Winnington Produces New SCM 400 Free World Junior Record

2018 AUSTRALIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

While competing on day 1 of the 2018 Australian Short Course Championships, 18-year-old Elijah Winnington produced a new World Junior Record in the men’s 400m freestyle.

Clocking 3:39.17 and finishing just .14 behind Jack McLoughlin’s gold medal-garnering effort of 3:39.03, Winnington of Bond Swimming Club fired off the best time of his career in the mid-distance event. Prior to this meet in Melbourne, Winnington’s personal best rested at the 3:46.02 he clocked last summer, so tonight was a defining moment for the young man.

When FINA first established the concept of World Junior Records, it defined benchmark standards to generate the first record and the men’s 400m free remained at that initial mark of 3:39.48. However, with his outing this evening, Winnington overtakes that standard and now establishes himself as the reigning World Junior Record holder.

With his head-turning swim, Winnington clinched a spot on the Australian SC Worlds roster, with his mark tonight dipping under the Aussie-dictated QT of 3:40.87.

Splits for Winnington’s WJR are below:

Name            Age Team              Prelims     Finals  FINA Points
2 WINNINGTON, ELI  18 BOND              3:41.93    3:39.17   908   30  
    r:+0.66  11.59        24.76 (13.17)
          38.31 (13.55)       52.03 (13.72)
        1:05.87 (13.84)     1:19.82 (13.95)
        1:33.68 (13.86)     1:47.63 (13.95)
        2:01.64 (14.01)     2:15.74 (14.10)
        2:29.91 (14.17)     2:44.13 (14.22)
        2:58.25 (14.12)     3:12.44 (14.19)
        3:26.32 (13.88)     3:39.17 (12.85)

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Togger
5 years ago

Superb swim, but I don’t see why they could do WJR’s retrospectively, Thorpe went 3:35 back in 1999.

Admin
Reply to  Togger
5 years ago

The premise was that at non-FINA events, they couldn’t guarantee that proper doping protocols were in effect, and they didn’t want to just ignore some post-facto times and accept others.

Old Man Chalmers
Reply to  Togger
5 years ago

100% agree. Among others, C1 and Missy franklin set times in the 50 free and 200 back respectively when they were 17 which are faster than the current WJRs. The argument for WJRs is similar to the one for supersuit records: Having two separate lists means swimmers can be rewarded for good swims more frequently, but it reduces significance of the achievement.

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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