2022 World Junior Championships: Day 6 Prelims Live Recap

2022 FINA WORLD JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• August 30-September 4, 2022
• Lima, Peru
• Long Course Meters (50m), Prelims/Semis/Finals
• Meet Site
• Event Schedule
• Live Results
• Entries List
• Top 5 Girls’ Storylines
• Top 5 Boys’ Storylines
• Click here to download an Excel sheet with events by swimmer
• Day 5 Finals Live Recap
• FINA YouTube Link (USA, Canada)
• How to Watch

It’s finally here: the last prelims session of the 2022 World Junior Championships in Lima, which also marks the final day of the final major international competition of the season. Unlike other international championships, World Juniors doesn’t have the same slim schedule on the final day of the meet. Rather, there’s a fairly loaded prelims session on tap for today, featuring heats of the boys 200 back, girls 200 breast, boys 200 fly, girls 200 free, boys 4×100 medley relay, and girls 4×100 medley relay. There will also be timed finals of the boys 1500 free, the early heats of which will be completed during prelims, while the fastest heat will swim with finals tonight.

Today’s action will feature one more boys backstroke battle between Poland’s Ksawery Masiuk and South Africa’s Pieter Coetze. Already this week, Coetze has set the World Junior Championship Records in semifinals of both the 50 and 100 back, which Masiuk then swept in and broke in finals, winning gold. The 200 back today will mark Coetze’s final opportunity at beating Masiuk head-to-head. The 200 back can’t follow the same pattern as the 50 and 100 did, since there won’t be a semifinals round of the event. We can assume the Championship Record will go down tonight, however, as Masiuk is entered under the record time.

The girls 200 breast looks to be a tight race, with the top 4 seeds all entered with 2:27s. Yuri Matsumoto is the top seed, coming in with a 2:27.29, but Defne Coskun (2:27.33), Yumeno Kusuda (2:27.49), and Emma Carrasco (2:27.69) are all seeded within 0.40 seconds of her.

Twin brothers Krzysztof Chmielewski and Michal Chmielewski are the top 2 seeds in the boys 200 fly this morning. Krzysztof is the fastest entrant, coming in at 1:55.01, while Michal is a bit back from that at 1:56.66.

Hungary’s Nikolett Padar is the top seed in the girls 200 free by a wide margin. The 16-year-old has already won 4 gold medals at these championships, including winning the girls 100 free. She’s also the European Junior Champion in the 200 free. Her time of 1:57.91 makes her the top seed by about 1.5 seconds.

As they have done all week, FINA is providing a live stream of this morning’s session on their YouTube channel. We have also provided that stream just below:

BOYS 200 BACKSTROKE – HEATS

• World Record — 1:51.92, Aaron Peirsol (2009)
• World Junior Record — 1:55.14, Kliment Kolesnikov (2017)
• World Jr Champ Record — 1:56.69, Hugo Gonzalez (2017)

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Hidekazu Takehara (JPN) – 1:59.07
2. Pieter Coetze (RSA) – 2:01.69
3. Ksawery Masiuk (POL) – 2:01.84
4. Apostolos Siskos (GRE) – 2:02.36
5. Seongju Kim (KOR) – 2:02.61
6. Simon Clusman (FRA) – 2:03.31 (TIE)
7. Filip Kosinski (POL) – 2:03.31 (TIE)
8. Patrick Foltan (SVK) – 2:05.71

Hidekazu Takehara didn’t waste any opportunities this morning, dominating the heats of the boys 200 back with a 1:59.07. He was strong on the front half of the race, splitting 57.76, then faded a bit, coming home in 1:01.31.

Pieter Coetze and Ksawery Masiuk swam very relaxed looking 2:01s this morning. We can expect tonight that both rising backstroke stars will be taking a run at the Championship Record of 1:56.69 based off their performances in the 50 and 100 back this week.

There was a tie for 6th this morning between France’s Simon Clusman and Poland’s Filip Kosinski, both of whom swam 2:03.31.

GIRLS 200 BREASTSTROKE – HEATS

• World Record — 2:18.95, Tatjana Schoenmaker (2021)
• World Junior Record — 2:19.64, Viktoria Gunes (2015)
• World Jr Champ Record — 2:19.64, Viktoria Gunes (2015)

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Emma Cadens (ESP) – 2:30.57
2. Yumeno Kusuda (JPN) – 2:30.96
3. Sieun Park (KOR) – 2:32.13
4. Defne Coskun (TUR) – 2:33.46
5. Ah Ryoung Kim (KOR) – 2:34.37
6. Natalie Jandikova (CZE) – 2:34.85
7. Martina Bukvic (SRB) – 2:35.14
8. Irene Mati (ITA) – 2:37.28

16-year-olds Emma Cadens (Spain) and Yumeno Kusuda (Japan) separated themselves from the field this morning in a fairly slow prelims of the girls 200 breast. Cadens and Kusuda both clocked 2:30s, coming in as the only swimmers this morning under 2:32. Although the times this morning were a little sluggish, based off these swimmers’ seed times we can expect a number of these finals qualifiers to dip under 2:30 tonight.

Both Cadens and Kusuda were in control of their races this morning. Cadens split 38.52, 39.03, and 38.72 on her final 3 50s respectively, while Kusuda was 38.52, 38.81, and 39.06.

BOYS 200 BUTTERFLY – HEATS

• World Record — 1:50.34, Kristof Milak (2022)
• World Junior Record — 1:53.79, Kristof Milak (2017)
• World Jr Champ Record — 1:53.87, Kristof Milak (2017)

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Krzysztof Chmielewski (POL) – 1:59.27
2. Michal Chmielewski (POL) – 1:59.78
3. Ei Kamikawabata (JPN) – 2:00.94
4. Roberto Bonilla (GUA) – 2:00.99
5. Heitor Napolitano (BRA) – 2:01.69
6. Junheon Hwangbo (KOR) – 2:01.78
7. Felipe Baffico (CHI) – 2:02.00
8. Mark Horvath (AUT) – 2:02.21

The Chmielewski twins, Krzysztof and Michal led prelims this morning in the boys 200 fly, both breaking 2:00.  Krzysztof actually took the race out more conservatively, despite going on to post the faster of the times. He was out in 57.15 on the first 100, a little over half a second slower than Michal’s first 100 of 56.57. The big difference maker for Krzysztof was the 3rd 50, where he swam a solid 30.26, which was much faster than Michal’s 31.11.

There are a pair of national records we’ll be keeping an eye out for tonight, Guatemala’s Roberto Bonilla was 2:00.99 this morning, 1.5 seconds off the national record of 1:59.48. Similarly, Felipe Baffico clocked a 2:02.00 this morning, coming in 1.5 seconds off the Chilean Record of 2:00.42.

GIRLS 200 FREESTYLE – HEATS

• World Record — 1:52.98, Federica Pellegrini (2009)
• World Junior Record — 1:54.79, Summer McIntosh (2022)
• World Jr Champ Record — 1:57.08, Taylor Ruck (2017)

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Giulia Vetrano (ITA) – 2:02.00 (TIE)
2. Nikolett Padar (HUN) – 2:02.00 (TIE)
3. Carla Carron (ESP) – 2:02.76
4. Lilla Abraham (HUN) – 2:03.04
5. Sylvia Statkevicius (LTU) – 2:03.14
6. Ruka Takezawa (JPN) – 2:03.55
7. Merve Tuncel (TUR) – 2:03.69
8. Maria Yegres (VEN) – 2:03.92

There was a tie for 1st this morning in the girls 200 free, seeing Giulia Vetrano and Nikolett Padar each swim 2:02.00. Padar is the top seed by a wide margin, having won European Juniors gold in the event in July. Padar was swimming very relaxed this morning, nearly negative splitting the race. She was 1:00.70 on the opening 100, then came home in 1:01.30.

Notably, Turkey’s Merve Tuncel, the 400, 800, and 1500 gold medalist, was 7th this morning in 2:03.69. She’s not the favorite in tonight’s final, but she’ll be chasing a 4th individual gold.

BOYS 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY – HEATS

• World Record — 3:26.78, USA (2021)
• World Junior Record — 3:33.19, Russia (2019)
• World Jr Champ Record — 3:33.19, Russia (2019)

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Japan – 3:43.06
2. Poland – 3:44.76
3. France – 3:45.55
4. Brazil – 3:47.52
5. Hungary – 3:49.04
6. Italy – 3:49.22
7. Turkey – 3:49.80
8. South Africa – 3:50.36

It was Japan that led prelims of the boys 4×100 medley relay this morning, getting a solid middle 200 from breaststroker Asahi Kawashima (1:02.53) and flyer Tomoyuki Matsushita (53.90).

Poland’s Szymon Misiak had a good free split for his team, anchoring in 49.94.

GIRLS 4×100 MEDLEY RELAY – HEATS

• World Record — 3:50.40, USA (2019)
• World Junior Record — 3:58.38, Canada (2017)
• World Jr Champ Record — 3:58.38, Canada (2017)

Top 8 Qualifiers:

1. Italy – 4:10.33
2. Japan – 4:10.41
3. Poland – 4:12.86
4. Hungary – 4:13.65
5. South Korea – 4:15.67
6. Turkey – 4:18.09
7. Argentina – 4:22.31
8. South Africa – 4:23.50

Italy led Japan by a slim margin in the girls 4×100 medley prelims this morning. Irene Mati was key in Italy posting the top time of the morning, swimming the only sub-1:10 breaststroker split in the field – 1:09.18. Marina Cacciapuoti was also the fastest freestyler in the field, splitting 56.14 this morning.

Japan was fueled by a 59.33 fly split from Mizuki Hiari, who is the favorite to win the girls 100 fly tonight as well. Yuzuki Mizuno also led all backstrokers this morning with a 1:02.05.

BOYS 1500 FREESTYLE – EARLY HEATS

• World Record — 14:31.02, Sun Yang (2012)
• World Junior Record — 14:46.09, Franko Grgic (2019)
• World Jr Champ Record — 14:46.09, Franko Grgic (2019)

Early Heats Results:

1. Riku Yamaguchi (JPN) – 15:29.54
2. Ross Paterson (RSA) – 15:40.06
3. Aneesh Sunil Kumar Gowda (IND) – 15:54.27
4. Matthew Caldwell (RSA) – 15:55.14
5. Guilherme Sperandio (BRA) – 16:05.75
6. Seungyun Han (KOR) – 16:11.78
7. Josean Massucco (PUR) – 16:13.44
8. Adrian Papi (PER) – 16:16.75
9. Diego Dulieu (HON) – 16:28.36
10. Jose Manuel Campo (ESA) – 16:31.33
11. Gian Santos (PHI) – 16:42.57
12. Alberto Vega (CRC) – 16:46.46
13. Shing Ip He (HKG) – 16:52.59
14. Miguel Siwady (HON) – 16:57.02
15. Sergio Saldamando (PER) – 17:02.80
16. Diego Alvarado (ESA) – 17:11.30
17. Kaeden Gleason (ISV) – 17:24.28
18. Sugar Ganzorig (MGL) – 19:08.69

Riku Yamaguchi was dominant this morning in the 1500, posting the top time of the early heats by 11 seconds. Based off the seed times in the fastest heat that will swim in tonight’s final, Yamaguchi stands a good chance of beating some of those swimmers out, so he should end up in the top 8.

Yamaguchi was 4th at the Junior Pacs in Hawaii last week, swimming a 15:28.09.