Australia’s Clyde Lewis and South Africa’s Zane Waddell continued to shine at the 2015 Commonweath Youth Games in Samoa, each taking his third individual gold of the meet on the fourth and final day of swimming.
After winning the 200 free and 400 IM (and taking minor medals in the 100 back and 400 free), Lewis capped off the meet in his signature event, the 200 IM. The Junior World champ in the race a few weeks ago, Lewis went 2:02.40 to crush the field in Samoa by over two-and-a-half seconds. That’s still well off his winning time from Junior Worlds, a 2:00.15 that rattled the junior world record.
Waddell, meanwhile, cemented his reputation as the meet’s best pure sprinter. After winning the 50 fly and 50 back early in the meet, Waddell took the 50 free in 22.85, touching out Australia’s Jack Cartwright and Vincent Dai, who tied for silver at 22.93.
The Australian team continued to perform well, but Team England gave them a run as a team on day 4. The English swept the 200 breaststrokes, continuing a strong summer for the nation as a whole in the breaststroke events.
Edward Baxter won the boys race, denying Malaysia’s Fu Kang Wong a breaststroke sweep for the weekend. Baxter went 2:15.80, while Fu, who won the 50 and 100 breaststrokes earlier, settled for silver in 2:18.18.
In the girls race, Layla Black took gold for England, beating out Australia’s 400 IM champ Calypso Sheridan 2:30.99 to 2:31.81.
England’s Georgia Darwent also won the night’s opening event, the girls 800 free. Darwent was 8:45.85 with Scotland’s Meg Finnon second in 8:47.78.
In addition to Lewis’s gold, Australia won three other events. Lucy McJannett added a second gold medal to her weekly total with a 2:14.57 win in the 200 IM. Her teammate Sheridan was second in that race as well.
Australia also won the girls 50 free, with Shayna Jack blasting a 25.71 to top South Africa’s Erin Paige Gallagher and New Zealand’s Gabrielle Fa’Amausili, who tied for silver at 25.82. McJannett was just outside the medals for Australia, swimming in back-to-back races with her 200 IM win.
Australia also won the girls 4×100 medley relay, though splits and final times were not available. South Africa won the boys medley relay in 3:46.33.