastest 17-Year-Olds In The Men’s 200 IM:
- Maximus Williamson, United States — 1:57.29 (2023)
- Kosuke Hagino, Japan — 1:57.35 (2012)
- Qin Haiyang, China — 1:57.54 (2017)
- Hubert Kos, Hungary — 1:57.58 (2021)
- Matt Sates, South Africa — 1:57.60 (2021)
Notably, Williamson became the fastest 17-year-old ever a day after his 17th birthday. Meanwhile, Hagino was 17 years and 353 days old when he went 1:57.35.
Williamson improved over a second from his previous best time of 1:58.65, which was set when he finished 6th in the final at U.S. Nationals this June. He made the majority of his improvement from Nationals on breaststroke, dropping 1.38 seconds from his third 50 alone.
Splits Comparison:
| Maximus Williamson, 2023 World Junior Championships | Maximus Williamson, 2023 U.S. Nationals | |
| Fly | 25.29 | 25.20 |
| Back | 29.72 | 29.65 |
| Breast | 35.02 | 36.40 |
| Free | 27.26 | 27.40 |
| Total | 1:57.29 | 1:58.64 |
Following the 200 IM, Williamson anchored Team USA’s mixed medley relay with a 47.74 and helped them to gold.
A new multi-event threat for Paris emerges??
Great swimmer. Great name. Love it.
27.26 coming home is absurd
Welcome to Texas kid
Should go to ASU
That 27.2 free split is so nasty, beyond elite.
On par with Phelps/Lochte 2011. Much faster than Marchand.
He’s faster than Marchard because Marchard give more effort on the first 150. Marchard is faster in the 200 free individually. Marchard’s last 50 in his 200 IM at NCAAs was ‘slow’ for him, but his backstroker split was 22.9. Depends on where you push the race.
And let a Michael Andrew fan mention the same counterpoint and he’ll be clowned for it lmao
There’s other issues with MA. His free mechanics are awful and watching him go full T-Rex arms the last 50 of his IM when he’s under WR place leasing up to that leaves a worse taste in your mouth than Marchand not closing in a Lochte-esque split
Not reading all that. Happy for you though, or sorry that happened.
You can find tons of swimmers whose freestyle split is faster than Marchand.
Qin haiyang with that 200 im lol
He is not real☠️
Amazing swims for him to go 1:57.2 then 25 minutes later go 47.7 again and was faster tonight than yesterday makes me think if he’s on the guys medley relay he’s going to do something bonkers. Is he doing the individual 100 here?
if you mean individual 100 free, then yes