Young Swimmers Take Down National Records On Day One Prelims Of 2014 Youth Olympic Games

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SCHEDULE/RESULTS

SESSION START TIMES

Prelims begin at 10AM local time and finals begin at 6PM local time. Around the world that’s:

  • 7PM/3AM U.S. West Coast Time
  • 8PM/4AM U.S. Mountain Time
  • 9PM/5AM U.S. Central Time
  • 10PM/6AM U.S. East Coast Time
  • 11PM/7AM Rio de Janeiro Time
  • 3AM/11AM London Time
  • 4AM/Noon Berlin/South Africa Time
  • 6AM/2PM Moscow Time
  • 11AM/7PM Tokyo Time
  • Noon/8PM Sydney Time

MENS 400m FREESTYLE

The 400m freestyle was led by Ahmed Akram of Egypt who touched the wall in a time of 3:52.02 to set a new Egyptian record. The previous record was held at 3:52.47.

Following Akram overall was Jacek Wojdak of Poland whose time of 3:52.80 made him the only other swimmer under 3:53. Marcelo Acosta of El Salvador was behind him in 3:53.14 followed by Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine in 3:53.31.

Another national record was broken in the 400m freestyle as Ido Haber of Israel touched the wall in a time of 3:53.45 to break the previous national record of 3:54.32 set back in 2004.

The final will take place at 6:00 PM Nanjing, China time which is exactly 6:00 AM Eastern time.

Finalists

  1. Ahmed Akram (Egypt) 3:52.02 NR
  2. Jacek Wojdak (Poland) 3:52.80
  3. Marcelo Acosta (El Salvador) 3:53.14
  4. Mykhailo Romanchuk (Ukraine) 3:53.31
  5. Ido Haber (Israel) 3:53.45 NR
  6. Henrik Christiansen (Norway) 3:53.58
  7. Guillermo Sanchez Guitierrez (Spain) 3:55.32
  8. Povilas Strazdas Lithuania 3:55.62

WOMENS 50m BREASTSTROKE

Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania wasn’t the leader after the prelims of the 50m breaststroke as expected despite her success on the senior international scene in the breaststroke events which includes world records in both the 50 and the 100. Instead, she’ll be heading into the semi-finals in third with a time of 32.11.

Meilutyte is just behind Anna Szatankovics of Hungary and Dalma Sebestyen also of Hungary who posted times of 32.02 and 32.09 respectively. The two aren’t too far ahead of Meilutyte who has a personal best of 29.48m which is also the world record, from the 2013 World Championships.

Top 8 Heading Into Semifinals 

  1. Anna Sztankovics (Hungary) 32.02
  2. Dalma Sebestyen (Hungary) 32.09
  3. Ruta Meilutyte (Lithuania) 32.11
  4. Georgiana Evans (GBR) 32.17
  5. Dominika Sztandera (Poland) 32.195 + Julia Willers (Germany) 32.19
  6. N/A
  7. Jiwon Yang (Korea) 32.31
  8. Silja Kansakoski (Finland) 32.38 + Sophie Hansson (Sweden) 32.38

MENS 100m BACKSTROKE

Leading the pack in the men’s 100m backstroke is China’s Guangyuan Li with a time of 55.33. The field is very close as the top six qualifiers for the semifinals were all under 56 seconds and in a similar time range.

The second fastest swimmer of the heats was Robert Glinta from Romania. Glinta was a 55.46 this morning which was just a fraction of a second ahead of Italy’s Simona Sabbioni whose time of 55.47 ranks him third heading into the semifinals.

An American cracked the top eight as Patrick Mulcare came in to touch the wall in 56.28 qualifying behind South African Christopher Reid who swam a 56.25

Top 8 Heading Into Semifinals 

  1. Guangyuan Li (China) 55.33
  2. Robert Glinta (Romania) 55.46
  3. Simone Sabbioni (Italy) 55.47
  4. Evgeny Rylov (Russia) 55.78
  5. Luke Greenbank (GBR) 55.94
  6. Aspostolos Christou (Greece) 55.99
  7. Christopher Reid (South Africa) 56.25
  8. Patrick Mulcare (USA) 56.28

WOMENS 100m BACKSTROKE

Clara Smiddy, coming off a sixth place performance in the 100m backstroke at the 2014 US Nationals in Irvine, California, qualified first this morning for the semifinal with a time of 1:01.73. Smiddy was a 1:01.37 at US Nationals last week, so she definitely has some room for improvement here.

Natalia de Luccas from Brazil was the second fastest qualifier behind her touching the wall in 1:02.05. Danielle Hanus of Canada qualified third in 1:02.19. Hanus’ best time in the event is a 1:01.36 that she swam at the Canadian Age Group Championships at the end of July. She could be a major factor assuming she makes the final.

The top eight were very close together heading into the semifinals as Smiddy’s time of 1:01.73 and eighth place qualifier Gabrielle Fa’amausili of New Zealand’s time of 1:02.41 were only 0.68 seconds apart.

Top 8 Heading Into Semifinals 

  1. Clara Smiddy (USA) 1:01.73
  2. Natalia de Luccas (Brazil 1:02.05
  3. Danielle Hanus (Canada) 1:02.19
  4. Irina Prikhodko (Russia) 1:02.25
  5. Maaike de Waard (Netherlands) 1:02.33
  6. Ambra Esposito (Italy) 1:02.37
  7. Bobbi Gichard (GBR) 1:02.39
  8. Gabrielle Fa’amausili (New Zealand) 1:02.41

MENS 100m BREASTSTROKE

Two national records fell in the heats of the men’s 100m breaststroke, and one went to the top qualifier, Carlos Claverie, in 1:01.62. Claverie took down the previous Venezuelan national record of 1:01.87 held by Miguel Ferreira that was set back in 2012.

Claverie distanced himself from the rest of the swimmers heading into finals as he was the only one under 1:02 in the prelims. Anton Chukpkov of Russia was the second fasted qualifier in 1:02.07 followed by Ippei Watanabe of Japan in 1:02.26

Without the consideration of Claverie and the amount he separated himself from the field, the top eight are pretty close together. Other than Claverie all swimmers were within the 1:02 range.

The second national record set in this event was by Dustin Tynes of the Bahamas in 1:02.97

Top 8 Heading Into Semifinals

  1. Carlos Claverie (Venezuela) 1:01.62 NR
  2. Anton Chupkov (Russia) 1:02.07
  3. Ippei Watanabe (Japan) 1:02.26
  4. Nikola Obrovac (Croatia) 1:02.49
  5. Chad Crous (South Africa) 1:02.53
  6. Andreas de Queiroz Mickosz (Brazil) 1:02.74
  7. Dustin Tynes (Bahamas) 1:02.97 NR
  8. Stanislav Pazdzeyeu (Belarus) 1:02.99

WOMENS 200m IM

Meghan Small of the United States was a 2:15.24 to set herself up well for the final of the 200m IM tonight. She was ahead of Marlies Ross of South Africa for the top spot as Ross was just behind her in 2:15.45.

Dalma Sebestyen of Hungary who qualified second in the 50m breaststroke heading into the semifinals will be 5th heading into tonight’s 200m IM final. Sebestyen was a 2:15.99 this morning.

Finalists

  1. Meghan Small (USA) 2:15.24
  2. Marlies Ross (South Africa) 2:15.45
  3. KAthrin Demler (Germany) 2:15.50
  4. Africa Zamorano (Spain) 2:15.60
  5. Dalma Sebestyen (Hungary) 2:15.99
  6. Vien Nguyen Thi Anh (Vietnam) 2:16.02
  7. Bernadette Haugney (Hong Kong) 2:16.53
  8. Kelsey Wog (Canada) 2:17.55.

MIXED 4x100m FREESTYLE

The Chinese team came close to the world record in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay this morning as they qualified first with a time of 3:29.36. The current world record was set by the St. Petersburg club in Russia back at Russian Nationals in May of 2014. The current record stands at 3:28.96 and could be threatened tonight in finals.

Second was Brazil, third was the Netherlands. Most notably, the US team didn’t qualify for finals finishing second in heat one with a time of 3:39.49.

The Chinese team has a lot of room tonight as the second fastest qualifiers, the Brazilians, were only a 3:33.14.

Finalists

  1. China 3:29.36
  2. Brazil 3:33.14
  3. Netherlands 3:35.43
  4. Russia 3:35.40
  5. GBR 3:35.41
  6. Australia 3:36.51
  7. Germany 3:37.18
  8. Spain 3:38.13

 

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Rafael
9 years ago

Altamir time is missing from 400 free

Reply to  Rafael
9 years ago

Maybe he scratched to swim a rested leg in relay?

9 years ago

Save a DQ, is a done deal for China the 4x100free mixed relay.The 100free junior record holder (Shen Duo) didn t swim prelims.

I just hope Brazil was downplaying.If not, is the second competition this year the juniors dont go well(fist in Australia).All four swam a lot off of their best.Altamir is the only one with some excuse because he made a PB in 400free with a 3:53.79(his old time was 3:55.42).

Ruta was gliding.Beautiful to watch.

About Mitch Bowmile

Mitch Bowmile

Mitch worked for 5-years with SwimSwam news as a web producer focusing on both Canadian and international content. He coached for Toronto Swim Club for four seasons as a senior coach focusing on the development of young swimmers. Mitch is an NCCP level 2 certified coach in Canada and an ASCA Level …

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