Meilutyte Takes Two; Percy Wins Sprint Showdown on Day 4 from World Juniors

Day 4 of the 2013 FINA Junior World Championships will include almost exclusively medal finals, with 8 sets of medals handed out in 10 evening events.

  • Girls 50 backstroke Semifinal
  • Boys 200 breaststroke FINAL
  • Girls 50 fly FINAL
  • Boys 50 back FINAL
  • Girls 100 breast FINAL
  • Boys 50 fly Semifinal
  • Girls 400 free FINAL
  • Boys 50 free FINAL
  • Girls 200 IM FINAL
  • Boys 800 free relay FINAL

Click here to see all the links you need to follow the final’s session.

Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte comes into the session as the favorite in both the 100 breaststroke final and later the 200 IM, but she has dropped the 50 fly to avoid a quadruple. She will still swim a triple, though, with the 50 back semi-final.

Girls’ 50 backstroke – semifinals

Daria Ustinova, after being upset in the 200 backstroke final, will take the top seed into the women’s 50 backstroke final after a 28.57, but American Kathleen Baker and her 28.61, winner of the 200 backstroke, will be lurking. Thus far in the meet, perhaps contrary to expectations, Ustinova has been the better at the sprints, whereas Baker has excelled at the distance race.

Ustinova just turned 15 today, Thursday, but she’s not even the youngest swimmer in this final. That honor goes to 14-year old Gabrielle Fa’Amausili, who took the 3rd seed in 28.68. She has slowly been shredding the New Zealand age group scene, but until this week was largely unknown to the greater swimming community.

Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, continuing her wild 6-day run at this meet, swam the first of three events in this semi with a 28.78. It could have been worse, though, as she scratched out of a 4th.

Britain’s Jessica Fullalove (28.84), American Clara Smiddy (28.88), Germany’s Laura Riedemann (29.26 – another 15-year old), and Ukraine’s Iryna Glavnyk (29.35) round out the top 8. Smiddy is the first American swimmer to qualify, without scratches, to a 50-meter non-Olympic final at this meet.

Boys 200 Breaststroke – FINAL

The Russian boys have now won four medals in two breaststroke races so far, including both golds, after Aleksandr Palatov won the 200 distance in 2:10.75, cracking a full second off of the 2011 World Record set by Akihiro Yamaguchi in 2:11.70 (remember that Yamaguchi, a year later, would break the World Record).

He was joined on the podium by fellow Russian Mikhail Dorinov, who won bronze in 2:12.11, which is his lifetime best (just hopping his swim from the European Junior Championships).

In between them at the touch was a third European, David Horvath, in 2:11.95. He was 4th at the European Junior Championships, but with no Yannick Lindenberg in the race in Dubai, Horvath made a two-second improvement to take silver.

Japan’s Ippei Watanabe took 4th in 2:12.58, but born in 1997, he is the only swimmer in this final who will be eligible for the 2015 version of this meet in Budapest.

American Gunnar Bentz was 5th in 2:13.37. That’s much better than he looked in the first two rounds of this meet, but is still half-a-second shy of his best time.

The other American, Penn State-bound Andy Schuehler, was 8th in 2:16.04.

Girls 50 Fly – FINAL

Russia’s Svetlana Chimrova  methodically marched down the Championship Record in all three rounds of the girls’ 50 fly, and finished it off in finals with a 26.32 that clears her 26.40 from the semi-finals.

This final, unlike most 50’s, was without any real lightning-quick starters, though among the best was Australian 14-year old Stephanie Whan, who took silver in 26.71. She was followed by Lucie Svecena in 26.97 for bronze, and the second Australian Jemma Schlicht in 27.04.

Whan is the only of the finalists young enough to hope for a return visit in 2015 to this meet, where she will be the default favorite if she competes.

Canadian Frederique Cigna was 5th in 27.19, and American Katie McLaughlin, who was scratched into the final, wound up 6th in 27.21 (a .01 second improvement from the semis).

Boys 50 Back – FINAL

Matching the record of his countrymate in the race before, University of Louisville-bound Russian Grigory Tarasevich won the boys’ 50 backstroke in 25.44. That completed a Junior sweep for him, as he won the Russian Junior title (26.1), the European Junior title (25.4), and now the World Junior title in 2013.

Germany’s Carl Louis Schwarz took silver in 25.76, and Greece’s Michail Kontizas was 3rd in 25.90.

Brazilian Goustavo Louzada added only a tiny bit from the semi-finals, but that amount was enough to knock him out of podium position despite swimming in the middle lane. He was 4th in 25.93, followed by Italy’s Simone Sabbioni, Australia’s Ryan Hore, Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys, and Trinidad & Tobago’s Dylan Carter. Those last four were all 26.1’s.

Girls 100 Breaststroke – FINAL

It’s all about perspective with Ruta Meilutyte. In comparison to what we saw from her in World Record over two seconds faster, her 1:06.61 to win the girls’ 100 breaststroke wasn’t that impressive. There was at least one swimmer in the final (bronze medalist Viktoriya Solnveca of the Ukraine who is younger and has been faster in her career).

But, when take that perspective, consider that this is Meilutyte’s 5th swim in the last two finals sessions; it came only 20 minutes after the 50 back semi-final; she had to ‘conserve’ energy for the 200 IM final later in the session; and it crushed the old Championship Record by over a second.

In fact, all three medalists were faster than the 1:07.71 that Italian Lisa Fissneider swam in 2011. The silver went to Britain’s Sophie Taylor in 1:07.36, with Solnceva grabbing bronze in 1:07.53.

Anna Belousova from Russia was 4th in 1:08.82, and Germany’s Marlene Huther placed 5th in 1:08.95. American Olivia Anderson was 6th in 1:09.01.

Boys 50 Fly – Semifinal

The Americans finally got into a groove in the stroke 50’s, thanks to Justin Lynch taking the top seed in the boys’ 50 fly semifinal in 24.04 and Matthew Josa tying for the 2nd seed in 24.11.

Josa was tied with Ryan Coetzee, another very good young butterflier in South Africa: a country with a lot of them.

Lithuania’s Deividas Margevicius, another part of the very good Lithuanian mixed medley, was 4th in 24.15, followed by T&T’s Carter (24.16), Australia’s Cameron Jones (24.18), and Germany’s Jonas Bergmann (24.22). After Bergmann, there started to be a tiny bit of separation, with Japan’s Takaya Yasue coming in 8th in 24.34.

American-trained Joshua Romany, also representing T&T, came in 13th in 24.78.

Girls’ 400 Free – FINAL

The Australians continue to dominate in the distance races at this meet, and got a 1-2 finish in this girls’ 400 free thanks to a 4:07.77 from Remy Fairweather and a 4:10.32 from Alanna Bowles. That’s Fairweather’s best time by almost a second, and breaks an Australian Age Record for 16-year olds that had been a 4:08.31 from Ellen Fullerton in 2009.

American Quinn Carrozza took the bronze in 4:11.14, just holding off a huge charge from teammate Becca Mann in 4:11.27.

Italy’s Carli Diletta wound up 5th in 4:12.80, before a significant drop-off in times to 6th, 7th, and 8th.

Boyss’ 50 Free – FINAL

Luke Percy from Australia was the most consistently-fast among the big players in this men’s 50 free final, and swimming out of the center lane he took the win in 22.14 (.03 shy of his time from the semis).

He, Russia’s Evgeny Sedov, and American Caeleb Dressel were all nose-and-nose from block to touch, and Sedov would come up 2nd in 22.19 and Dressel 3rd in 22.22. (Read about Dressel’s record-breaking swim here.)

Brazil’s Guilherme O’Campo had a big breakout in the final, dropping more than three-tenths of a second to touch 4th in 22.48: a new Brazilian Record for 17-year olds.

American Paul Powers was 5th in 22.53, followed by Poland’s Jan Holub in 22.69, Ukraine’s Bogdan Plavin in 22.74, and Suriname’s Renzo Tjon-a-Joe in 23.00. Tjon-a-Joe’s 22.75 from the semi-finals made him the first swimmer in the history of his country under 23 seconds.

Girls’ 200 IM – FINAL

For the second time in two days, Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte finished a triple with a really impressive swim. This time, it came with a gold medal in the girls’ 200 IM, where she was a 2:12.32. That’s a new Meet Record, that breaks the 2:12.97 set by American Dagny Knutson back in 2008.

Meilutyte went out very hard in this race, taking her final turn in 1:39.72, three seconds ahead of the field. Though an anvil crashed on her a bit in the last 50 meters, she still took a major victory ahead of American runner-up Ella Eastin (2:13.76).

We may see this race creep more-and-more into Meilutyte’s schedule as she gets older and, presumably, stronger, but she’s still got a ways to go to be competitive with the true top-of-the-world swimmers, even if we only consider the first 150 meters where she looked so dominant here. We remember, though, that she’s still only 16.

Canadian Sydney Pickrem was 3rd in 2:14.36, and the other American Kathleen Baker was 4th in 2:14.83. Japan’s pair of Emu Higuchi (2:15.72) and 14-year old Hiroko Makino (2:16.06) were 5th and 6th, respectively.

Boys’ 800 Free Relay

The final of this boys’ 800 free really, through 600 meters, was already easily in the class of “outstanding junior relays” from the top three teams of Australia, Great Britain, and the United States.

When the last legs hit the water, though, two of those relays went World Class, while the third left some scratching their heads.

Great Britain got a huge 1:46.39 anchor from James Guy, which blows away any swim he’s had in that race through European Juniors and Junior Worlds. Fortunately for him, his teammate Caleb Hughes (1:48.98) gave him a lead over the Australians on the 3rd leg, though, because even that spectacular swim was half-a-second shy of what Australia’s Mack Horton, the star of this meet, did. He split 1:45.84 on their anchor, but ran out of room.

Note: Horton’s split, even in the 200 not typically thought of as one of his primary individual events, Horton’s split was much, much faster than any of the swimmers split on the Australian preliminary 800 free relay at Worlds that didn’t even final.

The Brits took the victory (Matthew Johnson, Max Litchfield, Hughes, and Guy) in a new Championship Record of 7:15.36, with Australia 2nd in 7:15.82.

The Americans, meanwhile, took a significant lead into the final exchange, but Alex Katz (1:50.05) couldn’t hold onto that against those stellar anchors mentioned above. The Americans wound up 3rd in 7:17.67.

Note that the Americans lef Andrew Seliskar off of the finals relay, despite him having the fastest prelims split among the Americans in 1:48.99; Though no one swimmer can take the fault for a relay’s performance, Katz was also on that prelims relay and was called up instead. There seems to be more going on there than meets the eye.

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Cek Madek
10 years ago

Keith :Girls 400m Free Winner Remy Fairweather is only 16 years , This swim has broken the Australian National 16yrs age record. Did not compete for a year after qualifying under “A” time and breaking Aus Age records x 2 in the process for two Olympic events in 3rd place as a 14 yr old ( nearly 15yrs ) at Aus Olympic Trials 2012…overlooked due to the 1 and 2 only selection criteria . Qualified again under Fina ‘A” qual times for Worlds this year but again over looked due to 3rd/ 4th placing This World Jnr swim would of placed her in the OPEN final at Barcelona ahead of Kylie Palmer.
Horton not… Read more »

liquidassets
10 years ago

Here’s an interesting article with interview last year of New Zealand’s now 14 yr old Gabrielle Fa’amausili, who tore up prelims in the 50 back with 28.1 and now seeded 2nd going into finals with 28.6. Missy Franklin was only going 28.5 a year later at 15.

http://jinxpolynesiansportspage.blogspot.com/2012/03/remember-this-name-gabrielle-faamausili.html

Her cousin, Orinoco Fa’amausili-Banse-Prince, won the 50 free at world Juniors in ’08 in 22.3, (age 18) and he went on later that summer to swim the 4×100 for New Zealand in Beijing, going 48.9, though I don’t see him in the ’12 results for London.

Since New Zealand is a part of Polynesia, it’s great to see some native Polynesians, in this case… Read more »

Rafael
10 years ago

Braden,

Ocampo went 22.66 on the swim off, he went from 22.81 (His PB) then improved on the Swim off and final.. Last year he was only 23.97 by the end of the year.. 1.5 second drop in 9 months..
Being the fastest early does not mean being the fastest old.. By 2010 Pedro vieira (Silver 100fly) was not even on the top 50 at Brazil on 100 fly on his age group, 2011 he was already the leader.. the number 1 on 2010 stopped evolving and quit swimming

WHOKNOWS
Reply to  Rafael
10 years ago

That happens a lot around the world.

Reply to  Rafael
10 years ago

Ocampo improve nearly half second in two months.Not bad for a guy is not packed up like most of sprinters.Two seasons in the weight room will do wonders for his sprint training.

aswimfan
10 years ago

The announcer:

“God Save the Queen” is clearly clearly the nest national anthem”

This guy keeps delivering

aswimfan
Reply to  aswimfan
10 years ago

typo: the best national anthem

aswimfan
10 years ago

If only Australia had Mack Horton to swim the 4×200 prelims in Barcelona instead of McKeon (who failed big time in both London and Barcelona), they’d have advanced to final.

Scuba Steve
Reply to  aswimfan
10 years ago

Not the coaches fault though Aswimfan. I can see from your various posts that you think it was a mistake to leave Horton out, but he would have only qualified for the 1500m in any case. Additionally it opens up the gates for all other athletes who missed out (but made the Fina times) to protest.

WHOKNOWS
10 years ago

The good thing about this Junior meet: it shows where USA’s weaknesses are on the world scene. This should give the boys the motivation to step up their training or be left behind! On the other side, they are much stronger than they were a year ago!

bobo gigi
Reply to  WHOKNOWS
10 years ago

Don’t worry too much. Ryan Murphy isn’t in Dubai and many of the present US swimmers are very tired in their 3rd or 4th tapered meet of the summer.
HOPEFULLY, THEY WILL CHANGE THEIR QUALIFICATION SYSTEM NEXT TIME!
And about the weaknesses for USA, I can mention as usual the men’s breaststroke, the men’s mid-distance and distance freestyle and the women’s sprint. It’s a little like the seniors.

WHOKNOWS
Reply to  bobo gigi
10 years ago

Agreed… I think the boys did an admirable job… I wasn’t expecting many of the drops that we have seen. The girls done a good job of maintaining.

SWIMSWIMSWIM
Reply to  bobo gigi
10 years ago

I am not sure what a better qualification system would have been for the team given the dates of the meet. I suppose you could have only used WCT, but with young kids every month matters and you would have left some kids that are improving possibly a few would not have had WCT cuts in June (that would be interesting too look at). Plus, I know a few California swimmers stayed away from WCT due to timing of high school season (I think Eastin mentioned this in an interview). I suppose you could have just used juniors and us open only, but then what about a swimmer that tried to make WC and just failed…now they are on their… Read more »

HKSWIMMER
10 years ago

Unreal swim by Mack… and Guy was fantastic too.

Considering that adrenaline usually plays less of a part in 4×200 relays (only usually) these swims are pretty amazing. Looking forward to both of them in senior waters come Kazan!

aswimfan
Reply to  HKSWIMMER
10 years ago

True, unlike in 4×100 free where many swimmers would usually swim faster than individuals, most swimmers actually swim as fast or slower in 4×200 (Thorpe and Phelps never swam faster in the 4×200 relays than their individuals, even with fly start).

bobo gigi
10 years ago

I have now Australia with 8 gold medals, Russia with 6 gold medals and USA with 5 gold medals.
Lithuania with 3 gold medals.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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