Four finals were contested on Day 3 of swimming at the 2010 Youth Olympics, including more hardware for the Americans.
After Team USA was entirely shut out of the finals on the second day of competition, Kaitlyn Jones wasted no time in leaping back onto the podium in the first final of the day: the 200 back. Jones previously won a gold in the 200m IM, and this time was second to China’s Bal Anqi. Anqi, who is the 11th-ranked 200 backstroker in the world, won in a time of 2:11.46 which was well off her season best of 2:08.82. Jones’ silver-medal scoring time was 2:12.20, which just outtouched Daryna Zevina of the Ukraine (2:12.31).
Chad le Clos won his third individual medal of the Games in the men’s 100 fly, also taking a silver with a time of 53.31. The winner of the race was Gyucheol Chang of Korea, whose season-best mark of 53.13 ranks him in the top 50 internationally. Velimir Stjepanovic or Serbia grabbed the bronze with a mark of 53.77, finishing the slimmest of margins (.01 seconds) ahead of the fourth place swimmer.
Erich Peske was the lone finalist for Team USA in the 100 fly final, where he finished in 8th place with a time of 54.93. This was well off of his semi-finals time of 54.29.
In the women’s 100 free, Yi Tang of China wow’ed the crowd with a very swift time of 54.46. This time ranks her as the 10th fastest 100 freestyler in the world this season. Runner-up Emma McKeon of Australia also swam a top-50 time of 55.37. Canadian Lauren Earp was third in 56.69.
Jordan Mattern, who is a teammate of Missy Franklin’s at the Colorado Stars club, was 7th in 57.72.
The last event of the day was the Men’s 400 free relay. Here, the Russians were first (3:23.91), the Chinese were second (3:24.46), and the South Africans were third IN 2:34.66–another medal for le Clos, who led off. The American group finished 5th in a time of 3:25.56, nine-tenths of a second away from a medal.
There’s a lot more exciting swimming to come on Day 4, including Kiera Janzen in the 200 free and the men’s 400 medley relay.
For more results, check out the official results site of Singapore2010. Click “Sports S-Z”, then on the swimming link, and scroll through for race-by-care breakdowns. You can also watch On-Demand race replays at YouthOlympicGames.org.
