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 3 Prelims Live Recap | Day 3 Finals Live Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Live Recap | Day 4 Finals Live Recap
The 2023 World Junior Championships rolled on from Netanya, Israel, with the United States still atop the overall medal table standings.
The nation of Australia remains in second place with two days remaining but Canada catapulted from slot #11 to slot #3 to put the rest of the competitors on notice.
Alexanne Lepage gave Canada its first gold medal of these championships, reaping the top prize in the girls’ 100m breaststroke. She notched a winning result of 1:06.58 to beat out favorite Eneli Jefimova of Estonia who touched in 1:06.84 for silver while Spain’s Jimena Ruiz rounded out the podium in 1:07.25.
Lepage entered the championships with a personal best of 1:09.66 so the budding star ripped that to shreds en route to clocking the swiftest time ever across all editions of the World Junior Championships.
Post-race the Canadian stated, “It’s incredible. I’m a little shocked, to be honest.”
Hong Kong also got on the board tonight, courtesy of Adam Mak Sai-Ting who took the boys’ 200m breaststroke final in a mark of 2:11.84. He represents just the second-ever World Junior Champion from his nation.
But the ever-present United States indeed made its presence known, with Leah Shackley getting it done for gold in the girls 50m fly.
Shackley denied Luna Pudar of Bosnia & Herzegovina the gold, hitting 26.20 to Pudar’s 26.26. Then there was a tie for bronze, with Australia’s Olivia Wunsch matching the time of 26.53 Japan’s Mizuki Hirai turned in to share bronze.
Stars n’ Stripes teammate Leah Hayes collected additional hardware by taking the girls’ 200m IM, clocking a time of 2:10.24 to establish a new Championships Record.
Then, the United States boys’ 4x200m free relay capped off the evening with gold, crushing the field this evening by over 4 seconds.
Maximus Williamson is giving me young Caleb Dressel vibes .. he’s the real deal in every race he’s been in and that name will strike fear in his competitors haha
Apart from TEAM USA’s superb medal haul, so far, what I really love is seeing ‘relatively’ new faces emerge upon the international scene: Leah Shackley Maximus Williamson, Watson Nguyen, Erika Pelaez, Teagan O’Dell, etc. Where will they be for LA 2028? Hopefully, right in the mix!
Never mind 2028. Some of these swimmers may be right in there in 2024!
✔ 😊