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 two of the 2023 World Junior Championships concluded today from Israel with the United States maintaining its lead in the overall medal table.
The stars n’ stripes have already amassed 11 pieces of hardware, including 4 more golds earned this evening.
Joshua Chen topped the podium in the boys’ 100m breaststroke, producing a time of 1:00.70 for a new lifetime best.
The following boys’ event also saw America reap gold, as Maximus Williamson got to the wall first in the 200m IM. Williamson notched a winning result of 1:57.29 to establish a new Championships Record.
Kayla Han kept things going by snagging the girls’ 800m freestyle top spot. Just 15 years of age, Han clocked a mark of 8:29.66 to beat tonight’s field by 4 seconds.
Finally, Team USA’s mixed 4x100m medley relay got the job done securing gold in a collective result of 3:45.82. That’s on the heels of the American boys having notched a new 4x100m free relay World Junior Record on night one.
Australia had a strong showing in its own right, securing 2 golds to now up its ranking in the medal table. Senior World Championships medalist Flynn Southam was the boys’ 200m freestyle victor while Jaclyn Barclay was too quick to catch in the girls’ 100m backstroke.
After Tokyo, LC and SC world Champs and now Juniors, I get the feeling that the USA and AUS, with their incredible depth are pulling further away from the rest of the world (mainly due to an improved AUS performance in the last 3 years).
The US and AUS medaling in ALL relays in Budapest really cemented this.
A clear second tier emerging too. Canada, China, Italy, France… a couple more might fit in there too but the gap is growing from the second tier to everyone else too
Yeah it’s an interesting one.
Looking at this year in isolation, Australia seems to be top dog. However, USA has unmatched depth that means in any given year they will essentially always be the favourite to top a meet.
USA and AUS have been top two at every senior meet they participated in since 2017 (Australia bombed 2017 worlds with only one gold). So the trend does seem to be there. However, Australia and USA have only just edged out some other countries for second place a couple of times.
I will be interested to see what the competition looks like in a decade. Would not surprise me to see China and Italy as massive threats.
Without prognostications about the future for TEAM USA looking bright for LA 2028, I’ve got to say that after two days, the breakout swimmers for me are Leah Hayes on the women’s side, and Maximus Williamson on the men’s side. I think both of them have surprised their teammates and themselves with outstanding efforts. The 400 IM for Hayes was lovely to watch, and the 47+ relay split for Williamson was superb.
It’s hard to agree that Hayes, who already has a senior worlds medal, is a breakout swimmer. A star, sure. But not a breakout swimmer.