Tajus Juska Takes Down Own Lithuanian Record En Route to World Juniors Gold

2025 World Junior Swimming Championships

• August 19-24, 2025
• Otopeni, Romania
• LCM (50 meters)
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  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

BOYS’ 100 BUTTERFLY – FINAL

• World Record: 49.45 – Caeleb Dressel, USA (2021)
• World Junior Record: 50.62 – Kristof Milak, HUN (2017)
• Championship Record: 51.08 – Kristof Milak, HUN (2017)

1. Tajus Juska (LTU), 51.83
2. Lucio Flavio Filho (BRA), 52.01
3. Dean Fearn (GBR), 52.33
4. Maxim Skazobtsov (KAZ), 52.52
5. Rown Cox (USA) / Egor Proshin (NAB), 52.59
6. –
7. Yazuz Omer Aga (TUR), 53.01
8. Han Jooyoung (KOR), 53.26

After scratching out of the 50 free as the #4 seed earlier today, Tajus Juska made his sole swim of the night worth it. The 16-year-old Lithuanian star shaved over half a second off of his own personal best time of 52.46 to dip under the 52 barrier and become the World Junior Champion. In doing so, he also lowered his own national record, which he set at the Lithuanian National Championships back in April.

Juska is quickly building a strong list of accolades in this event, as he swam a 52.54 in July to claim the 100 fly title at the European Junior Championships. Further, despite being just 16, Juska is now tied for 15th all-time among junior swimmers.

Splits Comparison:

His first 50 made the difference tonight, both in claiming gold and setting a new Lithuanian record. He was the only swimmer in the field to be under 24 on his opening split, and his first 50 was .45 seconds faster in today’s record-breaking swim. Juska was marginally faster on the closing 50 compared to his previous time, though it was Filho of Brazil who had the quickest closing split. Filho, who was 27.63 on the way home was the only swimmer under 28.

His progression bodes well for Lithuania’s medley relay this coming Olympic cycle. Mantas Kauspedas, their backstroker, broke the Lithuanian record in the 50 back (SCM) just last year, and has been as fast as 54.46—a time he swam to become the Lithuanian national champion in April. Their breaststroker from Worlds, Andrius Sidlauskas, owns a PB of 59.12, and though that was set in 2017, he has shown remarkable consistency; his season best remains under the 1:00 barrier, as he swam a 59.98 in prelims to qualify for semis in 15th in Singapore. Meanwhile, though it was Tomas Lukminas who anchored their medley relay in 47.92, Tomas Navikonis has split slightly faster, going 47.47 on Lithuania’s 400 free relay.

This was Juska’s first final of the meet, as despite being entered in both the 50 free and 200 free, he scratched both events before prelims—seemingly to focus on the 100 fly. Juska is still entered in the 50 fly and 100 free, which are on Friday (day 4), and Saturday (day 5), respectively.