Top 5 Men’s Swims From 2019 World Junior Championships

7TH FINA WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019

• 50-Meter Course
• Duna Arena, Budapest (Hungary)
• Pool swimming: Tuesday, August 20 – Sunday, August 25, 2019
• Live results

Several Championships Records and World Junior Records bit the dust before all was said and done in Budapest. Now that the 2019 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships have concluded, let’s take a look at the top 5 performances for both men and women.

Here is the post for the women’s swims.

Top 5 Male Races at 2019 FINA World Junior Championships

#1 – Franko Grgic‘s 14:46.09 1500 Freestyle

16-year-old Franko Grgic of Croatia broke the Championships Record, as well as the World Junior Record when he threw down a massive time of 14:46.09 to take the men’s 1500m free victory in Budapest. He also lowered his own Croatian National Record of 14:56.55, getting under the 14:50 barrier for the first time ever in the grueling event.

Grgic’s time would have rendered him the 6th place finisher in the 1500m final at this year’s senior World Championships. He also won the 800m free in a time of 7:45.92.

#2 – Apostolos Papastamos’ 4:11.93 400m IM

Greece’s Apostolos Papastamos busted out a World Junior Record and Championships Record in the men’s 400 IM, logging a time of 4:11.93. His outing also took down the Greek National Record.

Papastamos was this year’s European Junior Champion in both the 200m IM and 400m IM, producing personal best efforts of 1:59.93 and 4:15.18, respectively. The latter represented an almost 2-drop from the same meet last year, where he produced a time of 4:17.44 for silver.

Papastamos hacked over 3 seconds off of his lifetime best en route to a new WJR, and his time also would have snagged bronze in this 400m IM at the senior World Championships in Gwangju this year.

#3 – Josh Matheny‘s 2:09.40 200m Breaststroke

After having taken 100m breast silver already at this meet, 16-year-old Josh Matheny of the United States powered his way to the top of the podium in the men’s 200m breast in a monster new personal best of 2:09.40.

Prior to his final performance in Budapest, Matheny had never before been under the 2:10, let alone 2:11, as he held the American men’s National Age Group Record for 15-16-year-olds previously in 2:11.02. But his gold medal-worthy 2:09.40 ripped that to shreds while overtaking the old meet record of 2:10.19 set by Russia’s Anton Chupkov back in 2015.

Matheny became the 12th fastest performer in American history in this 2breast with his outing at the World Juniors.

#4 – Gabor Zombori‘s 3:46.06 400m Freestyle

Hungary’s 16-year-old Gabor Zombori had never before been under the 3:50 threshold in the men’s 400m free, but he busted out 2 big-time swims in the 400m free prelim and final in Budapest. Entering the Championships, the teen’s personal best rested at the 3:53.30 he produced at the Hungarian Youth Championships in May of this year, meaning he had never even been under the 3:53 threshold.

Zombori first threw down a swim of 3:46.97 to take the top seed of the morning in a new Championships Record time before lowering that down to 3:46.06 to ultimately take the gold. The teen’s time would have finished 10th at this year’s World Championships and also makes him the fastest Hungarian 18&U swimmer ever.

#5 – Carson Foster‘s 1:58.46 200m IM

17-year-old Carson Foster of the United States clinched gold in the men’s 200m IM, ripping a new World Junior Championships Record of 1:58.46.

Foster’s pre-Budapest personal best in this event rested at the 1:58.69 he clocked at this year’s U.S. Nationals. That time checked in as the 2nd fastest ever by an American 17-18-year-old, sitting only behind Olympic legend Michael Phelps’ seemingly untouchable 1:55.94 from 2003’s U.S. Nationals.