Race Video: Watch Andrew Seliskar Break the Junior World Record in 200 Butterfly – 1:55.92

Swimming Video courtesy of USA Swimming

Reported by SwimSwam / Braden Keith

American Andrew Seliskar has broken his own Junior World Record in the men’s 200 meter fly on the first day of the 2014 Jr. Pan Pac Championships in Maui, Hawaii.

Seliskar, who doesn’t turn 18th for another month, posted a 1:55.92 in finals for a gold medal, which broke his old Jr. Pan Pacs Record of 1:56.65 done in prelims, and was also faster than the 1:56.42 that he swam at the 2013 Junior World Championships.

That 1:56.42 was technically not the old record, rather it was the “benchmark standard,” but most within swimming have resorted to referring to those benchmark standards as the records, so we’ll follow suit. It was bettered by, though the time hasn’t officially been recognized yet, Tamas Kenderesi last week at the Youth Olympic Games, where he swam a 1:55.95.

Comparative splits:

Seliskar Old Record: 26.50 / 30.17 / 29.04 / 30.71 = 1:56.42
Kenderesi Old Record: 26.18 / 29.54 / 30.07 / 30.16 = 1:55.95
Seliskar New Record: 26.62 / 29.35 / 29.26 / 30.69 = 1:55.92

It’s interesting that Seliskar’s best swims seem to come when he runs out of steam a little on the end – he’s the kind of swimmer who does best ensuring that they use all of their energy, rather than saving up for the final 50. That showed even on Wednesday, where in prelims he was seven-tenths slower, but had a much faster split in his last 50 meters.

Had Seliskar done this time at Nationals, he would have made the Sr. Pan Pacs team instead. At that meet he was 4th in the same 1:56.65 that he did in prelims here in Hawaii, which meant he missed the team by .16 seconds.

The all-time Junior World Best, as far as we can tell with the help of our readers, from the eligible age groups, is a 1:53.93 done by Michael Phelps.